Unions have a need to complain

 Unions always find something to complain about

In this time of distance learning, school systems are developing memoranda of understanding (MOU) to state the expectations for instructional staff in terms of time and commitment to the job.   

Teacher contracts specify the number of hours and minutes a teacher is expected to work. Yes, really, down to the minute.  This time includes time for preparation, meetings and required professional development. The memoranda are requiring many fewer hours of instruction than the contracts, some as few as 15 hours per week.   Yet the unions are not accepting of the change because the changes were not negotiated.  Translation, they didn't have to be involved.

The MOU are also delineating the required time for meetings.   Some meetings will be held online while others are being suspended altogether.  Staff meetings, department meetings and professional development meetings are generally restricted to an hour or less per week.  Unions are complaining that these meeting times are being unilaterally imposed without negotiation with the union.  They also believe they are unnecessary and should be handled through an email even though the meetings are all virtual.

Distance learning is also an issue.  Many districts do not require any live teaching with students.  Others are requiring at least 1 hour per week of live instruction.  Unions believe that these details cannot be imposed by the school district but need to be bargained with the union.

Teachers are also concerned about the use of their personal devices.  No school district requires teachers to use personal phones.   There are means to make phone calls through a Google app that preserves the privacy of the teacher’s phone.   However, some teachers are also complaining that the contract does not require that they use their own laptops or desktops for distance learning, yet they are required to do so because the school district does not provide them with technology for use at home.

Attendance taking is usually the responsibility of the teacher.   Teachers are saying they cannot take daily attendance because they do not log in with students on a daily basis. Some school districts are requiring students to log into a school system portal on a daily basis.

Contracts include VERY specific ways in which a teacher is evaluated on the quality of the teaching.   The contracts include timelines and procedures for evaluation.  Most districts have suspended teacher evaluations during the period of distance learning.  Many districts are not even evaluating teachers for disciplinary reasons.  

Teachers are demanding PD before being expected to use a specific delivery platform.  A very reasonable request, yet they are also insisting that the amount of time for professional development be severely limited.   Which is it?

Teachers are receiving full compensation and benefits during distance learning.  It would be very hard to argue that they are spending more time at their jobs than they did when they were required to be physically present in a building.  Yet unions are complaining that these memoranda of understanding were imposed without bargaining.  Given the length of time it takes for a union and a school district to hammer out an agreement, the pandemic would probably be over.   Maybe unions just need to disagree to prove why teachers need them