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Working TOGETHER for 39 years...
It all began with the idea of unity.
- In Duval County in 1968, at the time of the mass resignation which is
referred to as the "statewide teacher walkout", teachers belonged to one
organization: the Duval Teachers Association (DTA). The walkout left scars on our
entire community and state.
- Some teachers became dissatisfied with their National Education
Association (NEA) affiliate, the DTA. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
sent organizers to Florida to acquaint teachers with AFT's perspective.
- In 1969 many teachers broke ranks with the NEA and formed the Jacksonville
Federation of Teachers (JFT). The state affiliate was the Florida Federation of
Teachers.
- Until 1974 our School Board enjoyed the battle between the DTA and the
JFT. The luxury of playing one group against the other resulted in the Board's providing
only minimal salary and benefits to teachers.
- In 1974 the DTA/NEA and the JFT/AFT decided teachers would benefit
from a united front. Committees were formed to hammer out a proposed constitution and
bylaws for one teacher organization in Duval County.
- Teachers voted for unity in 1974, giving birth to the new group: Duval
Teachers United. One compromise, worked out by the two organizing committees,
allowed for dual choice of a national affiliate either the NEA or the AFT.
- The NEA disallowed this unity move, sued its former affiliate, and
canceled the option of membership.
- Not daunted by this arbitrary rejection, the majority of teachers,
locally and statewide, elected new officers and pressed forward with a new local, the DTU,
and a new state organization, Florida Education Association/United. Needless to
say, both locally and at the state level, the groups worked tirelessly to increase
membership, make collective bargaining a reality, and develop the necessary political
clout and expertise to turn the educational tide in Florida.
- DTU currently maintains affiliation with
FEA, NEA, AFT,
and the AFL-CIO.
- The NEA came back to Florida and formed the Florida Teaching
Profession (FTP). Territorial wars ensued. Each union wanted to represent teachers and
schoolrelated personnel in each of the 67 school districts. It was not uncommon for one
union to challenge the other every time a contract was up for renegotiation.
- In 1975, the District's paraprofessionals voted to join the ranks
of Duval's teachers and join the DTU; this created the united classroom team.
- In 1985, the District's seven hundredfifty office employees,
pleased with DTU's record of success at the bargaining table, voted to join the
DTU. The
psychologists organized and lobbied the school board. They moved from
administrators to the teacher bargaining unit and became members of DTU in
this same year
- Today, DTU is composed of three chapters: the Teacher Chapter,
the Paraprofessional Chapter, and the United Office Personnel of Duval
(UOPD) Chapter. These three groups, twothirds of the employees of the Duval County
School Board, compose the DTU.
- Collective bargaining began in Duval County one year before the
State's Collective Bargaining law went into effect. Through the bargaining process DTU has
achieved: increased salaries, full employerpaid health benefits,dutyfree lunch, paid
sick and personal leave, biweekly pay periods, optional pay plans, pay for accumulated
sick leave, shared decisionmaking, sick leave pool, employee assistance plans,
nondiscrimination clauses, fair layoff procedures, improved surplussing and transfer
procedures, guaranteed planning time, union representation during conferences, planning
days and paid holidays, improved summer employment selection process, student discipline
protection, fair evaluation and termination procedures, maternity and adoption leave,
sabbatical leave, and much more. Virtually all of the things we take for granted today
have been won through the collective bargaining processmany times in long, tough
battles with the School Board.
- Territorial warfare hit Duval County in both 1980 and 1990. The teachers
of Duval County rejected the Duval Education Association/NEA and the Duval/NEA's attempt
to disrupt our unity. On both occasions, the NEA's "onpaper" organizations
failed to achieve the necessary support to have a disruptive and costly election. Duval's
teachers firmly stood for teacher unity.
- In the mid 1980's, DTU launched the American Federation of Teachers' Educational
Research and Dissemination Program. This 30hour inservice program brought the
latest classroomproven research into the classrooms of Duval County. Seeing the need for
improved and varied inservice opportunities, DTU offered members our 10hour Teaching
Critical Thinking Skills inservice series and our annual QuEST Conference,
which brings nationallyrenowned speakers and presenters to Duval County. DTU has also
sponsored workshops on shared decisionmaking; integrating art, music, and physical
education into the elementary curriculum; eclectic discipline; newspapers in education;
and many more.
- The political clout of DTU members was fully realized with the
"dethroning" of a Superintendent. DTU members wanted major changes for the
students of Duval County, but the Superintendent was the largest obstacle. Schoolbased
employees wanted the schools to be the focus of the school system, not the District
office. DTUendorsed candidates won a majority on the School Board and in 5 short months
the process of selecting a new Superintendent was underway.
- With the cooperation of a new Superintendent, in the late 1980's, DTU had
sufficient clout to start the dismantling of the topdown power structure. DTU and
the School Board established a Professionalization of Teaching Task Force to forge ahead
with the concept of schoolbased management and shared decisionmaking. While the
District was in search of a new Superintendent, DTU was focused on our dream of having
decisions which impact students made at the school level.
- DTU's participation in the selection of a new Superintendent was
important. DTU leaders met with all the final applicants. Our leaders were looking for a
Superintendent who shared our commitment to have teachers, paraprofessionals, clerical
employees and principals work together for the good of the children and the school.
- Territorial warfare between the state's two rival education employee
unions was put on hold with an historic "no raid" agreement. The
agreement, in large part due to severe state budget cuts in 1991, led to a rebirth of
the teacher unity concept. This time it was not only the teachers who wanted to join
forces against uncaring state lawmakers; the teachers and schoolrelated personnel joined
forces to lobby the legislature for better funding of the state's 67 school districts.
- Seeing the need to further expand the power base, the State's two unions
joined forces with the entire education community the School Boards Association,
School Superintendents Association, School Administrators Association and the Parent
Teachers Association (PTA) forming the Education Coalition. The state's media
outlets noticed the unity. This unity was demonstrated for the entire legislature on a
cool spring day in 1992 when three thousand friends of education (600 from Duval) met in
the state capitol to demand more funding. Their voices were heard and the proposed budget
cut was reduced by 50%.
- Unity - the goal of both state organizations. The governing
structure at the national level is moving slower than we did at the state level. The AFT
fully supports the concept. A few radical state delegations within the NEA are forcing the
merger to move more slowly. In Florida, both organizations were determined to achieve
unity. After much
talk and debate the national organizations are still not merged, but in May
of 2000 FEA/United and FTP merged forming the Florida Education Association,
an organization with history back to 1886.
Past Presidents
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