The Election Is May 18th

EAA Doesn’t Want Engagement

Active membership creates a strong union. For too long EAA has stifled member engagement. A strong union only has strength because of their members. Members are most strong when they are informed, and informed membership is achieved through transparency. Which is why it is no surprise that EAA has been struggling for some time, despite members' insistence and perseverance to build a better union.

Elections are the foundation of any democratic organization. Members of a coalition choose who they want to lead them and amplify their voice to address their needs. Informed membership becomes most effective through active advocacy. Yet this is more difficult than expected for dues paying members to advocate for themselves and their fellow educators, let alone choose leaders that fight for them. The strength and well being of any union's success is therefore dependent on the elections process. But for EAA, it seems the same way EAA leadership stifles members' engagement, they want to stifle the voice of their voters.

The call to election should have been cause for excitement and celebration. It almost was, as it marks the beginning of change within EAA. Except for one issue. The announcement included a retroactive cut off date for new members to be eligible to vote in the upcoming election. This same date just happened to be about the time of the promotion for early enrollment where educators could join the union for free until August. The truth is that the current failures of EAA hinges on leadership. Leadership that fails to create informed members that advocate for the wellbeing of educators ensures apathetic members. Which creates ineffective results for us all. It would be shocking that EAA wants inactive members and less voters, but really this is completely in line with their past behavior towards educators.

Potential Voters Were Left Out

To be clear, it is completely understandable for an election to have a cut off date for new voters to be eligible. However, it is highly irregular that this date be announced after the actual cut off has already passed. This was a recipe for disenfranchisement, but sadly EAA members are used to that and worse.

Not even potential disenfranchisement, but actual disenfranchisement. We had an educator of ACPS reach out to us a week after the cut off date passed and ask if they had to be a member to vote. They had been getting excited about RUN’s advocacy so they were interested in getting involved. We had to inform them, and potential building reps that wanted to join the election, that EAA decided their involvement was not welcome in EAA. Now their voice will go unheard. Worse, they were not even given the courtesy of proper notice.

Because the announcement was retroactive, there is a high likelihood that more educators missed the deadline to get involved. Because the “notice” was no notice at all, there was no time for preparation from potential candidates and members. Members are not encouraged to be engaged, why would non members have any more courtesy afforded to them? But tragically this lives up to the practices at EAA. This is exactly the same pattern that stifled feedback and participation in the CBA and allowed healthcare offsets to keep educators at ACPS struggling to make ends meet. It is beyond time that EAA change for the better, and that change is finally possible in this upcoming election.

Incompetence Is No Excuse For Disenfranchisement

This situation perfectly demonstrates why change is desperately needed at EAA. The EAA bylaws dictate that the election was supposed to be announced for candidates to run in January. It is obvious why EAA is not interested in more members joining the union. They don’t want change, as it stands the system works perfectly; but only for them. The truth is a retroactive announcement is egregious and disrespectful to members, but perfectly in line with EAA’s leadership mentality towards members and educators.

At meetings they discourage dues paying members from speaking out or fighting for change. More outspoken members means they have to work twice as hard to ignore them. While we welcome outspoken members, less informed voters means more votes for them on election day. As it stands, things won’t change unless EAA leadership does. We want to be that change.

Change is more than possible, but it can only be achieved through the upcoming election. The election is May 18th from 5AM to May 19th at 11:59PM. While new members cannot vote, they can spread the word so that members vote for David Paladin-Fernandez, Howard Van der Sluis, and Tyron Barnes. Every member who is tired of business as usual and wants leadership that fights against healthcare offsets and for actual salary increases and restorative steps should plan to vote on Monday. We want to fight the current leadership so that EAA can fight for its members again. New leadership means dues paying members are never disenfranchised and educators have a union that keeps them engaged and supported. A better way is possible and we have the vision to achieve it. But first we need all of you to vote on election day so that no educator is ever disenfranchised again.

Let’s fight for change together.