Schools

Teachers, Staff Unions Vow to Give Up Right to Strike if School Board Gives Up Right to Implement Contract

Board President David Tryon said the board will take the pledge under advisement.

The Brecksville-Broadview Heights Education Association and the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Organization of Support Staff want the district’s Board of Education to give up its right to unilaterally implement a contract.

In return, the unions have publicly said they would give up their right to strike.

The unions held a press conference at the Monday evening and called for the board to sign a Memorandum of Understanding, a legally binding contract, agreeing to give up the right to implement a contract for the unions’ right to strike.

“This pledge removes the private political agendas, which have no place in public education. This pledge puts the focus back on getting our rooms ready for kids, on putting student names on books and lockers, on preparing for football games, volleyball matches and cross country matches. This is a pledge to do what is best for the community,” spokesman Joe Zenir said in a prepared speech.

Zenir said Brecksville-Broadview Heights Education Association and the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Organization of Support Staff don’t want to strike, but they are prepared to do so if necessary.

Both unions have already passed a strike authorization vote. The , and the .

The unions said their goal is to put a contract in place that preserves students’ education and includes sacrifices from employees. The union contends that the board has a "political agenda” of forcing a strike by implementing a contract, and asked them to prove that they do not by agreeing to the “pledge.”

This agreement would include the promise to bargain in good faith and to continue to do so for as long as it takes.

As of 6 p.m., Board President David Tryon had not seen the pledge, but he said the board would take the ideas under advisement.

Brecksville-Broadview Heights Education Association President Bonnie Monteleone said a few words to the teachers and staff members gathered before the speech, noting that if the board does not agree to the pledge, the unions can still exercise their rights.

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After the speech, Monteleone taped a copy of the pledge to the Education Center's doors, and members headed out to personally deliver copies of the pledge to the board members.


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