Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals

Rhode Island Federation of Teachers
Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals
AbbreviationRIFTHP
TypeLabor union, non-profit
HeadquartersProvidence, Rhode Island
Location
  • United States
Members
11,000
President
Francis J. Flynn
Executive Board composed of 24 local presidents and 5 elected officers
Key people
Kenn Fontaine,
Executive Assistant
AffiliationsAmerican Federation of Teachers, AFL–CIO
Staff
President, Executive Assistant, Administrative Assistant, Director of Professionals, Field Representatives, Treasurer
Websiterifthp.org

The Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals (RIFTHP) is a statewide federation of labor unions in Rhode Island in the United States. The federation's local unions represent teachers and other educational workers, state and municipal employees, healthcare workers in the public and private sectors, and higher education faculty and workers in the public and private sectors. It is an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the AFL–CIO.

In 2021, the federation's president was Francis J. Flynn.

History

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The Rhode Island Federation of Teachers was founded as the Rhode Island Branch American Federation of Teachers on March 27, 1947.[1] The original unions making up the federation were the Warwick Teachers' Union, the North Providence Federation of Teachers, the Pawtucket Teachers' Alliance, the Woonsocket Teachers' Guild, and the Providence Teachers' Alliance.[1] Four years after its formation, the Pawtucket Teachers' Alliance went out on strike—one of a handful of local unions to disobey a national AFT policy banning teacher strikes.[2][3] The federation changed its name to the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers in 1958.[1] The Pawtucket strike ended in a settlement favorable to the union and a rudimentary contract—one of the first teacher contracts in the United States.[4] Another strike in Pawtucket in 1964 also ended in a contract personally negotiated by Governor John Chafee.[4] This collective bargaining experience helped pave the way for the legalization of teacher unionism in Rhode Island two years later.[4][5]

Public school teachers in Rhode Island were given the legal right to bargain collectively "...hours, salary, working conditions, and other terms of professional employment" in May 1966 (P.L. 1966, Chapter 146).[6] Rhode Island law also allows payment of unemployment benefits to public school workers if they strike for more than eight weeks.[7]

Edward J. McElroy[8] was President of RIFTHP from 1969 to 1992.[8] He was elected Secretary-Treasurer of the AFT in 1992[9] and President in 2004 (he retired in 2008).[10]

In 1971, David Selden, then a national representative with the AFT, attempted to convince the leaders of RIFTHP to join with the state federations in Connecticut and New York to fund and operate an organizing project, but the RIFTHP leaders rejected the idea.[4]

In the early 1970s, RIFTHP and the NEA statewide affiliate in Rhode Island considered merging[11] but did not do so. During the same years, RIFTHP was also active in organizing higher education faculty.[12] When the AFT and the National Education Association signed a tentative merger agreement in 1998, RIFTHP leaders refused to commit to a state-level merger immediately (but supported the national effort).[13]

RIFTHP began organizing nurses in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Its most significant effort in this area came when it organized more than 1,000 registered nurses at Rhode Island Hospital in August 1993.[14] But in 1998, more than 3,500 healthcare workers belonging to RIFTHP disaffiliated in a dispute over how much money should be spent on organizing new members.[15] Although RIFTHP and the AFT disputed the election results and sued former staff who went to work for the new union (the United Nurses and Allied Professionals), the AFT lost these challenges.[16]

Activities

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The Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals is considered one of the most active political groups in Rhode Island.[17] It sued to oppose the shut-down of the Rhode Island state government during a budget crisis in 1991,[18] fought to keep full-time union leaders (who were former public employees) in the state pension system,[19][20] worked to enact strong constraints on charter schools in the state's charter school law (the resulting law is one of the most restrictive in the nation as of 2004),[21][22][23][24] supported stronger and clearer curriculum standards,[25] sued to stop the state from penalizing retired public employees who were enrolled in more expensive health care plans,[26][27] opposed binding arbitration for teacher union contracts,[28][29] opposed merit pay,[30] fought reductions in retiree pensions,[31][32][33] and sought to limit the role of school-wide committees in establishing teacher assignments, class sizes and layoff rules.[34]

A significant network of unionized teachers interested in applying new union structures and models to create high-quality schools, part of the Teacher Union Reform Network (TURN), is also active within RIFTHP.[35] There have been some media reports that this network has influenced RIFTHP and that the state federation is more willing to embrace some union and school reform efforts.[24] In 2006, RIFTHP and the NEA affiliate in Rhode Island issued a joint report which focused on poverty and its many negative effects on children (such as malnutrition, unstable or violent home situations, lack of access to books and educational items like crayons or paper, and little access to high-quality early childhood programs) as key issues in the school reform effort.[36] The report dismissed criticism that collective bargaining agreements stymied reform and pressed for higher spending on early childhood programs, reduced class size, and improved teacher training programs.[36] In 2009, the state federation began pushing local school boards to adopt much more rigorous teacher evaluation standards and a stronger mentoring program.[37][38] The state of Rhode Island approved the plan for adoption by local school boards,[39] and RIFTHP won a $200,000 national competitive grant to help fund the first four programs (to be implemented in Central Falls, Cranston, Pawtucket, Providence, West Warwick, and Woonsocket).[40]

Publications

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The RIFTHP issues one publication, the Smith Hill Report. The Smith Hill Report is published weekly while the Rhode Island General Assembly is in session. It is available on RIFTHP's Web site.

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Rhode Island Federation of Teachers Collection Papers, 1946-1982. Accession number 1349, L. C. Number MS. Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs. Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs. Wayne State University" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-09-27.
  2. ^ Eaton, William Edward. The American Federation of Teachers, 1916-1961: A History of the Movement. Urbana, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1975. ISBN 0-8093-0708-1
  3. ^ Braun, Robert J. Teachers and Power: The Story of the American Federation of Teachers. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1972. ISBN 0-671-21167-6
  4. ^ a b c d Selden, David. Teacher Rebellion. Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press, 1985. ISBN 0-88258-099-X
  5. ^ Stinnett, T.M. Turmoil in Teaching: A History of the Organizational Struggle for America's Teachers. New York: Macmillan, 1968.
  6. ^ "Cost/Benefit Analysis of a Statewide Teacher Contract. Report Submitted to the General Assembly. Rhode Island Department of Administration. May 12, 2004" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 7, 2010.
  7. ^ Carelli, Richard. "Washington Dateline." Associated Press. March 21, 1979.
  8. ^ a b Who's Who in America. 59th ed. New Providence, N.J.: Marquis Who's Who, 2004. ISBN 0-8379-6982-4
  9. ^ "AFT President Edward J. McElroy," no date. American Federation of Teachers Archived 2006-06-08 at the Wayback Machine. Link accessed 9 June 2006.
  10. ^ Greenhouse, Steven. "Teachers’ Union President to Step Down; New Yorker Is Seen as Successor." New York Times. February 13, 2008.
  11. ^ Gaffney, Dennis. Teachers United: The Rise of New York State United Teachers. Albany, N.Y.: SUNY Press, 2007. ISBN 0-7914-7191-8
  12. ^ DeCew, Judith Wagner. Unionization in the Academy: Visions and Realities. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. ISBN 0-8476-9671-5
  13. ^ McVicar, D. Morgan. "Merger of National Unions May Not Affect R.I. Teachers." Providence Journal-Bulletin. January 28, 1998.
  14. ^ Broberg, Leslie. "What Will Unionization Mean for RI Hospital?" Providence Business News. August 23, 1993; Clawson, Dan. The Next Upsurge: Labor and the New Social Movements. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-8014-8870-2
  15. ^ Jones, Brian C. "Health Workers Split With Teachers." Providence Journal-Bulletin. November 24, 1999; Jones, Brian C. "Unions Learn to Use Power to Endorse Candidates." Providence Journal-Bulletin. September 25, 1998.
  16. ^ Jones, Brian C. "Rhode Island Teachers Union Tries to Stop Nurses' Departure." Providence Journal-Bulletin. July 29, 1998; Barmann, Timothy C. "Nurse, Teacher Rift Deepens." Providence Journal-Bulletin. August 4, 1998; Jones, Brian C. "Labor Group Loses Bid to Prevent Nurses' Breakaway Union." Providence Journal-Bulletin. March 28, 1999; Wyss, Bob. "Rhode Island Union Tries to Halt Nurses' Vote to Revolt." Providence Journal-Bulletin. July 30, 1998; Tolme, Paul. "National Union Sues Rival Group Organizer." Associated Press. December 28, 1998.
  17. ^ Hyde, Mark S. "Rhode Island: The Politics of Intimacy." In Interest Group Politics in the Northeastern States. Ronald J. Hrebenar and Clive S. Thomas, eds. State College, Pa.: Penn State Press, 2004. ISBN 0-271-02576-X
  18. ^ "Unions Ask Court to Thwart Planned R.I. Gov't Shutdown." United Press International. March 6, 1991.
  19. ^ McKay, Scott. "2 Unions Sue Over Pension Cutoffs." Providence Journal-Bulletin. August 2, 1994
  20. ^ McVicar, D. Morgan. "Warwick Teachers Petition Against RIFT's Role in Suit." Providence Journal-Bulletin. March 16, 1995.
  21. ^ Steiny, Julia. "Teachers Unions' Restrictions Hurt R.I.'s Charter School Bill." Providence Journal-Bulletin. November 19, 1995
  22. ^ Bulkley, Katrina E. and Wohlstetter, Priscilla. Taking Account of Charter Schools: What's Happened and What's Next? New York: Teachers College Press, 2004. ISBN 0-8077-4393-3
  23. ^ Viteritti, Joseph P. Choosing Equality: School Choice, the Constitution, and Civil Society. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8157-9047-3
  24. ^ a b McVicar, D. Morgan. "Fate of Charter School Bill Underscores Unions' Clout." Providence Journal-Bulletin. May 5, 1998.
  25. ^ Richmann, Deb. "Teachers Group Says Some State Standards Aren't Clear Enough." Newark Star-Ledger. August 5, 1996; Borg, Linda. "Statewide Curriculum Draws Debate." Providence Journal. May 28, 2004.
  26. ^ Rowland, Christopher. "Teachers' Union, State Argue Over Health-Care Costs." Providence Journal-Bulletin. July 15, 1997
  27. ^ Gregg, Katherine. "Retirees to Pay Higher Rates - For Now." Providence Journal-Bulletin. August 28, 1997; Gregg, Katherine. "Union Challenges Health-Care Rate Hike." Providence Journal-Bulletin. October 22, 1997.
  28. ^ Dujardin, Richard C. "Teachers' Unions Divided on Binding Arbitration Bill." Providence Journal-Bulletin. March 29, 2002
  29. ^ Gedan, Benjamin. "Gemma Still Hopeful on Arbitration Legislation." Providence Journal. March 14, 2006.
  30. ^ Borg, Linda. "Union Leaders Fault Merit-Pay Proposal." Providence Journal. January 25, 2005; "Governor to Push for Standards for Evaluating Teachers." Associated Press. March 18, 2005.
  31. ^ Gregg, Katherine and Edgar, Randal. "R.I. Workers, Teachers Blast Pension Cuts." Providence Journal-Bulletin. January 16, 2009
  32. ^ Gregg, Katherine. "Unions Decry Proposal to Prune Pensions." Providence Journal-Bulletin. March 16, 2009
  33. ^ Peoples, Steve. "Unions Aligning to File Suit Over Pension Changes." Providence Journal-Bulletin. July 30, 2009.
  34. ^ Needham, Cynthia. "Union Fight Under Way." Providence Journal-Bulletin. January 28, 2009.
  35. ^ Wolman, Paul. Teacher Unions and Education Policy: Retrenchment or Reform? Bingley, U.K.: Emerald Group Publishing, 2004. ISBN 0-7623-0828-1
  36. ^ a b Jordan, Jennifer D. "Union Report Offers Teachers' Perspective of Education Woes." Providence Journal. June 15, 2006.
  37. ^ Jordan, Jennifer D. "Teachers Union Would Overhaul Peer Evaluations." Providence Journal-Bulletin. June 15, 2009
  38. ^ Sawchuk, Stephen. "Peer Review Undergoing Revitalization." Education Week. November 18, 2009.
  39. ^ "RI Approves of New Teacher Evaluation Standards." Associated Press. August 7, 2009.
  40. ^ Borg, Linda. "Teachers Union Wins Grant for Evaluations." Providence Journal-Bulletin. October 20, 2009.
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