A long-standing political rift within the Washington Teachers’ Union has widened amid anger over what some see as a bungled legal action to save the jobs of nearly 300 fired teachers.
The dissension could prove challenging in the union’s ongoing battle against public schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, who approved the firings earlier in the fall to address a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall. Rhee’s actions won legal backing last week when the D.C. Superior Court denied a union request to reinstate the teachers.
A statement released Monday on behalf of the fired teachers expressed disappointment in the union’s “misrepresentation, lack of evidence, and flawed legal strategies which ultimately led to a court ruling that DCPS was not required to reinstate us.”
Fired teacher Crystal Proctor prepared the statement in advance of a meeting with union leadership that attracted about 100 members to a Northwest church basement.
Proctor, backed by union Vice President Nathan Saunders, called for the union to use a portion of its $3.5 million in annual union dues to provide legal representation to the fired teachers as they move to plan B — filing appeals with the city’s Office of Employee Appeals and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Saunders, a likely candidate in the May 2010 union presidential elections, has made a name for himself going head to head with President George Parker’s leadership. He laid into Parker Monday, saying the union’s lawyers put forth too little too late in efforts to convince the judge that the firings were unlawful.
Parker called Saunder’s critiques “criticism of convenience in terms of a political standpoint,” explaining that the union fought harder in the case than it has ever fought against budget-based firings, and are moving forward in legal efforts despite last week’s setback.
“We have an election in May, so unfortunately there will be posturing,” Parker said. “But our focus needs to be on helping teachers get their jobs back.”
Saunders said the best way to help teachers get their jobs back is to shake up the leadership.
“Only in unions do people think we should hold hands and sing ‘Kumbaya’ even as the member services are awful,” he said.
