Teachers in Clovis, the state’s largest non-unionized district, announce organizing effort

Frustrated by what they say has been a lack of a say in decisions to reopen schools, a group of teachers at Clovis Unified, the only big California district without a teachers union, has announced a campaign to unionize. Clovis is the state’s 11th-largest district, with 41,200 students and 2,100 teachers and counselors.

In a letter released on Monday to the community kicking off the drive, signed by more than 70 teachers, the members of The Association of Clovis Educators wrote. “We are not abandoning our strong relationships with our district’s stakeholders; instead, we are offering a new path to create a truly unified district.”

Tensions surfaced Wednesday, when teachers backing the union complained at a school board meeting that the district was intimidating teachers not to sign up, the Fresno Bee reported. Teacher Melissa Ferdinandsen told the school board. “Just today, I was told by a colleague, ‘You better be careful. They are out to get you,’” the article said.

The district denied it was interfering and issued a statement that said Clovis has always followed an “open-door philosophy” between employees and administrators.

“We recognize that during the pandemic, these traditions of collaboration and finding win-win solutions have been challenged by the sharply divided views held on this subject within our community and among our own employee teams. We’ve also had to make rapid adjustments to respond to the changing conditions presented by the pandemic, which has been challenging,” the statement said.

Kristin Heimerdinger, an AP macroeconomics teacher at Buchanan High School for 28 years, said that interest in unionizing intensified since July, when the school board adopted a policy for fully reopening schools without considering several options that an employee committee had recommended.

Unlike union organizing for private companies, where employees hold a vote to form a union, public employee unions are authorized to represent employees once more than 50% of employees verify that they want a union. The organizers will now have up to a year from this week to get the required signatures, Heimerdinger said.

Founded in 1959, the district has a union representing bus drivers, custodians and maintenance workers affiliated with the California State Employees Association, but several efforts by teachers to unionize, dating back to the 1970s and 1980s, failed.

Clovis teachers have a Faculty Senate, but it’s advisory with no legal authority to negotiate on behalf of teachers. A new union would be affiliated with the California Teachers Association, which has been helping with organizing.