The defining formation of the National Education Association Staff Organization (NEASO) came about following a tumultuous strike aimed at redefining the role of the National Education Association’s staff. Prior to this, the staff had been seen as a group of individuals focused on preserving the status quo, but the NEASO aimed to transform them into a union that could collectively bargain and advocate for its members. The story of NEASO’s challenging inception is recounted below.

1952

NEASO was formed as a voluntary membership organization for NEA staff, including management, who worked in committees to propose policies and recommendations to the NEA administration. However, the administration had complete discretion on whether to adopt these recommendations and when. For instance, in 1954, the NEASO Welfare Committee proposed placing all employees on a salary schedule and raising the lowest-paid workers above the poverty level. While NEA hired a personnel director that year to develop a salary schedule, it took six years to achieve this goal due to mismanagement and leadership’s preference for compensation based on subjective performance evaluations.

As staff increasingly advocated, organized, and negotiated on behalf of NEA’s members, their patience with not having a similar role regarding the terms and conditions of their own employment began to wear thin.

Legislation that allowed teachers to organize, collectively bargain, and strike helped address frustration among educators over low salaries and poor working conditions that did not match the post-war economic boom. Local teacher associations quickly embraced this opportunity, and NEA members also demanded that their national organization support their challenges. Initially, NEA leadership resisted collective bargaining and trade unionism but eventually responded. During this era, the NEA added 1200 full-time staff to provide research, training, technical assistance, and support for members and to negotiate on their behalf.

These new employees brought with them a spirit of unionism and little patience for unilateral and autocratic decision-making. They were also undoubtedly aware of efforts by employees of other unions to assert for themselves the rights they fought for on behalf of their employers’ members.

In 1951, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) determined that the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (NLRA) applied to unions when acting in their capacity as employers. Although some unions, including the International Union of Electrical Workers, the Newspaper Guild, and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) voluntarily recognized their staff unions, not all unions embraced this opportunity to model good labor relations.

The Mid-1960s

NEA staff sought union recognition and formal negotiations with their employer, the NEA, and the creation of a joint committee to address their concerns. While NEA leadership initially resisted the idea of staff negotiations, NEA rank-and-file members advocated for the rights of professional staff to have the same ability to negotiate contracts as they did for educators. At the NEA annual meeting in the summer of 1966, a resolution was passed in support of extending the rights of professional negotiations to staff members of professional organizations in education, including those at the national level. This resolution was supported by Elizabeth Koontz and Edward Elliott, and it passed despite objections from NEA Executive Secretary William Carr. This action motivated the NEA Executive Committee to voluntarily recognize NEASO as the exclusive bargaining representative of NEA staff, culminating in NEASO’s first contract with the NEA in 1968.

1971

In April, negotiations began between NEA and the NEA Staff Organization, as NEASO sought to improve its members’ benefits and ensure salaries were over the poverty line. However, by May, negotiations were stalled, and NEASO’s members voted in favor of withholding services if an agreement could not be reached by the end of the month. As the parties moved closer to a potential strike, management made it clear that they would support scabs crossing the picket line while those who were absent due to striking would not receive payment.

On June 1, NEASO President Dale Robinson informed the NEA Executive Secretary that NEASO had approved a motion to withdraw services immediately and to oppose any disciplinary action that might be taken against supervisory employees who participated in the strike. NEASO members questioned management’s claim that it had no money for staff salaries when NEA had recently spent what’s equivalent today to over one million dollars to redecorate executive offices. The strike garnered national media attention, and NEA leaders took notice, and candidates for NEA leadership announced they would not cross picket lines to attend NEA meetings. Rank-and-file NEA members also showed their support for NEASO by joining the picket line, and labor organizations such as the American Newspaper Guild, AFL-CIO, and the Communications Works of America pledged their support.

Throughout the strike, NEASO’s message of “Practice What You Preach” resonated with NEA elected leaders, who demanded explanations. Mel Hilgenberg, President of NEA’s student organization wrote that “it seems hypocritical of the NEA to support teachers in negotiations and yet deny their own staff the same rights.” He also chastised NEA President Helen Bain for crossing the picket line and urged her to listen to NEASO’s side of the story. Ralph Abernathy, then President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), also wrote to Helen Bain urging her to resolve the strike and support workers’ rights to organize. NEA caucuses expressed frustration with the NEA Executive Committee’s refusal to meet with NEASO and supported the strike. NEASO staff explained that the NEA’s bargaining stance hurt its ability to advocate effectively for its members. NEASO called for a general strike on June 11, seeking support from all state and local Association staff. This strike was considered a significant event in the organizing history of the education profession, standing as a proxy for every teacher fighting for professional respect.

Pressure mounted on NEA President Helen Bain as the national strike date approached. The Arizona Education Association cautioned that a prolonged strike could harm professional association work and membership. The Mississippi Teachers Association and Nashville Education Association expressed support for NEASO, while the Houston Teachers Association opposed NEA’s bargaining. The strike’s success led to an agreement to end it, with NEA agreeing not to take action against striking members and NEASO withdrawing objections to the employment of strikebreakers by NEA.

NEASO secured salary steps as part of a larger schedule that in the first year boosted the minimum annual salary and provided employees with raises of up to 15%. The second year of the contract provided across-the-board raises of 8%, with no loss of anniversary increases. The contract also retained job security with a commitment to dismissal based on just cause, and the right to grieve proposed layoffs. NEASO achieved compensatory time, and two additional paid holidays, and NEA agreed to provide office space and release time for union leaders and members to attend general membership meetings. This was solidarity. This was the NEASO.

1993

Representation at NEA-MB. After several months of discussions between NEASO and Member Benefits employees, a six-member committee was created to formalize an organizing effort. NEASO members provided assistance and invaluable moral support to help NEA-MB employees in the pursuit of their ultimate goal the formulation of a bargaining unit, recognition of a bargaining agent, and a union contract. Committee members set out to get colleagues’ signatures to indicate their desire to be recognized as a bargaining unit. Over 70% of the potential bargaining unit members signed the recognition cards. The organizing effort didn’t proceed without a few anxious moments as NEA management attempted to “persuade*’ a few individuals to change their minds with union-busting threats of job and benefits losses. Staff attempting to unionize were pressured to turn over the names of those who had signed cards. The pressure started with the HR director, then worked its way all the way up to the head of the company—to this day those names were never turned over. A number of people were understandably concerned, but the organizing committee held firm. Following timely discussions between NEASO and NEA & NEA-MB management the threats subsided and the organizing effort proceeded.

On August 12, 1993, management officially recognized a bargaining unit of NEA-MB employees.

NSO union family from Maryland came in to assist NEASO to help NEASO-MB bargain their first contract. It took two years to get the first contract and NSO were there until the very end.

2006

Employees part of the NEA Health Information Network, a non-profit health and safety arm of NEA, organized and contacted the NLRB with their petition for a union and representation by NEASO. 

On May 30, 2006, the NLRB officially recognized a bargaining unit of NEA-HIN employees as NEASO members.

Special thanks and sincere gratitude to Susan Nogan and Branita Griffin Henson for their invaluable contributions to this page and to all the NEASO members whose shoulders we stand on and whose legacy we fight to continue.