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Garden City Teachers Association Reflecting Quality Education
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November 2006 Standing in the cold November drizzle, huddled with colleagues against the chill, frustration and resignation come easily. “Is this really going to get us a contract?”, many ask. While this sentiment is understandable, it must be tempered by an understanding of the severe constraints under which teachers (and all public employees in New York State) labor. In fact, any actions undertaken by the GCTA in its effort to reach an equitable contractual agreement with the District must be in compliance with the 1967 Public Employees’ Fair Employment Act, popularly known as the Taylor Law. Under the law, it a crime for public employees and their unions to “cause, instigate, encourage or condone a strike.” An employee is presumed to be on strike if he or she “is absent from work without permission” or “abstains wholly or in part from the full performance of his duties in his normal manner” during a strike. The courts have held that the law even prevents employees in certain situations from stopping voluntary work, such as writing recommendation letters or offering more extensive extra help beyond what is contractually mandated. And the penalties that can be imposed for violations are quite harsh. Individual violators can be fined two days pay for each day in violation, unions can be assessed nearly unlimited fines, and can also lose their right to deduct dues from members’ paychecks. Drafted in response to a crippling strike by New York City transit workers in 1966, the law was originally designed to address the concerns of both government employers and public employees. Though widely regarded as a tremendous boon to employers, the Taylor Law grants public employees the right to unionize and to bargain collectively, a right denied educators in many states. In the event of an impasse with management, it provides for mediation and arbitration. The state Public Employment Relations Board was created as an independent agency to administer the law and act as a referee in disputes. While these are certainly significant gains for employees (and ones taken for granted by workers who have never known a time when it was illegal to organize a union), in the current context, it is hard to argue that the Taylor law is anything but a trump card in the hands of employers. As unfortunate as this reality is, it determines the context in which the GCTA and the District operate as they negotiate a new agreement. As a consequence, it leaves the teachers very little leverage, other than the high esteem we enjoy within the community, and the firm resolve we demonstrate through our united actions. When we stand united we send a message, both to the community and to the Board—”We, as dedicated professionals, stand firm in our commitment to our students –your children– and to our conviction that what are fighting for is what is best for them”. So the next time you are wavering between sitting in your warm classroom or joining your colleagues outside, remember that one of the few advantages we have is our solidarity. Without it we are truly impotent.
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