Oct 31, 2008

WTU President Censured !

Censure - an official reprimand by a legislative body of one of its members; strong or vehement expression of disapproval.

WTU Executive Board members in a statement of disapproval passed a motion to censure the Washington Teachers' Union President George Parker yesterday. The motion passed overwhelmingly 9 to 4. Board members expressed their disapproval of President Parker's failure to adhere to regularly scheduled board and delegate assembly meetings, fails to hold membership meetings, fails to adhere to motions passed by the board, and does not respond to members request for information. Although as a Board of Trustee member I have been denied the right to vote as an ex-officio member of the Board ( as per Robert Rules of Order) - I spoke in support of this motion. The motion to censure President Parker is as follows:

Motion to Censure WTU President George Parker
Whereas President Parker was elected to uphold the constitution of the Washington Teachers' Union which includes requirements for delegate assembly and general membership meetings to provide union democracy and participation in the direction of the union.

Whereas the Executive Board was elected to address executive policy matters between delegate assembly meetings and serve as a check and balance function for the membership.

Whereas President Parker has cancelled meetings and not responded timely to executive board members' request for information or executive board motion directives such as reporting and documentation of activities including but not limited to the WTU contract negotiations, teacher placement, seniority and tenure information. The resulting state of the WTU is one of membership confusion on contract negotiations, contract compliance and job security.

Therefore be it resolved, that the Executive Board express its disappointment at, and censure of, President George Parker for ignoring the democratic principles of the WTU and his responsibility to comply with the executive policy as stated herein as established by the Executive Board of the Washington Teachers' Union.

Be it further resolved, that the Executive Board will direct its attorney to take the strongest legal action again President George Parker if the same behavior continues.

Tally of Executive Board Members votes

Yeahs
Nathan Saunders
Sallie Littlejohn
Robert Willis
Willie Brewer
Agnes Dyson
Pablo Giro'n
Diane Terrell
Sheila Gill
Tenia Pritchard

Nays
Joyce Armoo
Milton Williams
Gloria Everett
Erich Martel

Absent: Maria Angala, Deborah Hines ,Camille Locke, Lorraine Smith, Andre' Taylor, Rashida Young

Non voting/ex-officio members: Jacqueline Hines, Candi Peterson (Posted by The Washington Teacher).

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a serious reprimand and who is the authoritative body and who are they're connections with ? What effect will this have on contract negotiations for teacher's concerned ? No prohibition bills of attainer ? Guess not !Do communications need to go straight to congress from the teacher's with a constitutional attorney? The term censure normally is used in reference to the president,a member of congress or a judge.Now what happens ?

Anonymous said...

Communications need to open with the board members and what's Mr. Parker's side of this story ? What motions did Mr. Parker fail to adhere and why ? What's the direction moving foward to get communications on the right track and moving foward ?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous: The body is the executive board of the WTU. The only impact on contract negotiations would be to have more open communication between the president, the board, rep assembly and the members as it relates to this and other issues. Up to now even the negotiating team has been left in the dark and not full participants in the contract negotiations as they should be unfortunately. Communications do not go to congress. Censures apply to organizations as well. I encourage you to read the motion as outlined on my blog. The goal is to get the union president to comply with the terms of the WTU constitution. A union should be a democracy and not a dictatorship. I Hope this helps.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous # 2 Mr. Parker has failed to adhere to motions requesting for a written monthly presidents report, as well as a motion that executive board members would have input when a board meeting is cancelled. He has also failed to schedule membership meetings as directed by the board and fails to answer board members inquiries amongst a host of other concerns. The board passed the censure motion as a warning that they will take more severe action if the president continues to violate the union constitution.

Anonymous said...

Where is the Mayor spending $60,000,000 per annum on Bill 16-250 School Modernization Act 2005? The cities costs are not posted on line to see what's been spent and where.When will this reform be projected to complete results for building maintance and resouces needed ?