President’s Corner – Merger Update
Submitted by Greg Georg
As many of you are aware, resolutions were passed at the AFT-Wisconsin (AFT-W) Convention last October and at the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) Representative Assembly in December setting up a Unity Committee to discuss a possible merger of AFT-Wisconsin and WEAC. The Unity Committee held its first meeting in mid-December and has held five two-day sessions to this point. There are twenty-six members on the committee made up from members of AFT-W and WEAC and staff from AFT-W, WEAC, American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and National Education Association (NEA).
So far, the majority of the discussion at Unity Committee meetings has been about governance structure in general and what a state level governing board might look like in particular. This area is still under discussion and no final decisions have been made regarding the governing structure of any new organization. There also been some discussion about membership and local unions and how they fit in, but no final decisions. There has not really been much if any discussion in a number of areas such as staffing, dues, other financial matters, or how a merged organization might differ from the two organizations from which it would be formed.
As a result of a resolution passed at the AFT-W Convention, a survey was recently done to gather AFT-W members concerns and questions regarding merger. Those responses are now in and the Survey Committee will be reviewing those results and putting together a report. As a part of that convention resolution and the survey, a number of informational items regarding merger were placed on the AFT-W website. These include AFT-W & WEAC Constitutions, a list of Unity Committee members, reports from Unity Committee meetings, and more. You can view these items by going to the AFT-W website at www.aft-wisconsin.org, click on “member resources” and then “merger survey and resources.”
There is a long lead time for an official merger to take place. Per AFT and NEA guidelines, a merger can only become effective on September 1st of a given year. The vote by the organizations to approve a merger must take place at least six months prior to that date, or by March 1st of that year. There also has to be notice of an intent to merge given to AFT and NEA by January 1st of the year of merger. The earliest an official merger could take place would be September 1, 2014. For that to happen, all merger talks would need to be completed well before the end of 2013. If not, a merger could not happen until September 1, 2015. I believe there is a great deal more to be discussed before any possible merger could take place.