The Latest from VEA

History beckons, and so VEA’s Organizing2Bargain campaign will be the Union’s top priority for the next two years, following a vote by delegates to VEA’s 2021 convention. Moving to devote resources and personnel to the pursuit of the first-time-in-over-40-years opportunity to reinstate the rights of public educators to negotiate contracts with their school division, delegates targeted O2B as job one for VEA members.

“Contract negotiations are the means through which educators’ expertise is harnessed to ensure every student gets the education they deserve,” says VEA President Dr. James J. Fedderman. “No one is better equipped to assess students’ needs and fight for learning opportunities than the teachers and support professionals that comprise the VEA. No one knows better than we do how excessive paperwork and bureaucratic demands make it harder to recruit and retain staff. We have won the right to be at the table, and now we will mobilize our members and leaders across the state to prepare to gain official recognition and bargain our first contracts.”

Virginia’s new bargaining law requires local school boards to pass a resolution agreeing to negotiate with educators, so VEA members will be hard at work in their communities encouraging that next step.