DELAND, Fla. – Thousands of Volusia County teachers may lose their protective, fighting force. The county’s teacher’s union is at risk of dissolving because of a new state law that requires a minimum in membership.
The Volusia United Educators was seeing numbers below the threshold and was working to fix the issue but now, the school district has made moves to stop that.
Union President Elizabeth Albert said she is worried the district getting involved could lead to an unnecessary investigation into their recertification and could force them to be the only teachers union in the state forced to dissolve.
“They entered this territory because they wanted to. Not that there was any obligation to do so and it’s just a retaliatory effort I think to shut us down,” she said.
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Albert said many of their 3,000 members have been flooding in with concerns.
The new law states that the union must have membership at 60% to recertify.
Albert said their numbers dipped because membership dues used to be taken directly out of paycheck but that’s no longer the case. That, she said, caused some memberships to become inactive.
“What we won’t allow to happen is for our union to be decertified so either with them or without them we are saving our union,” she said.
Albert said they have been working with the state’s Public Employee Relations Commission or PERC, and their membership numbers now meet the requirements.
The school district contacted PERC anyway, though, saying the union didn’t have the numbers it needed by the deadline.
“They have no formal process or accountability or need to intervene or even be a part of the process. The recertification is between the public sector union and PERC,” said Albert.
Board members discussed this with their attorney in public for the first time this week at the school board meeting. Several members were unaware this happened.
“So, we voted here in the board room?” questioned board chair Jamie Haynes.
“No, you told me personally,” responded General Counsel Kevin Pendley.
Pendley explained to the board members that he had asked them for permission.
“The superintendent directed, and I communicated with each one of you individually and discussed with you the ramifications of filing a notice to PERC,” he said.
Albert said she believes several of the board members were not aware of exactly what they were agreeing to. She is now hoping the district will contact PERC and rescind what it sent.
The district sent the following statement to News 6:
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