The Fayette County Education Association (FCEA) is creating a work group with the county school district to start discussions on a collective bargaining agreement. The group is a chapter of the Kentucky Education Association, the largest labor union in the state.
The National Education Association says collective bargaining helps assure fair wages and benefits for its members, and allows teachers to negotiate better teaching and learning conditions. The FCEA says the group will mostly educate its members on how such an agreement could work, and if it would be necessary.
Chapter President Erika Pennington said the union regularly has discussions with school leadership and an official bargaining agreement could strengthen those ties.
“The way that we are presently working in Fayette County… the private sector would refer to as bargaining. It's not a collective bargaining agreement, but it would be, like, ‘meet and confer,’” Pennington said.
Pennington says the idea came about after a similar group was created to discuss the school district’s $16 million budget shortfall. The union is working with Fayette County Superintendent Demetrus Liggins to get it organized.
“This proactive thinking about how we might deepen our partnership through a structured exploration of collective bargaining and educator voice, through a work group modeled after our budget committee, aligns well with our shared values of transparency, respect and student-centered decision making,” Liggins said in a statement.
Pennington says the group will discuss how the bargaining agreement could work.
“This work group would look into educating people on what a CBA might look like, what that might do for us, or what it might inhibit us from,” she said.
Pennington says the group is still in its early stages, and that its structure will be determined next month, after the school year begins. She expects to hold its first meeting in October.
