Columbus EA Avoids Vote to Damage Democratic Structures
The Legislative Assembly (LA) is the monthly gathering of the highest decision making body of the Columbus Education Association (CEA). The agenda normally consists of updates from union staff consultants, committee reports, and new/old business. It can be easy for Faculty Representatives to show up, vote with leadership, and call it a day.
In September, however, one of the democratic safeguards nearly went up for a vote, revealing just how fragile our structures are—and how willing our leaders can be to abandon democracy when they don’t think anyone is paying attention. If that can happen in a union as strong as CEA, it can (and does) happen in smaller locals, too.
At the local’s final LA of the 2024-25 school year, a member presented a New Business Item (NBI) that would alter the power of elected union positions. The presented NBI in May 2025 would strike the “Prohibition” article in their By-Laws, which states that no union member may hold more than one elected position at a time. The member presenting the NBI was serving as a Senior Faculty Representative in a building and had just won a District Governor position by acclimation. The NBI was presented verbally and by the article number, meaning faculty representatives had no printed proposal to consider, nor did the maker of the motion explain what the article they proposed to remove even said.
All NBIs must be read twice before membership takes a vote on the measure, and the readings cannot happen at the same meeting; thus, the union’s faculty representatives were to have discussion and cast a vote on the NBI at their first meeting of the year in September… or so they thought.
It was somewhat obvious, to members who are familiar with Robert’s Rules, that CEA leadership felt a certain way about the NBI, because the Chair was relinquished during the meeting—meaning the Chair (traditionally the President) handed the responsibility of running the meeting over to someone else, so they could speak either in favor or against the NBI during discussion. Unfortunately, members did not hear leadership’s position on this undemocratic proposal, because the then-presiding Chair told the elected body the maker of the motion wished to withdraw it. With confusion rippling through the room, the then-presiding Chair instructed the legislative body they could unanimously allow the motion to be withdrawn without objection; if anyone wanted to object, they may force the body to proceed with a second reading.
While the body voted to allow the maker of the motion to withdraw the proposed NBI, most members were left confused on what had just happened with no explanation from anyone and no acknowledgement from any level of the local’s leadership that the union’s Board of Governors had been knowingly violating it’s own Constitution & Bylaws for months, and those months were of great importance. Though one might think “It’s summertime, so there’s not a whole lot of union business happening,” it’s actually quite the opposite. June, July, and August were filled with the NEA Representative Assembly (at which the Board of Governors met and took at least one important vote), contract negotiations (of which the member served on the core bargaining team), and the start of school (of which the member served as Governor for the district and had no report at the first meeting, despite units in that district having major concerns).
The move sheds light on several aspects of the local that CORE organizers are trying to change: lackluster democracy, disengaged membership, and deficit of knowledge about union structures and responsibilities. CORE members are taking matters into their own hands by calling on some experts to teach us how to interact with and stand up for our principles at our union’s most democratic meetings.
Join us on Saturday, November 1st for a training on Robert’s Rules of Order. We’ll cover motions, procedures, strategies, and the basic flows of meetings. Registration is required (space is limited) and can be found on our website. Democracy and solidarity forever!