KIPP teachers have also petitioned federal labor board for vote to remove AFT-affiliated union from school

New York, NY (December 4, 2024) – Uriel Barrera, an educator at KIPP Academy Middle School in the Bronx, has hit United Federation of Teachers Local 2 (UFT, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, AFT) union officials with federal charges for illegally threatening teachers with the loss of existing benefits if they choose not to join the union, and for demanding dues payments from teachers with no legal authority to do so. Barrera filed unfair labor practice charges at National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 2 in New York with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.

The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing private sector labor law, which governs labor relations at many charter schools, including KIPP Academy Middle School. Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) forbids union officials from restricting workers’ ability to refrain from participating in union activities if they so choose, including by making threats. The NLRA also prohibits union officials from requiring workers to pay dues unless a union monopoly bargaining agreement has been finalized with their employer.

Because New York lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector workers, UFT union officials can seek contracts that require KIPP educators to pay union dues or fees as a condition of getting or keeping a job. In contrast, in Right to Work states, union membership and all union financial support are strictly voluntary. But in both Right to Work and non-Right to Work jurisdictions, union officials can still force workers who oppose the union to accept one-size-fits-all union contracts.

According to Barrera’s charge, in September a UFT official sent a mass email to KIPP employees containing “threatening statements misrepresenting, among other things, that certain important benefits (that employees were already getting from their employer) were dependent upon signing a union dues deduction authorization form.” The same email also implied that union dues were mandatory despite the absence of a monopoly bargaining agreement containing a clause imposing forced union dues. Seventy-five KIPP educators are under UFT union control, according to Barrera’s filing.

“UFT union officials are misleading my fellow teachers about our legal rights and causing confusion in the workplace,” Barrera commented. “This type of disrespectful behavior is exactly why a majority of my coworkers want this union gone, and why we should be able to hold the decertification election right away.”

AFT Bosses Recently Voted Out of St. Louis KIPP School

In addition to the unfair labor practice charges, Barrera and his coworkers currently have a union decertification petition against the union pending with the NLRB. The petition, which Barrera filed in May, contains well over the number of employee signatures required by NLRB rules to trigger a “decertification election,” in which a majority of employees in a work unit can vote to remove a union.

Barrera and his coworkers are not the first KIPP educators to seek Foundation legal aid in challenging AFT union power. In St. Louis, Robin Johnston and her coworkers at KIPP St. Louis High School successfully voted to remove AFT Local 420 union officials from their school after submitting a union decertification petition with Foundation assistance. St. Louis KIPP educators complained that AFT Local 420’s divisive strike order pushed union goals at the expense of student progress and was a main reason behind the decertification effort.

“AFT officials, with the radical Randi Weingarten as their leader, are no strangers to putting union boss control and influence ahead of the wellbeing of both students and teachers,” observed National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Mr. Barrera and his coworkers at KIPP Middle School in New York are only the latest victims of AFT officials’ coercive schemes.

“Granting union bosses forced-dues and monopoly bargaining powers creates problems in any workplace, but it’s especially insidious in schools, where union bosses can hold both teachers and students hostage to their demands,” Mix added. “These threats against teachers show exactly why the NLRB should promptly schedule the decertification election to allow these teachers an up or down vote to decide whether to expel the AFT from their school.”