Dena Levitz, The Examiner
2007-08-31 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

WASHINGTON -

Union leaders across D.C. are worried that schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s desires to suspend personnel laws to permanently get rid of hundreds of office staff could be just the tip of the iceberg of difficulties for organized labor.

Nathan Saunders, vice president of the 4,200-member Washington Teachers’ Union, told The Examiner that he’s heard fears from fellow labor officials in the city’s fire and police departments that there could be an effort under way to undermine all D.C. unions.

“There are concerns across all public service unions that they could be impacted,” Saunders said. “A great deal is going to rely on what that piece of legislation looks like. We would hope that the powers that be are as open and forthcoming as they have been thus far.”

Rhee hopes to fire several hundred employees over the next year and wants to use the council to expedite the process.

City spokeswoman Mafara Hobson told The Examiner that the focus of the streamlining will not be at the classroom level, but that hasn’t stopped speculation from union membership that they could be next.

Saunders said the teachers union agrees with efforts to remove inefficient members of the central office so long as more resources “materialize at the local school level” to enhance music, art and physical education programs at schools. “That will yield the highest dividends in student achievement,” he added.

Bernard Lucas, head of the 300-plus-member Council of School Officers, which represents principals, counselors and other non-teachers, told The Examiner “we don’t expect those positions to be bothered” as part of Rhee’s announced round of cuts.

Until the actual legislation is released, Lucas said he doesn’t want to speculate about the impact on his union.

But Joslyn Williams, president of the Metropolitan Labor Council, which represents 165,000 D.C. workers, is more wary.

“What we are concerned about is that on this proposal the council and chancellor will be getting a blank check to make wholesale changes without due process,” he told The Examiner. “The administration has at its disposal tools for getting rid of incompetent workers. ... If you’re seeking to change the school system, the unions are prepared to sit down with them and work with them. We won’t stand at the sidelines and let procedural rights of workers be trampled.”

dlevitz@dcexaminer.com