On December 9, we learned that a Senior Regional Attorney from PERB certified that our bargaining unit consists of only teachers and does not include Home Office staff or deans. We are not surprised that PERB made this determination; it is the case we’ve been making since Summit initially denied recognition of our union back in April.
This decision is very clear (you can read the decision for yourself here or see our summary below). The PERB attorney rejected every argument that Summit made about why they thought our bargaining unit should include non-teaching staff. And the PERB attorney validated our right to create a union of only teachers at Summit. We are now certified as the union and after months of legal delays, we can begin bargaining our contract.
While Summit could try to further defy teachers’ decision to unionize by appealing this certification to the full Public Employment Relations Board, the PERB attorney’s 16 page determination is clear. Summit’s arguments are baseless and an appeal would be futile. Appealing to the PERB Board would not be a decision based on any legitimate legal arguments.. Importantly, we will continue to be certified as the union during the appeals process, which means we can begin negotiations even if Summit decides to appeal. We will be asking Summit for negotiating dates in January so that we can sit down to the bargaining table without further delay and work together to improve our schools and better support our students.