Welcome to your professional organization, The Poway Federation of Teachers – A Union of Professionals
Who we are and what we stand for!
Why Unions?
During the industrial era workers suffered poor working conditions, discrimination over gender, race and class, low wages, with no power or control in the work place, and political restrictions - No Voice! Unions were viewed as “agents” of reform, the champion for fairness and due process, dignity of all work and workers, economic opportunity, and social justice for all. Because of collective bargaining, middle class values were now attainable: safe working conditions, a decent wage, health and welfare benefits, and a safety net for workers (pension and tenure).
Progressive Unionism
Union-management collaboration is sometimes called “new” or “progressive” unionism, but it is not actually new at all. The Poway Federation of Teachers (PFT) prides itself as a charter member of Teachers Union Reform Network (TURN), a collection of like-minded local unions that have been finding ways to upend the traditional collective bargaining model by focusing on cooperative rather than contentious negotiation strategies and by bringing teachers to the table to join in decisions on just about everything that affects teachers’ professional career:
- Improve Student Learning – Teachers will only do well if their students do well.
- Safeguard Professional and Educational Standards
- Preserve public education to support our democracy
- Negotiate contracts as the ceiling not the floor
TURN Mission Statement, “Teacher unions must provide leadership for the collective voice of their members. Teacher unions have a responsibility to students, their families, and to the broader society. Teacher unions are committed to public education as a vital element of our democracy. What unites these responsibilities is our commitment to help all children learn.”
Education Reform
Nationally, public education, public educators and especially teacher unions have been under attack in response to two decades of student achievement scores not keeping up with European and Asian counterparts. The assault on teachers and teacher unions has distracted many from the larger goals of education reform. For example, how often have you heard or read the following, “Teacher unions just protect bad teachers. If we got rid of unions we’d get rid of bad teachers and fix public education.” Nobody wants ineffective teachers in the classroom, least of all teachers or your union. This is “our” profession and ineffective teachers reflect poorly on all of us. Removing persistently ineffective teachers is a necessary but an insufficient and simplistic step to building a thriving teacher workforce. Efforts to improve public education have the best chance to succeed when teacher unions are part of the solution.
Our Message: RESULTS FOR STUDENTS ~ Equals success for all
Progressive and Professional Unionism and Education Reform
Attract and Retain Quality Teachers
It is our belief that “professional” unionism and “bread-and-butter” unionism are not mutually exclusive. Our Collective Bargaining Agreement provides teachers with fair and equitable working conditions, a decent salary and benefits plan, and protection from unilaterally imposed conditions. Working conditions for teachers also includes teachers having a voice in their professional life. Your PFT is highly engaged with district leadership when it comes to developing policies and practices that help teachers become successful in their profession. It is a mutual interest of the PFT and PUSD to remain competitive in attracting promising new teachers and ensuring all our teachers love their jobs and want to continue teaching in PUSD. With a workforce of quality teachers and quality teaching we expect to lead to improved student learning.
Rigorous Student Learning Experience –21st Century Skills to compete in a global economy
Teachers are stewards of their professional and educational standards. To ensure students receive a well-rounded public education experience, it is our expectation that teachers, working with union and district leaders, design and develop:
- Multiple pathways for students to advance and achieve
- Equitable access to quality resources and technology for students and teachers
- Integrated curriculum with practical and real life application and
- Instruction and assessments to develop students’ 21st Century Skills:
- Problem Solving and Critical Thinking
- Collaboration and Communication
- Creativity and Innovation
Accountability for All: Labor/Management Collaboration
The PFT has been practicing collaboration around both professional and bread and butter issues with district leaders for more than a decade. We call this collaborative process, Interest Based Problem Solving (IBPS). Together, we identify our mutual interests, we research, and we develop solutions. Our PFT/PUSD IBPS Team participates in on-going discussions and decision making that touches all aspects of our profession, from teacher evaluations to the allocation of resources. This collaborative process creates a sense of shared ownership and responsibility amongst everyone.
The Department of Education, multiple education groups, and both national teachers unions, (NEA and AFT) view labor-management collaboration as the transformation reform strategy needed to improve our education system in America. In May 2012, the Department of Education supported a nation-wide conference for those district-union partners already participating in those collaborative structures and processes. Superintendent John Collins, PFT President Candy Smiley, and previous Board Member Linda Vanderveen were invited to attend and share our work. We highlighted our PFT/PUSD Joint Governance Boards and collaborative programs, Poway Professional Assistance Program (PPAP) and Poway Professional Advisory Board (PDAB)/Teaching and Learning Cooperative (TLC).
In addition to our national participation with TURN, PFT is a steering committee member of CalTURN, a California regional TURN network that focuses on labor-management collaboration. CalTURN is supported by the Center for Educational Change, the Gates Foundation, Ford Foundation and WestEd. September 2013, CalTURN was hosted by PFT and PUSD, right here in Poway! The September conference focused on labor-management collaboration of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).
PFT’s Future Work
Adam Urbanski, the director and founder of TURN believes progressive unionism is, “based on the premise that ultimately teachers will do well only if students do well and that no community would long tolerate a disconnect between the two. Thus, it redefines who the client is – not only the teacher but also the client of the teacher (the student). If public education does not improve, it won’t survive. And if it doesn’t survive, neither will unions, districts, or superintendents.”
Our collective charge is to meet the needs of our students (clients). To put more focus on issues such as improving teacher quality and student achievement. The PFT (your teacher voice) is stepping into the collaborative work of revamping and enhancing our teacher evaluation tool and the implementation of the CCSS. This is very big work and must include teachers’ participation and expertise to be successful. We promise to bring you along in the process of how we approach this big work. We promise to provide open communication strategies so that all teachers’ voices are included. We promise to listen, learn and find a way for teachers to have confidence in this work. We promise to continue to defend and support teachers so that they can focus on what’s most important – Teaching!
In Unity, Candy Smiley
