Board rules Teach for America members in Detroit can be in teachers unions
DETROIT — The National Labor Relations Board ruled Friday that Teach for America teachers in a Detroit charter school have the right to be a part of a union.
According to a statement from the Michigan Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff, the NLRB said Friday 14 Teach for America corps members should have been able to vote in an election last spring. That election was held to determine if teachers at University Prep Schools, a charter school network in Detroit, wanted to form a union.
Detroit 90/90, the private company that operates the schools, argued the Teach for America members, as well as long-term substitutes, were not professional employees.
"We are really pleased to be recognized as professional teachers," said Patrick Sheehan, a TFA corps member and second grade advisor at the time of the election. "U-Prep hired us to teach just like other teachers. Making the legal argument that we are not professionals means one of two things — either Detroit 90/90 doesn't respect the work we do with students or they lied to prevent us from organizing a union."
http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2015/08/board_rules_teach_for_america.html
