{"id":30480,"date":"2016-10-13T15:46:04","date_gmt":"2016-10-13T21:46:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/krtnradio.com\/?p=30480"},"modified":"2016-10-13T15:50:24","modified_gmt":"2016-10-13T21:50:24","slug":"clayton-educators-win-election-to-establish-union-district-bargaining-relationship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/2016\/10\/13\/clayton-educators-win-election-to-establish-union-district-bargaining-relationship\/","title":{"rendered":"Clayton Educators Win Election to Establish  Union\u2013District Bargaining Relationship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\" align=\"center\"><strong>October 13, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\" align=\"center\"><strong><span id=\"OBJ_PREFIX_DWT571_com_zimbra_date\" class=\"Object\"><span id=\"OBJ_PREFIX_DWT578_com_zimbra_date\" class=\"Object\">\u00a0 T<\/span><\/span>eachers in rural Clayton, New Mexico voted <span id=\"OBJ_PREFIX_DWT572_com_zimbra_date\" class=\"Object\"><span id=\"OBJ_PREFIX_DWT579_com_zimbra_date\" class=\"Object\">yesterday<\/span><\/span> to begin collective bargaining with the Clayton School District, situated near the New Mexico state line with Oklahoma. The vote establishes NEA-Clayton as the \u201cExclusive Representative\u201d with NEA-New Mexico helping the Local affiliate with the process.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Professional concerns over the direction of the district\u2019s moves to handle academic programs amidst declining state funding gave rise to the push for collective bargaining. Thirty-one of the district\u2019s thirty-two certified educators participated in the vote. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30481 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/NEA-NM-union.jpg\" alt=\"nea nm-union\" width=\"262\" height=\"196\" \/>Teachers and other educational employees in conservative, rural Northeast New Mexico have been organizing and forming unions in response to new regulations and funding cuts from the state. Earlier this year, educators in Raton ratified the first union contract in nearly two decades after joining NEA-NM in 2015. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Educational leader Lisa Massey, a 4<sup>th<\/sup> grade teacher at Kiser Elementary, says, \u201cThis vote is about having a real say in what happens in our schools. (This) isn\u2019t about getting raises or current administrators.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cThe collective bargaining process elevates the legal standing for the NEA-Clayton as the collective educators\u2019 voice. It gives them a meaningful voice in changes the district might make in reaction to reduced funds or new mandates from the NM-PED,\u201d said Jonathan Leibowitz, NEA-NM UniServ Representative.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cWe want what is best for the students,\u201d said Mike Barnes, agriculture teacher, at Clayton High School. \u201cTo achieve what is best for students, teachers need to be treated fairly and equitably. \u00a0As professionals who work with our students, we know what is needed to help our students succeed.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cWe hope this begins a collaborative process with the district where we can work together to do what is best for the students and teachers, parents and the District,\u201d added Massey.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The election was supervised by the New Mexico Public Employee Labor Relations Board, a state agency which regulates implementation of the New Mexico Public Employee Bargaining Act. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For more information: Jon Leibowitz, NEA-NM UniServ for Northeast New Mexico (412) 290-5609 or<br \/>\nCharles Goodmacher, NEA-NM (505) 450-3155<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>October 13, 2016 \u00a0 Teachers in rural Clayton, New Mexico voted yesterday to begin collective bargaining with the Clayton School District, situated near the New Mexico state line with Oklahoma. The vote establishes NEA-Clayton as the \u201cExclusive Representative\u201d with NEA-New Mexico helping the Local affiliate with the process.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Professional&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":30481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","entry","rows-excerpt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30480"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30487,"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30480\/revisions\/30487"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}