Dena Levitz, The Examiner
2007-12-06 08:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

WASHINGTON -

D.C.’s workers unions have drafted an alternative to Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s proposal to cut office staff that would seek to have employees retrained instead of terminated.

The substitute bill, which is being circulated among D.C. Council members, also would protect all nonmanagers from being laid off. Rhee’s bill would make it easier to fire any nonunion employee in the school system’s central office.

By floating an alternative bill, the unions are taking their strongest step yet to challenge Rhee’s authority to cut the size of the school’s nonteaching staff.

That challenge comes as the teachers union is in the middle of renegotiating its contract with the school system.

“We reject the idea that you have to abuse employees to have good work service,” Washington Teachers’ Union Vice President Nathan Saunders told The Examiner. “This gives the authority she needs to make changes to the system ... but also respects workers’ rights.”

Discussions and a vote could come next week.

The union plan also provides for training for those managers who are let go. Rhee’s legislation doesn’t provide that option but has a provision for contract buyouts.

The union plan was cobbled together by the 4,200-member Washington Teachers’ Union as well as the Metropolitan Washington Council and other unions that represent school system workers.

Unions are also organizing a radio blitz and getting hundreds to sign a petition complaining about the “decide and then consult approach” they say is being used by Mayor Adrian Fenty.

Representatives cited Rhee and Fenty’s compilation of a list of 23 schools to be closed without community or council input as the most egregious example of that approach.

Saunders said this week that teachers were worried about their jobs and added that the recent developments could have an impact on the collective bargaining process.

Rhee indicated at the time of the closures announcement that she didn’t intend to terminate all staff from those schools.

dlevitz@dcexaminer.com