Memphis School Employees Score a Huge Victory

by Eli Magana  |  March 28, 2012

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Hundreds of AFSCME Local 1733 Memphis school members and their supporters erupted into cheers at a school board meeting last night when board members decided to extend all labor agreements for another year as the schools transition into a controversial county-wide merger.

Since the residents of Memphis voted in a city-wide referendum to dissolve their school district a year ago — effectively combining the city’s school system with neighboring Shelby County Schools — the fate of Memphis City Schools’ labor agreements was unclear.

Last night, however, the city and county’s unified school board put that to rest by approving a motion extending all labor agreements linked to the former Memphis school board until June 30, 2013. That's the date on which schools across the entire county will begin operating under one fully consolidated district.

In the meantime, Local 1733 members will continue to fight to make sure that school workers have a voice in this merger process.

The decision to extend the agreements follows a year of speculation on whether commissioners representing parts of the county — which are traditionally conservative and largely hostile to union activity — would support a measure granting recognition to labor organizations under the combined 23-member school board for Memphis and Shelby County. In the end, almost the entire board voted in favor of the motion, with one member abstaining.

Over the weekend, Chairperson Emily Payne, who presides over Local 1733’s chapter for MCS custodial, food service and warehouse employees, called for an emergency meeting to prepare for Tuesday, which turned out more than 100 members and their relatives to the Local.

“This is a victory for students and school employees,” Payne said after the school board’s vote. “We want to make sure that services for our students won’t be diminished. Our members have children, grandchildren, and nieces and nephews in these schools, too.”

A special planning commission will design a plan integrating the two systems, while state legislation mandates that seniority and other employee-related benefits remain intact and carried over into the new school district. The school board’s decision ensures that school employees in Memphis retain union representation during the transition process and that their agreements remain current for an additional year.

“We won this by sticking together, even when the odds were stacked against us,” said Laura Jackson, secretary of Local 1733’s clerical chapter. “We’re not going to back down from those who try to silence workers.”