Esquivel "irreparably damaged" relationship with union

Ellen Bernstein, the President of the union that represents APS teachers, has written a letter, link, to the board, Supt Winston Brooks, and "constituents'.  It is addressed to APS School Board President Marty Esquivel.

Bernstein wrote;

For the second year in a row our agreement to bargain in good faith - which traditionally includes an agreement not to do anything that might undermine the bargaining process - has been violated.

Bernstein is upset with Esquivel for broaching a negotiations topic in public before the topic is discussed in meetings in secret with the union negotiators.

For the record, I oppose in secret decision making regarding public interests. When I was a member of the union's negotiating team in the 90s, I opposed it, and I oppose it now. The worst thing any public servant, or union president can do, is anything they do in unnecessary secret.

Rightly or wrongly, an agreement was struck between the union and the board; topics subject to negotiation, like whether teachers could be moved according to administrative whim, would be negotiated in secret, before the positions were made public.

Bernstein continued;

Sadly, I believe your recent statements in the newspaper have undermined our established negotiations process and irreparably damaged our bargaining relationship.

As a result, the union has apparently changed its decades long position on in secret negotiations and dared Esquivel to negotiate in public.

The Albuquerque Teachers Federation proposes holding contract negotiations with APS in a public forum. We suggest that these new “open” contract talks are made available online, as are APS Board meetings. In this new era of public negotiating, I would invite the public to hear first hand the debate on the merits of various contract proposals, unfiltered by the media.

Now we're talking.




photo Mark Bralley