Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1509126
Big Bargaining Led to Big Gains Oakland's expanded bargaining team helped retain educators and develop new leaders By Vilma Serrano and Tim Marshall In Oakland, California, students and educators returned to school this year with added nurses, counselors, librarians and art teach- ers; smaller g ym classes; guaranteed free transportation ; and various other improvements thanks to an Oakland Education Association contract campaign that culminated in a May strike. A look back at how all these gains were won: A F T E R A S E V E N - M O N T H C O N T R A C T campaign and a sev- en-day strike, the Oakland Education Association (OEA) won substantial raises and broad benefits, including "common good" demands. It was a hugely popular tentative agreement—ratified with a 90% yes vote, with nearly 80% of members voting — in large part because of our "big bargaining" approach, meaning an expanded bargaining team with robust communication back and forth with the members. Thanks to big bargaining, the union has 50 new leaders who have developed confidence and skills. Now they want to learn how to keep up the fight at their schools by enforcing the contract. 'Next time…' Even before Keith Brown was elected OEA president in 2018, he had attended a training about big bargaining. He knew it had potential at OEA. But it took a while to organize it. Brown inherited a five-per- son bargaining team that was already at an impasse after a fruitless year and a half of bargaining. After a seven-day strike, the union settled an agreement with the Oakland Unified School District in 2019. "Next time," Brown warned OUSD chief negotiator Jenine Lindsey, " we will have 80 people at this bargaining table, representing all of our school sites and specialist groups." Recruiting the team We launched the big bargaining team approach in February of 2022. Our goals were clear : Give workers the power at the negotiating table and win a strong contract that would slow the significant turnover of Oakland teachers and specialists (school nurses, speech pathologists, school counselors, school psychologists). We also aimed to include community demands and develop new leaders through the contract campaign. To recruit people to the bargaining team, we tried many ave- nues: virtual question-and-answer sessions, going out to school and specialist group union meetings, inviting area union lead- ers to help recruit, and meeting one-on-one with any member interested in joining the team. We were looking for solutions-ori- ented members who were interested in learning more about bargaining and about the union. e one-on-one meetings (virtual or over coffee) turned out to be the most effective way to engage potential bargaining team nominees. Investing time in one-on-ones between March and August led to the recruitment of nearly half the team. All the recruits submitted their official nomination forms — signature forms with endorsements from a majority of members within their specialist group or work site —and were ratified by the OEA leadership and representative council. Trial by fire Then this 50-member bargaining team spent seven months across the table from the school district's bargaining team. The process was deeply frustrating and often felt like it was going nowhere. e district proposed to add more work, more hours of work, Teachers and other school workers struck for seven days in May in Oakland. Credit: Brooke Anderson 36 cta.org Social Justice