The Akron Education Association has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Akron Public Schools, saying the district is removing union members from jobs in the administration building and then hiring non-union members into nearly identical positions.
The move amounts to union busting, attorney Don Malarcik said. In the letter, sent Wednesday, Malarcik asked that any affected employees be made whole, including being returned to the bargaining unit and paid, with interest, for any loss in salary or benefits due to the reclassification.
The school district denies the union busting charge. In a statement, Yamini Adkins, the school district’s executive director for human capital, said the accusations “are inaccurate and have no basis in fact.”
The latest dispute between the school district and the teachers’ union stems from the school board’s decision to eliminate the jobs of more than 50 teachers and reassign teachers who had been working in instructional design and other fields at the administration building back to the classroom. The job cuts were part of an effort to save nearly $24 million as the district prepares to ask voters to approve a levy this fall.
Attorney alleges new positions are the same jobs that were just eliminated
The district has since posted jobs such as talent and development specialists, content specialists and college and career academies specialists. Those positions specify that they are non-union jobs.
Malarcik said the district is recruiting for the new roles among union employees who were doing similar work but would have to leave the union to accept those jobs.
Malarcik added he believes the new positions are the same jobs that were just eliminated, though the current job descriptions no longer say they require a teaching certificate.
“We say bullshit,” Malarcik said. “They’re identical or nearly identical positions.”
‘That is union busting’
Adkins said in her statement that the staff reassignments were made properly and according to both state law and the collective bargaining agreement with the union. She said union leaders were informed of the district’s plans “well in advance of any matters affecting bargaining unit members’ employment rights” but didn’t raise any concerns nor ask any questions.
“It is disappointing that AEA continues to behave in a combative manner and hurl false accusations and seek public attention rather than working collaboratively with the APS administration,” Adkins wrote. “This Administration maintains an open-door policy with all APS labor unions to discuss, resolve and clarify any labor concerns.”
Malarcik said in the letter that he was “more than agreeable to discussing this matter with you” but wanted the practice to stop in the meantime.
If APS continues apace, Malarcik said, he intends to file a grievance in the next two weeks and an unfair labor practice complaint with the state before the beginning of the school year.
When people are given the option to leave the union to continue doing work that’s similar to the jobs they had, “that is supplanting,” Malarcik said, “that is union busting.”
