‘Dear Becky… End the Lockout. Thanks, NEA Members.’
As NEA’s illegal lockout nears the end of its sixth week, many local and state leaders have had enough.
“President Pringle and Executive Director Kimberly Anderson: As a 22-year member of NEA, this is a letter I never anticipated having to send. I am writing to express my sheer disbelief and disappointment at the actions of NEA leadership….”
So begins one of the many letters sent to NEA President Becky Pringle by local and state union leaders in recent weeks, decrying NEA’s union-busting tactics and demanding an immediate end to NEA management’s illegal, five-week lockout of NEA Staff Organization (NEASO) members.
NEA’s lockout is dangerous to union members everywhere, these union leaders are saying to Pringle. It is showing school districts or other bad employers how to use immoral, anti-union tactics against union members, they write. It is making it more difficult to recruit educators to the union, as it appears that NEA doesn’t represent educators’ values, they say.
Additionally, local and state leaders note, NEA’s lockout means that NEASO members, who work for NEA members and affiliates, aren’t doing that work—and that work is needed, especially with the presidential election approaching.
These letter writers include the president of the Delaware State Education Association, on behalf of her entire executive board; the three presidents of the Maine statewide higher-ed union; and countless local union presidents, bargaining team leaders, and state board members ranging from Portland, Ore., to Pueblo, Colo., to St. Paul, Minn., to Las Vegas, Nev., to dozens of smaller places in between.
In Washington state, the leaders of the Franklin Pierce Education Association (FPEA) are so fed up that they have told Pringle that they are beginning the process of impeaching her.
“Becky, how would you react if a school district locked us out of our classrooms…How would you react if a school district threatened to cut our benefits because we stopped working without a contract?,” wrote FPEA’s Executive Board. “You are now responsible for treating union workers in the way that we ask school districts not to treat educators. How does that feel to lead NEA in this direction?”
The letters just keep coming, NEASO leaders note. “We are so grateful for the solidarity—but not surprised. NEA members know right from wrong. And they’re ready and willing to speak truth to power,” says NEASO President Robin L. McLean. “Just like NEASO members, they want a union that represents their values of fairness, transparency, equity, and workers’ rights. You know what they don’t want? A union that stops paying its employees for five weeks, that threatens to cut off the healthcare of people with chronic medical conditions, and then uses scab labor to extend their illegal lockout. They don’t want a union that is cruel to workers.”
Dear Becky: You Are Embarrassing Us.
“As a longtime leader within my local association, I have been to the bargaining table eight times in the past eight years. I fully understand the challenges and frustrations that accompany bargaining…However, the way the negotiations between NEA and NEASO have been handled is embarrassing to put it lightly,” wrote Sarah Craft, vice president of the West Clark Teachers Association in Indiana.
“We are embarrassed and angry at how NEA has opted for the anti-union tactics of workers’ worst enemies. Union busting is disgusting—and even more so when it’s done by the nation’s largest union, by our union. To put it bluntly, we do not pay dues to our national union to fund union-busting,” wrote Neil Greenberg, Lydia Savage, and Brian Berger, the presidents of the three NEA-affiliates unions at the Universities of Maine.
“Shame on NEA for not being an example of how a union should treat their employees,” wrote Jan Giles, president of the Education Employees Support Association, the union of education support professionals in Las Vegas.
“I am furious that the organization I’ve trusted for 25+ years is acting like Simon Legree. It’s just appalling & disgusting. And you’re subcontracting $50M of OUR DUES to screw your staff? Take a hike, NEA!” wrote Susan Feiner, retired University of Southern Maine professor and union leader.
“Sitting by and watching unions dismantle unions is not what we were elected to do for our members,” wrote FPEA’s Executive Board.
Dear Becky: You Are Endangering Us
“My local is in bargaining right now. It has been challenging, but I am determined to win a fair contract. I want our school district to see my value and the value of my fellow educators and to bargain a contract—in good faith—that demonstrates its respect. What I definitely do not want at my bargaining table are the anti-union tactics that my own national union is demonstrating in D.C. You are weakening every one of your affiliates with this union-busting tactic,” writes Joy Bock, president of the Groveport Madison Local Education Association in Ohio.
“I expect our union to live our union values. Spreading misinformation, shutting workers out, and canceling benefits are union-busting techniques that undermine all working people,” wrote 20-year NEA member Izetta Thomas, an education justice organizer in Columbus, Ohio. “It is unacceptable that the nation’s largest union would use these tactics against its own workers. It sets a dangerous precedent for the labor movement and for school districts across the nation.”
“As we speak, the very democracy of our nation is under attack. NEA should be a shining light of what good, right, and just looks, feels and sounds like. Words cannot fully encapsulate the impact and ripple effects being cast out as a result of these anti-union tactics being used,” wrote 20-plus “school rescue fund coordinators,” a strategic group of NEA members and affiliate staff.
“Unions need to walk the walk and talk the talk at all times, in everything they do. NEA is talking but not walking. If any local or state NEA affiliates are to have any credibility at the bargaining tables with school districts, then NEA must settle this now and bargain a fair contract with NEASO,” said Port Angeles, Wash., teacher Jon Hamilton.
“Hypocrite is just one word that comes to mind,” wrote another Washington teacher.
Dear Becky: You Are Making It Harder for Our Union to Grow
“Our annual membership drive begins in two weeks, and I meet with new teachers in our district in 10 days. How will I explain to them why it is worth joining their union? When I have colleagues on the fence about joining, it is often because of their distrust of NEA. I have always been able to say I am a proud NEA member, and their values are our values. Now? I cannot say that in good faith,” wrote Samantha McNally, president of the Manheim Township Education Association in Pennsylvania.
Dear Becky: We Need NEASO Staff—They Do the Work!
“We see rank-and-file NEASO staff receiving no step increases or raises that keep up with the cost of living, while senior administrators received significant salary increases, some as high as 19.2%, in that time,” wrote Portland Association of Teachers (PAT) President Angela Bonilla, in a letter signed by other PAT leaders. “This cost comes at the expense of people who do the work of the NEA on behalf of our members: The people who support educators on strike, the people who maintain the website, the people who provide educational credits that lead to wage increases, among many others. These people who do the work to support public educators are who our dues should support, not the management class.”
“The NEA’s lockout of NEASO members is a shameful practice for a labor union,” wrote Erica Schatzlein, lead negotiator for the St. Paul Federal of Educators (SPFE), in a letter sent on behalf of the SPFE Executive Board. “Moreso, it’s retaliating against your employees in a way that simultaneously hurts us, your members. It acts to only lengthen the time we’re left without the assistance and expertise of NEASO employees, who support us in many different roles. Stop the lockout; bring back our support.”
“NEA staff are vital to NEA. They keep membership data safe, work with Congress and the Biden Administration for better working and learning conditions, train members to become better advocates, and organize micro-credentials for us so we can succeed in our careers. We can’t improve our students’ learning conditions—or our own working conditions—without their expertise and dedication,” wrote Thomas.
“I have witnessed firsthand the important work that NEASO staff does for our members, whether at events like the RA, the Biden rally in Philadelphia I attended last year, or when NEASO staff came to Lancaster, where I live, to help my members obtain loan forgiveness through PSLF,” wrote McNally. “Our local officers and reps attend trainings where our UniServs present valuable information that they wouldn’t have without NEASO members. Without that work, how will we prepare to bargain?”
“Our NEASO colleagues coordinate us, train us, and provide the necessary support and guidance to allow us to help our members nationwide. We have constantly been told of the importance of this program, but [without NEASO] our ability to positively impact funds that improve working and learning conditions for students and educators will be severely weakened. The SRF Network has been able to help countless members across the country, and without our NEASO colleagues, our work is grinding to a halt,” wrote the school rescue fund coordinators.
Dear Becky: You Are Missing The Point; We Are All Workers.
“Democratic processes and values do not exist in theoretical spaces: They exist when put into action…Instead of attempting to drive a wedge between NEA and NEASO members, our national union should lead the way with solidarity for its unionized employees. A win for one is a win for all, just as the harm being done to NEASO staff is harm being done to all of us who work in education,” wrote Bonilla.
“Do better. Don’t try to hold your employees to the same terrible compensation increases that we as educators are offered: It’s shameful when our districts offer us increases that are only a small fraction of the inflation rate, and it’s shameful when NEA sends out communication trying to use the chronic and massive underpayment of educators to rationalize NEA’s compensation offers to its employees,” wrote Schatzlein.
“Teachers, ESPs, and other education professionals share the same struggle as NEASO workers. We stand in solidarity with all workers and support their right to a union, fair pay and hours, and bosses that negotiate fairly,” wrote Minneapolis teacher Marco Dregni.
Dear Becky: Educators and Unions Have Real Enemies. Fight Them!“
Our nation is in crisis, public education is dying, and the NEA doesn’t seem to actually care, based on their actions,” wrote Seattle building rep Matt Burtness.
“In a time where Project 2025 and other plans are in motion to wither the credibility of unions, NEA is assisting that effort. Whether intentional or unintentional, NEA’s leadership and bargaining committee is falling into the hands of anti-union movements and systemic discrimination,” wrote FPEA’s Executive Board.
Dear Becky: You’re hurting staff, you’re hurting NEA members, you’re hurting yourself.
“None of my members benefit in any way from a lockout… [yet] all of us will ultimately feel the effects of a damaged and demoralized staff,” writes Bill Lyne, president of the United Faculty of Washington State and Washington Education Association board member. Additionally, says Lyne, the lockout “is mean and materially hurting people who are dedicated to our members. And as bad as that is, the spiritual damage it is doing to you and the rest of us in NEA leadership is probably worse.”
Dear Becky: End the Lockout. Now.
The bottom line for all these letter writers is that NEA’s illegal lockout needs to end immediately and a fair contract settled.
“End the lockout immediately, without conditions. We also ask that all parties commit and continue to negotiate in good-faith bargaining,” wrote Mike Maes, president of the Pueblo Education Association, in a letter signed by Vice President Justina Carter and a dozen-plus building reps and others.
“We want to believe that NEA can learn and grow from this, and make different choices when confronted with more information. This isn’t about bargaining a fair contract, this is about doing the right thing and stopping the retaliation for protected union activity,” wrote Bonilla. “Stop using our member dues to pay for scabs. End the Lockout.”
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