The Fort Bend County edition of the Houston Chronicle is carrying a story on which of the Fort Bend ISD Board of Trustees candidates the Fort Bend Employees Federation (aka The Teacher’s Union) endorsed as a result of their survey and their recently-held candidates forum discussed on this blog here.
And basically the Union declined to endorse a candidate for the Position 3 seat, even though both candidates for the office submitted answers to the FBEF questionnaire, and both appeared at the candidates’ forum.
Cutting to the chase, these two candidates weren’t “union enough.” That’s a pretty bold statement in this state, a “Right to Work” state (meaning a right to fire you state). It is fairly much the case that finding a pro-union candidate in this state is like finding a four-leaf clover.
Rare as hen’s teeth among Republicans, and still considered a lucky find among Independents.
Alumbaugh was clearly uncomfortable with the word “union.” His unease with the very idea of a worker’s union was clearly evident on his face, in his mannerisms, and what he said. Pretty gutsy considering his audience was nearly 100% union members.
Rice kept to his “no comment” script and declined to make a direct answer because he allegedly didn’t know the legal ramifications, even though it is state law that unions can negotiate with school districts if the school districts allow it. A convenient lack of knowledge that Rice used to punt this question.
Jim Babb, on the other hand, was pretty frank about how communications are sometimes nonexistent between the district and employees. For this performance, and I would say, this one alone, this earned Jim Babb the FBEF’s sole endorsement in this election.
You need to see this for yourself. Here are excerpts from the video I shot that pertained to the answers to the following question on Union representation:
“How do you feel about granting the Union the right to exclusive consultation?”
Any questions about who is the pro-Union candidate?
And basically the Union declined to endorse a candidate for the Position 3 seat, even though both candidates for the office submitted answers to the FBEF questionnaire, and both appeared at the candidates’ forum.
Cutting to the chase, these two candidates weren’t “union enough.” That’s a pretty bold statement in this state, a “Right to Work” state (meaning a right to fire you state). It is fairly much the case that finding a pro-union candidate in this state is like finding a four-leaf clover.
Rare as hen’s teeth among Republicans, and still considered a lucky find among Independents.
Alumbaugh was clearly uncomfortable with the word “union.” His unease with the very idea of a worker’s union was clearly evident on his face, in his mannerisms, and what he said. Pretty gutsy considering his audience was nearly 100% union members.
Rice kept to his “no comment” script and declined to make a direct answer because he allegedly didn’t know the legal ramifications, even though it is state law that unions can negotiate with school districts if the school districts allow it. A convenient lack of knowledge that Rice used to punt this question.
Jim Babb, on the other hand, was pretty frank about how communications are sometimes nonexistent between the district and employees. For this performance, and I would say, this one alone, this earned Jim Babb the FBEF’s sole endorsement in this election.
You need to see this for yourself. Here are excerpts from the video I shot that pertained to the answers to the following question on Union representation:
“How do you feel about granting the Union the right to exclusive consultation?”
Any questions about who is the pro-Union candidate?
3 comments:
Go Jim and Clay!
Isn't Rice a district vendor? I'm glad the federation passed on him even after he followed them around like a lap-dog.
What some of the candidates who haven't been following the district for years are seeing now is a reaction to the current superintendent and board that changed the rules of engagement about 2 years ago to stringently limit access to the public comments portion of the public meetings. They even claim that these are not public meetings but then cite the Texas Open Meetings Act at the start of each session. Most of this has been contrived by the vendor attorney for the district David Feldman, who was once removed as the vendor under a different BOT.
Yes history is important but make no mistake, these are public meetings and they do have to follow the law.
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