What's at stake?
A ruling from the Public Employment Relations Board sided with Clovis Unified teachers who alleged that the district gave illegal support to the Faculty Senate, which critics equate to a "company union."
While some Clovis teachers cheered a significant victory last week, organizers say there’s still much work to be done in their yearslong effort to unionize.
The California Public Employment Relations Board issued a decision Dec. 7 finding that the district violated state law and employees’ rights. The ruling specifically calls out the district’s illegal financial support to the Faculty Senate, which critics have equated to a “company union.”
The decision came in response to multiple complaints filed by the Association of Clovis Educators or ACE, a group that’s been actively attempting to unionize for years in the state’s largest district without a recognized teachers union.
“Clovis Unified has been knowingly breaking the law since 1984,” said ACE spokesperson Kristin Heimerdinger in an interview Monday, citing the year of a previous PERB ruling that found Clovis Unified gave illegal support to the Faculty Senate. “We were glad to have the judge again issue notice that they have continued to break the law.”
The latest ruling calls upon the district to immediately cease and desist with giving stipends to Faculty Senate leadership – one of multiple violations of employment law alleged in ACE’s complaints.
District spokesperson Kelly Avants told Fresnoland in an email Monday that the district is still reviewing PERB’s 151-page ruling but that some of the issues in the complaint had already been addressed.
“The ruling supports the continued existence of Faculty Senate, but stops any financial support provided by the District for its requests for things like stipends for its senators, supplies, etc.,” she said.
The teachers still have a long road ahead to becoming Clovis Unified teachers’ exclusive representative – but they’re one step closer now thanks to the ruling.
“We’re not going anywhere,” Heimerdinger said, “and we will hold the district accountable.”
Details from PERB’s December ruling
PERB’s decision found that Clovis Unified violated employment law by giving Faculty Senate leadership stipends and release time from teaching to perform Faculty Senate-related duties.
The ruling stopped short of joining ACE’s calls for the Faculty Senate to dissolve, however, stating that retaining the senate would promote “employee free choice and healthy competition among nonexclusive representatives” for workers.
The district, Faculty Senate, and ACE have a 20-day window after the ruling to appeal the decision.
Heimerdinger said they’re still weighing that with their legal team and members.
“There are lots (in) this decision that we did actually win, but there are parts of this decision that we did not,” she said, declining to point to specific concessions or dismissed allegations.
Clovis Unified is also still deliberating “whether an appeal would be an avenue we want to pursue,” Avants said Monday.
If the decision, as is, becomes final, ACE has an additional year from that date before the signatures it has collected from teachers expire.
ACE needs “50%-plus-one” of certificated, non-management employees to sign onto having them as their exclusive representative, Heimerdinger said.
“We still have work to do,” she said, “but we have more people every week who sign on to support us.”
The future of unionizing efforts in Clovis Unified
The Dec. 7 PERB ruling wasn’t the only win ACE celebrated this year.
Back in May, a unit of ACE-represented psychologists and mental health staff reached a tentative agreement with the district. ACE leaders called it the first union contract for certificated employees in the district’s history.
Big labor wins this year in neighboring district Fresno Unified have also had a “very positive impact” on ACE’s organizing efforts, Heimerdinger added.
The Fresno Teachers Association won significant raises in their new contract which will bump the average salary up to $105,000, well above Clovis Unified’s current average of $93,219.11.
“It makes you wonder, why are we working in more challenging conditions,” she said, “and why should we be okay with that?”
Heimerdinger remains hopeful for Clovis Unified teachers’ organizing efforts but said the task feels “infinitely” harder in their district.
“The anti-union culture in Clovis is so ingrained,” she said, “that trying to change that culture is a big job.”
