Committed to Excellence!
Upper Dublin Education Association
The purpose of this memo is to inform the community of what is going on in public education in the State of Pennsylvania. The following proposals are real and if passed will have an effect of Upper Dublin School Distric as soon as September.
- Governor Corbett's budget proposal includes $1.1 billion in cuts to public education. This will result in over $400,000 cut of state funding to Upper Dublin School District.
- Senate Bill 1 proposes a state-wide school voucher program that will take away valuable resources from PA children and schools.
- Senate Bill 612 would allow school districts to furlough teachers for economic reasons which can impact everything from the quality of teachers to class size.
- Senate Bill 802, Senate Bill 202 and Senate Bill 858 are all proposals that "soften" or change the currrent certifications and/or certification pathways necessary for school murses, teachers, principals and superintendents. This can impact the qualtiy of education that schools provide.
It is very important to read your contract and be aware of the many benefits that have been negotiated on your behalf.
Did you know that in addition to 10 sick days and 3 personal days each year there are other kinds of leave:
- Religious
Up to two (2) days per school year for observance of religious holidays where said observance prevents the teacher from working on said days. - Legal
Time necessary for appearance in any legal proceeding connected with the teacher's employment or with the school system, where the School District is not a party in opposition to the teacher, if the teacher is required by law to attend. - Death
Five (5) school days in the event of the death of a teacher's spouse, child, parent, brother or sister.
Three (3) school days at any one time in the event of the death of a teacher's father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, grandparent, grandchild, or any member of the teacher's immediate household.
One (1) school day for attending the funeral of the teacher's niece, nephew, uncle, aunt or first cousin. - Temporary Military
Teachers called into temporary active duty by any unit of the U.S. Military Reserves or of the State National Guard shall be given a leave for the duration of such duty. A teacher shall be paid by the Board the difference between the teacher’s regular salary and the pay received from the State or Federal government for up to a maximum of fifteen (15) days. - Jury Duty
Teachers who are called for jury duty during the regular school term shall receive their regular pay and will forward their jury duty remuneration, less expense reimbursement, to the District. - Partial Deduction Days
Teachers who have used their personal leave days, shall be entitled to three (3) days, with the cost of a substitute deducted, for sickness in the family, business transactions, attending educational programs where the teacher's child is a participant and weddings where the teacher or teacher's child is a participant.
EMPLOYEE'S RIGHT
TO UNION REPRESENTATION
The right of employees to have union representation at investigatory interviews was announced by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 1975 case (NLRB vs. Weingarten, Inc. 420 U.S. 251, 88 LRRM 2689). These rights have become known as the Weingarten rights.
Employees have Weingarten rights only during investigatory interviews. An investigatory interview occurs when a supervisor questions an employee to obtain information which could be used as a basis for discipline or asks an employee to defend his or her conduct.
If an employee has a reasonable belief that discipline or other adverse consequences may result from what he or she says, the employee has the right to request union representation. Management is not required to inform the employee of his/her Weingarten rights; it is the employees responsibility to know and request.
When the employee makes the request for a union representative to be present management has three options:
(1) it can stop questioning until the representative arrives.
(2) it can call off the interview or,
(3) it can tell the employee that it will call off the interview unless the employee voluntarily gives up his/her rights to a union representative (an option the employee should always refuse.)
Employers will often assert that the only role of a union representative in an investigatory interview is to observe the discussion. The Supreme Court, however, clearly acknowledges a representative's right to assist and counsel workers during the interview.
The Supreme Court has also ruled that during an investigatory interview management must inform the union representative of the subject of the interrogation. The representative must also be allowed to speak privately with the employee before the interview. During the questioning, the representative can interrupt to clarify a question or to object to confusing or intimidating tactics.
While the interview is in progress the representative can not tell the employee what to say but he may advise them on how to answer a question. At the end of the interview the union representative can add information to support the employee's case.
Download Weingarten Card