To NEA: Thank you for trying to destroy our union.

An Open Letter to the National Education Association in Washington, D.C.

From UHPA May 31, 2013

Mr. Dennis Van Roekel

President

National Education Association (NEA)

Dear Mr. Van Roekel:

We’d like to thank you for trying to destroy our union.

The University of Hawaii Professional Assembly (UHPA) is a small union here in Hawaii. We have nearly 4,000 members who are the faculty of the University of Hawaii. In contrast, NEA, based in Washington, D.C., has three million members.

You threatened to destroy us (“decertify” is the technical term) when you visited last June if we ceased our relationship with NEA. Despite this, in February we voted to disaffiliate from NEA. We concluded NEA focuses on teachers, not professors; we weren’t getting good benefit for the money we send you, without even being full members of NEA. And we just didn’t think your suggestion that D.C. types lobbying on our behalf would go over well with our state legislature.

Our members have been bombarded with visits by your staff from the Mainland since our vote. Our members have also been deluged with calls from phone banks of Mainland volunteers and letters from you and posters plastered on campus, asking UHPA members to demand reconsideration.  Please keep at it.

We welcome NEA staff as union tourists since the university is supported by our local economy. Stay at our hotels, eat in our restaurants, and rent our cars. Just remember to tip well.  When you are not busy, go to the North Shore, visit our national parks at Haleakala and Volcano and the U.S.S. Arizona.  And there are always our beaches.

Maybe learn some local history, such as how 120 years ago other folks from Washington who thought they had good intentions helped overthrow the monarchy at Iolani Palace.  Since you are using the dues we sent to Washington, it’s good to see the money coming back.  We are, however, disappointed that you have been sending your mass mailings out from D.C. You could have printed and mailed them here on the Islands, helping our economy and thus helping the university.

We realize you need our $686,649 in annual dues because your membership is dropping. NEA has been reorganizing and laying off staff. Your clout must be slipping.  President Obama sent Joe Biden, his Vice President, to your annual meeting last year.  I guess if you want to see Obama, you’ll have to come out here to Hawaii and wait in line with him for shave ice (it’s a local thing).

With a strong six-year contract in place, we tend to forget that UHPA leaders negotiated the contract without NEA help, and that 89% of our members stood up to the university administration when it thought we would cave in to a weak offer.

I must express my disappointment with your claim “With the recent loss of Hawaii’s longtime friend of public education, Senator Daniel Inouye, UHPA needs the support and resources of its national union more than ever.”  Mr. Van Roekel, I am sure you are a good man, but you are not Senator Inouye. The people of Hawaii mourn his loss, even as we all move forward; however, the NEA is no stand-in for our late Senator.

Finally, we continue our offer to collaborate with NEA in advocating for public higher education.  If you need help on this, we have some really sharp staff, a few of whom we hired away from NEA affiliates.

With aloha,

David Duffy, Ph.D.

President, UHPA

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Petition: RESCIND THE VOTE TO DISAFFILIATE FROM NEA

274 Signatures as of June 1, 2013

TO: THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII PROFESSIONAL ASSEMBLY (UHPA)

We, the undersigned members of UHPA, urge the UHPA Board of Directors to rescind the vote to disaffiliate from the National Education Association (NEA).  We want our voices heard.  We want leadership that actively engages us in important decisions.

Why is this important?

• The Board failed to respect us when they asked for our opinion on disaffiliation from NEA and then discounted the results.
• Despite the year of discussion the Board had about disaffiliation, the Board failed to engage us in meaningful discussion until the eleventh hour, just two weeks before the Board's vote to disaffiliate.
• The Board failed to recognize the devastating impact on some of us and failed to have a plan for meeting the needs of those who are negatively affected by the disruption of our insurance plans.
• The Board failed to provide meaningful, concrete answers to the questions we have submitted following their decision.

The numbers just don't add up.  The money saved due to disaffiliation from NEA does not outweigh the benefits lost. 

We want and deserve:

• Solidarity with the largest union of educators working to protect public education and our union rights;
• A respected voice in Congress fighting for higher education funding supporting our faculty, our students and our programs;
• A well established member benefits program that UHPA will not be able to duplicate as an independent union and one that is subsidized only by those who use it.

IHE: On Saturday June 1, the board of the Hawaii union voted to sustain its earlier decision and to end the NEA affiliation
.