Coalition of Carmel teachers vying to replace union

A group of Carmel Clay Schools  teachers wants to replace the district’s union with one not affiliated with the Indiana State Teachers Association — a move they say would be less expensive and have more success in contract negotiations.

But the head of the current union, the Carmel Clay Education Association, argued the effort could carry a big consequence. It could lead to the district’s more than 900 teachers not having a bargaining group to represent them, said Brian Lyday, the union’s president.

Tensions came to a head in July when the new group — called the Carmel Teachers Association — filed a petition with the state to decertify the existing union. A hearing on that request was set for Wednesday but was delayed. Nearly 200 Carmel Clay teachers signed a petition in support of the proposal.

“We offer an alternative voice and maybe a fresh outlook on negotiations,” said Peter O’Hara, a Carmel High School teacher and president of the group hoping to replace the union.

During the most recent contract negotiation, the administration’s proposed 2 percent pay raise for most teachers dwindled to a less than 1 percent increase as the negotiating process between the union and the district wore on, O’Hara said.

“We think teachers were not served well by the (current union),” O’Hara said. “What our current bargaining unit was trying to do was to get something even better, and I get that. But at the same time, we have to know when to cut our losses and take the best deal.”

The state will determine whether the district’s union representation will go to a vote by Carmel teachers. But what that vote will cover is disputed by the two groups.

Lyday said teachers will decide solely on whether to keep the Carmel Clay Education Association or proceed without a collective bargaining group.

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But a lawyer representing the Carmel Teachers Association said it can petition to have its name on the ballot. Teachers will choose among the current union, the new group or not having representation at all — an option required by state law, said Jeff Hammond, the new association’s attorney.

Teachers who choose to join the current union pay $775 per year in dues, with a majority of that going to the Indiana State Teachers Association, Hammond said. If the new group is chosen, dues would be a projected $100 per year and the money would stay in Carmel, though members could individually choose to join the Indiana State Teachers Association or its national affiliate, the National Education Association.

Hammond said the relationship between union officials and the district’s administration is adversarial.

“We want representation,” Hammond said. “We want the teachers to have a bargaining representative at the table with the school district. We want that relationship to be a positive one, a collaborative one, so we can all work together.”

To that end, Lyday said union officials think a “high number” of teachers won't back the decertification effort.

“Sometimes when representatives of groups advocate strongly on behalf of their members some may misperceive that as conflict, which it is not,” Lyday said.

If they do, then the current collective bargaining agreement would no longer exist and teachers will be “individually responsible for any issue regarding their wages and benefits — any issue in regard to employment with the district,” he said.

Meanwhile, David Day, an attorney representing the school district, said “bargaining that might otherwise be occurring has not started.” The district declined comment Wednesday on the potential change in union representation.

Carmel Clay Schools negotiates a new teacher contract every year, and teachers work under the old agreement until a new one is determined, Lyday said. State law allows bargaining to take place from August through September, but the state has frozen Carmel's timeline while the petition is pending, he said.

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Indiana State Teachers Association President Teresa Meredith said she wants district administrators to recognize that the current union remains the bargaining representative.

“The school system needs to get moving here and get some dates for them so they can start bargaining,” Meredith said.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the state had not reschedule the hearing before the Indiana Education Employment Relations Board.

Call IndyStar reporter Chelsea Schneider at (317) 444-6077. Follow her on Twitter: @IndyStarChelsea.