More than 50 Durham Association of Educators (DAE) members walked out of the school board meeting on Monday after expressing frustration over failed attempts to unionize.
Some at the meeting accused the school district of union-busting tactics.
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“DPS hand picked individuals who oppose union recognition to sit on this committee,” Christy Patterson said. “We are here today to call upon the board and district admin to stop delaying, dividing and discrediting workers organizing. It’s time to do the right thing.”
In late February, the school board approved a new pay plan for employees within budget.
School Board leaders and County Commissioners met to discuss the numbers on May 14. DPS said they needed a roughly $27 million increase in funding, which included salary increases for educators and classified staff. However, the County's proposal allocated only an additional $13 million for DPS.
Durham educators held a walk-in on Friday in response.
Can teachers in North Carolina unionize?
North Carolina does not allow public employees, including teachers, to participate in collective bargaining or unionizing.
“In 47 states, our union would be legally recognized right now,” Patterson said. “It is legal in North Carolina for us to be recognized as a union through a meet and confer policy."
According to DAE, approval of a “meet and confer’ policy by DPS is an alternate way of being recognized as a union.
Cornell University says "meet and confer" policies allow both parties to save time and money and increase the judicial economy by encouraging parties to resolve their disputes without courts intervening.
'They've had months to consider this policy'
Symone Kiddoo, president of the Durham Association of Educators, said the group has been meeting with the school board for months on adopting the policy, with little to no progress.
"We presented this policy in February," she said. "They’ve had months to consider this policy. We’ve sat at ad-hoc meetings getting nowhere."
The lack of progress prompted the group to leave the meeting Monday afternoon before discussions about the “Meet and confer” policy took place.
"Our people cannot sit through another meeting where district administration disparages our organization and we don’t answer this question of whether or not the district is going to recognize the union," Kiddoo said.
Bettina Umstead, chair for the Durham Public Schools Board of Education, said the goal of the ad-hoc committee was to work together with DAE to make recommendations to the board.
“This is the fourth committee meeting, so there’s still time to have a conversation,” she said. "Today was the opportunity for both groups to talk about a different policy and collaborate on points there."
While remaining hopeful the DAE would return to the negotiating table, Umstead said the board was not ready for a recommendation “at this time.”
"We hope our Durham Association of Educators will come back to the table," she said. "We want to continue to have engagement and conversation on how to deepen employment voice."