General News

Agreement will allow Merrick Charter teachers to join UFT

Jan 31, 2008 10:36 AM

The UFT and the Merrick Academy Charter School board of trustees reached an agreement that will allow the Queens school’s teachers to unionize immediately. The agreement was announced at a Jan. 23 pre-hearing conference with the state Public Employment Relations Board.

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.

Merrick educators voted overwhelmingly in October to unionize. As was reported in the Jan. 17 issue of the New York Teacher, Merrick’s board of trustees then hired Jackson Lewis, one of the nation’s heavyweight union-busting law firms.

“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 presiding administrative law judge also determined that sufficient interest was demonstrated through representation cards filed by educators to certify the bargaining unit at PERB’s next meeting in February.

The Queens Village school has been in operation since 2000.