Teachers in the Glenwood School District participated in a state-administered election last fall, and all but one voted to decertify the Washington Education Association (WEA).
This ends the union’s mandate that all teachers pay WEA as a condition of serving children in the South Central Washington community.
The teachers in Glenwood established a local independent teachers’ association for their professional voice – the Glenwood Teaching Association. Even when with the WEA, these teachers handed their workplace representation themselves. Now they’ll actually get to keep the money charged in their own association rather than sending it off to the union headquarters in Federal Way and Washington, D.C.
The Glenwood Teaching Association is the fifth local independent teachers’ association to replace WEA. Most recently, teachers in Mansfield and Waterville voted out the WEA and formed their own associations.
Teachers there noted a local association provides better service at a lower cost, and without the WEA’s political aggressiveness which doesn’t fit in a tight-knit community.
School districts with a local independent teachers association are:
- Glenwood
- Mansfield
- Waterville
- Sprague
- St. John
Related:
