Giving students and staff the buildings they deserve
Federal legislation would help to fund repairs and construction
of schools

Many of America’s schools have been allowed to fall into disrepair. Leaky roofs, unusable lavatories, chipped and faded floor tiles, and uncomfortable building temperatures have become a daily reality for educators and students nationwide. Add to that the overcrowding and poor air circulation, and you have schools that are a serious threat to the health and safety of students and all school employees.

Fortunately, legislation to help address this problem is moving in the U.S. House and Senate, and the AFT is aggressively lobbying for its passage. The America’s Better Classroom Act of 2007 (ABC) creates a program that would provide federal support for the renovation, repair and construction of schools, while allowing lo-cal districts to identify their needs within these areas. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) introduced the Senate bill (S. 912), and in the House, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Reps. Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.) and Bob Etheridge (D-N.C.) are taking the lead and gathering additional co-sponsors before introducing the House version of ABC in the near future.

By helping states and localities modernize existing school facilities and build new schools, the ABC Act will increase the opportunity for all students to meet the achievement objectives of the No Child Left Behind Act and develop the skills necessary to succeed in the 21st century workforce.

Support for bills like ABC are an essential element of the AFT’s “Building Minds, Minding Buildings” initiative. Launched last December, the program is designed to draw attention to both the need to repair our crumbling school buildings and offer solutions.

“We continue to believe that school environment cannot be separated from the academic agenda,” the AFT report on school building conditions stresses.

For a copy of the union’s “Building Minds, Minding Buildings” report, visit www.aft.org/topics/building-conditions/downloads/
minding-bldgs.pdf.

Law would restore union rights

Lawmakers are acting to reverse a decision that would cost millions of workers their union rights. In March, the Re-Empowerment of Skilled and Professional Employees and Construction Tradeworkers (RESPECT) Act was introduced. The bill amends the National Labor Relations Act to clarify the difference between super-visors and employees. Under current law, supervisors cannot organize a union or collectively bargain.

“This bill will overturn the ill-advised National Labor Relations Board decision stripping thousands of nurses of their right to a union by classifying them as supervisors,” AFT president Edward J. McElroy said.

In October 2006, the NLRB issued a broad interpretation of the term “supervisor,” which will lead to more employees being deemed supervisors. The ruling on a group of cases, known as Kentucky River, says employers can label workers as supervisors if they assign another employee to a particular location, to work at a cer-tain time or to perform a significant task.

They also may be called supervisors if they’re held accountable for the tasks they assign.

The AFT is asking members to go to the union’s online legislative action center to send letters to their representative urging them to co-sponsor this new legislation.