“Unions would be irrelevant if bad managers didn’t exist…If workers were all happy to come to work and make their contributions in a healthy and vibrant environment, no one would even think of joining or creating a union. But these unscrupulous managers do exist here and there,” stated Governor Eddie Calvo in his weekly Proa Newsletter. President Tim Fedenko could not have agreed more with Governor Eddie Calvo.
In 1965, contracted teachers of Guam’s public schools wanted to establish better relations between teachers and their administrators. They knew the only way to do this was to get organized and improve these relationships through a collective bargaining agreement. Since 1970, when the first board-union contract was established, the contract has only gotten better. Unfortunately, the most recent contract has expired and today our public school teachers are left without a contract. Negotiations are at a standstill until the board’s team gets back to the table from their indefinite caucus that they have called. As a result, a select number of administrators have taken advantage of the situation by taking away seniority and increasing teachers’ workloads,just to name a few. Teachers cannot lose hope. One voice will not get the board to resume negotiations but when thousands of voices come together by attending negotiation meetings or board meetings then we can get our message through. When your participation is needed, you will be notified through the GFT eUpdate, website, and direct mailers and through your stewards and department chair so please take the initiative to be involved. In the meantime, you can still enforce the Personnel Rules and Regulations.
“There must be a contract in place that protects teachers. We must negotiate for students and teachers in good faith, with all intention to provide the very best learning environment, standards, and accountability to those standards in the new contract. This can be done through the collective bargaining process, yet that process has come to a halt. That is wrong. The board of education must come back to the table, start the collective bargaining process, and negotiate in good faith”- Governor Calvo. Read more of the Governor’s weekly Proa Newsletter here