CTA is appealing to the California Supreme Court to overturn a lower court's ruling that school administrators may ban teachers from donning union buttons in the classroom.
"This is a poorly reasoned decision that infringes on rights guaranteed to teachers and local chapters by the Educational Employment Relations Act," says CTA President Barbara E. Kerr.
"We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will agree and ultimately overturn the Court of Appeal ruling in this case," says Priscilla Winslow, CTA's assistant chief legal counsel.
If it stands, the ruling would reverse an earlier decision by the Public Employment Relations Board allowing teachers to wear union buttons in their classrooms.
The recent ruling dealt with a situation in which the Turlock Teachers Association asked teachers to wear buttons expressing support for the union's demands in a contract fight in 2000. The district, relying on a 1996 Court of Appeal decision, CTA vs. San Diego Unified School District, claimed the buttons were "political" and had to be removed when teachers were in the classroom.
"We don't think these buttons were political either within the San Diego case or the Ed Code because they didn't urge support or defeat of any candidate or ballot initiative," says Winslow. The San Diego case involved buttons urging the defeat of the first voucher initiative. PERB made the same distinction when it upheld the right of teachers to wear union buttons anywhere within their workplace.
The Court of Appeal, however, refused to defer to PERB's expertise in labor law and instead relied on a dictionary definition of "political" when it overturned the PERB ruling.
Winslow says the court's interpretation of "political" is so broad that it potentially threatens all union-related speech during working hours or on the employer's premises.
CTA filed its request in November to have the ruling reviewed by the Supreme Court. If the review is granted, the Court of Appeal decision will have no effect until the Supreme Court makes its decision.
In the meantime, CTA's Legal Department is urging chapters and members to resist all attempts by school districts to restrict union activities and speech outside the classroom as well.
Since the Court of Appeal was not asked to decide whether union communications outside the classroom could be prohibited, districts should not be given any leeway in interpreting the decision that broadly, says Winslow. Traditional ways of communicating, including posting notices on union bulletin boards, using school mailboxes and leafleting in the faculty lounge or other non-classroom areas are still available.
Dale Martin
