For Immediate Release
Jan 23, 2008 7:40 PM
In a pre-hearing conference today with the state Public Employment Relations Board, the UFT and the Merrick Academy Charter School board of trustees reached an agreement that will allow its teachers to unionize immediately.
The trustees and the union agreed on the composition of the school’s bargaining unit, which will now be all educators, including consultant teachers and student mentors. The UFT represents 200,000 members, including New York City’s 100,000 public school educators. But teachers in city charter schools – which generally are exempt from many city Department of Education regulations – have to vote to affiliate with a union. Merrick educators voted overwhelmingly in October to unionize.
Also, the presiding administrative law judge determined that sufficient interest was demonstrated through representation cards filed by educators to certify the bargaining unit at PERB’s next meeting in February.
“Today’s agreement is a giant step forward in giving the educators at Merrick the voice and respect that they deserve,” said UFT President Randi Weingarten. “We look forward to productive and expeditious negotiations for the teachers’ first contract.”
The school, located at 207-01 Jamaica Avenue in Queens Village, has been in operation since 2000.