(The Center Square) – Educators for St. Hope Public Schools in Sacramento are requesting a vote to end the Sacramento City Teachers Association’s authority over their school.
Earlier this month, St. Hope educator Beth Simonton filed a petition, backed by a majority of her coworkers, asking the National Labor Relations Board to hold a vote to decertify the union as the educators’ bargaining representative.
SCTA is an affiliate of both the California Teachers Association and the National Education Association.
The National Right to Work Foundation is providing legal representation for Simonton.
In the next few weeks, the NLRB will hold a hearing regarding Simonton’s petition and schedule a vote since the petition meets all the requirements to trigger a decertification election. However, the process could be significantly delayed if SCTA officials pursue legal challenges aimed at blocking or postponing the vote, according to Patrick Semmens, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation.
“While SCTA union officials could try to come up with new ‘blocking charges’ and file them at the NLRB in an attempt to block the vote,” Semmens told The Center Square. “Foundation attorneys are prepared to fight any tactics to delay the St. Hope educators’ exercise of their rights.”
Simonton said SCTA officials have been a source of division rather than support within the school community.
“SCTA union officials have been extremely divisive and have not had a positive impact on teachers, students, or the St. Hope community as a whole,” Simonton said in a statement. “They’ve spent much more time trying to demonize school leadership than simply standing up for our interests.”
St. Hope Public Schools operates public charter schools within the Sacramento City Unified School District.
“St. Hope educators serve some of Sacramento’s most underprivileged young people, and they deserve to have their voices in the workplace heard,” NRWF President Mark Mix said.
