Posted: | September 11, 2015 11:45 AM |
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From: | Representative Tedd C. Nesbit |
To: | All House members |
Subject: | Strengthening Union Democracy |
I am preparing to introduce legislation that will strengthen public employees’ rights to democratic self-governance by providing regular recertification elections of their employee union. As members of the General Assembly, we must all stand for re-election to ensure we represent the will of our constituents. However, public employee unions that also act in a representative capacity to their membership are exempted from this democratic process. In fact, more than 99 percent of school teachers have not voted for their current union acting as their exclusive representative in the collective bargaining process. In the past 30 years, less than 2 percent of school districts have held certification elections. The decertification process is overly restrictive, providing little opportunity for public employees to reassert their desire for their current exclusive representative, a different employee union, or no representative at all. My legislation will call for periodic elections, empowering public employees to hold their union accountable. Please join me in cosponsoring this legislation. |