Workers Must Be Involved in Tennessee School District Merger
by Clyde Weiss | February 29, 2012
The planned merger next year of the Memphis and Shelby County school districts presents a historic opportunity to create a strong, vital partnership between those who will manage the new district and those who work for it – approximately 3,000 hard-working custodians, food service workers and clerical staff represented by AFSCME Local 1733.
At a press conference earlier this week, representatives of those workers called on the unified Shelby County School Board to include them at all levels of the implementation process, and to honor their existing labor agreement – called a memorandum of understanding – that covers wages, benefits and working conditions.
“We are ready to do whatever is necessary to make sure that the merger is successful,” said Emily Payne, a food service worker at Coleman Elementary School, who was among those who spoke at the media event. “The futures of our children and our community are at stake.”
Indeed. The merger, as The New York Times pointed out, “is the largest school district consolidation in American history and poses huge logistical challenges.” Among those challenges is making sure workers who will contribute to the success of the merger – and their union representatives – are included in all aspects of planning.
At the press event, Local 1733 released a document describing best practices related to school district consolidations. It notes that AFSCME members are not only “an integral part of Memphis schools,” but also “involved parents and core members of the community.” As such, they have a vested interest in a successful transition. “That is why we offer our support, our ideas, and our experience,” the report states.
In December 2010, the Memphis school board voted to surrender its charter and consolidate with Shelby County, and a federal judge ruled last September that the two districts would be run separately under a unified board until they are combined in 2013. This consolidation will be closely watched. By its nature, it is historic.
That’s why it is fitting that a union equally steeped in history should participate in all aspects of its planning. AFSCME Local 1733 was founded on the principles of equality and justice. Forty four years ago, the city signed its first labor agreement with AFSCME, ending a historic 64-day strike that began on Feb. 12, 1968.
Approximately 1,300 striking Memphis sanitation workers won justice and equality in their strike, which brought the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis for his final campaign for workers’ rights. Last year, the 1,300 strikers were entered into the U.S. Department of Labor’s Labor Hall of Fame.
The merger of the two school districts offers the communities involved an opportunity to make a lasting legacy for the history books. But as Local 1733’s document released this week points out, “some stakeholders, notably school support employees, remain left out.”
That’s a shame, especially as those employees and their union representatives are ready to step up to the plate and offer their suggestions to make this merger work for everyone involved.
History, no less, demands it.
