(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) – The New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) is welcoming Buffalo’s King Center Charter School into the Union Fold after the group of 65 Kindergarten through 8th Grade Educators and Support Staff voted overwhelmingly to organize.

Teachers contacted NYSUT Organizer Rose Hennessy during the Summer after feeling unheard by the schools’ board of directors and executive director.

“For the last two years, we’ve met with the board of directors each June to voice our concerns and none of them were addressed or taken seriously,” Special Education Teacher Meaghan Hayes, one of several Teachers who spearheaded the organizing effort.  Concerns included overwork, pay transparency, building maintenance issues and having a workplace voice.”

The school board bringing in a third-party mediator to facilitate communication between Staff and administrators, following an end-of-year no-confidence vote in the district’s executive director by Staff, was the last straw.

“It wasn’t a real mediator,” said NYSUT organizer Tori Coon explaining that the facilitator brought in was a close friend of the executive director and several board members. “They met with teachers individually and after the meetings the mediator reported back to the executive director. 

Added Hayes: “They picked and chose who got to meet with the mediator and we got no results from that.  We felt we were treated badly and that’s when we made the decision to contact NYSUT.”

Hennessy and Coon’s first step was to form an Organizing Committee with Hayes and other Staffers and educate them about Unions and Unionizing.  Discussions with colleagues by Organizing Committee Members began with a narrative shift, explained Coon, who added: “The focus was no longer about issues with the executive director, but problems Educators were facing.”

At a mid-August General Organizing Meeting attended by most of the Staff, the Organizing Committee shared the fledgling Local’s Organizing Mission Statement.

“It’s about issues like having a voice, workplace transparency, job security, fair pay and Teachers having input to improve student learning conditions,” Coon said.

After a busy Summer and Fall of organizing, an October 30th vote garnered a clear majority for Unionizing as the King Center United Professionals (KCUP).

The group is now working with NYSUT Labor Relations Specialist Anna Geronimo to prep for their first bargaining session.

Said Hayes: “Our biggest asks will be health and retirement benefits, compensation, health and safety issues.  We’re also looking at class sizes and ensuring Teachers have the time and resources to prep for and support students.  We have a good working relationship with the principal and assistant principal.  Organizing wasn’t about opposing the school but having a formal way to express concerns and work together to improve our work environment for ourselves and students.”

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