School employees union to vote on affiliation with AFT

Members of the independent Oregon School Employees Association (OSEA) will vote sometime in the near future whether or not to affiliate with the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO.

Dick Schwarz, executive director of AFT-Oregon, said delegates attending OSEA’s 2007 Annual Conference in June approved a resolution to put the affiliation question to a vote of its 16,000 dues-paying members. Schwarz made the announcement Aug. 10 at the quarterly Executive Board meeting of the Oregon AFL-CIO.

Talks between the two organizations have been ongoing for several years. OSEA’s Board of Directors appointed an Affiliation Investigation Committee in 2005 to research the potential advantages of affiliating with the American Federation of Teachers, a national union that represents classified, certified, higher education, health care and public employees.

A final resolution recommending affiliation was drafted and submitted to this year’s OSEA’s Conference. Delegates approved it 200-77.

Oregon School Employee Association members are educational employees working in Oregon school districts, community colleges, education service districts, Head Start agencies, libraries, and park and recreation districts.

Approval by the membership would be a boon for the Oregon AFL-CIO because AFT requires all of its affiliates to pay per capita dues to state bodies, while OSEA is not affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

A date for a mail ballot vote has not been set.