Your dean calls you into her office, shuts the door and asks you to sit down. She questions you about the way you handled a certain situation and begins to make accusations. You start to feel anxious and begin to wonder whether you could face disciplinary action.

Should you invoke your Weingarten Rights? The answer is yes, absolutely.

Based on the 1975 U.S. Supreme Court ruling of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) vs. Weingarten, union employees are entitled to have union representation at meetings with supervisors that are investigatory or that could lead to disciplinary action. These rights have become known as the Weingarten Rights.

(The case is based on an employee who worked at a store lunch counter as a sales person who was a member of the Retail Clerks Union. She was summoned to an interview with supervisors and questioned about failing to pay full price for a box of chicken she had purchased. The employee asked for the presence of a union representative several times but was refused by the manager each time. The employee reported what had happened to her shop steward and other union representatives. As a result, an unfair labor practice proceeding was filed before the NLRB and the ruling in favor of the employee was appealed numerous times until going before the high court.)

To invoke Weingarten Rights, a union member should say something like this: “If my response to your questions could lead to my being disciplined, I request union representation at this meeting, and that the meeting be postponed until my union representative arrives.” When the employee makes the request for a union representative to be present, management has two options:

• It can stop questioning until the representative arrives.
• It can call off the interview and proceed with the investigation without the benefit of the employee’s input.

Employers will often assert that the only role of a union representative in an investigatory interview is to observe the discussion. The Supreme Court, however, clearly acknowledges a representative’s right to assist and counsel workers during the interview.

The Supreme Court has also ruled that before an investigatory interview, management must inform the union representative of the subject of the interrogation. The representative must also be allowed to speak privately with the employee before the interview and at any time during the interview. During the questioning, the representative can interrupt to clarify a question or to object to confusing or intimidating tactics.

While the interview is in progress the representative cannot tell the employee what to say – but he or she may advise them on how to answer a question. At the end of the interview the union representative can add information to support the employee’s case.

The website of the Teachers Association of Long Beach has cards that can be printed out and distributed to your association members to inform them about their Weingarten Rights. Go to  www.talb.org/contractandrights_weingarten_rights.php and click on “print cards.”

Employees must demand their right to be represented in these investigatory interviews. Don’t be afraid to ask for what you are entitled

California has long relied on mostly short-term solutions to our budget problems, which has done us no long-term favors. The health of California’s public schools depends on stable tax revenues. It is time to demand action to restore fairness to the system and make sure everyone is paying their fair share.

The bottom 20% of wage earners in California pay 11% of their income in taxes, while the top 1% of wage earners only pays 7.8%. Corporate income grew over 400% from 2001-2008 compared to 28% for personal income. And additional tax loopholes were provided to big corporations in the 2008 and 2009 budgets, worth $2 billion annually.

The cost of funding state services has shifted from corporate to personal income tax payers. When Proposition 13 was passed, responsibility for funding public schools shifted from the taxpayer to the state.  Now the state is in financial crisis and cannot foot the bill. We must reevaluate how we are funding our government and make it fair and equitable. The fact of the matter is California is a moderate tax state, ranking 15th in taxes and fees compared to other states, even though we have the 8th largest economy in the world.

Investing in public education (dollar for dollar) grows the economy more than tax cuts and corporate subsidies. Dishearteningly in 2009, California ranked 43rd in per-pupil spending. And given the drastic funding cuts of the past 3 years, we’re not moving in the right direction. Our goal is simply to have the adequate amount of per-pupil funding needed to provide all students the opportunity for a quality public education.

Last week, the Senate failed to reach the 60 votes needed to move the President Obama’s American Jobs Act forward.  Pieces of the President’s package are being introduced as separate bills – offering another way to pass critical elements of the President’s plan.  Senator Brown (D-OH) and Representative DeLauro (D-CT) have introduced the Fix America’s Schools Today (FAST) Act (H.R. 2948/S. 1597), which would provide needed resources for school repair and modernization – a centerpiece of the President’s American Jobs Act.

The President introduced the Jobs Act, a bill designed to jumpstart economic growth and job creation, last month. The bill included resources to prevent educator layoffs and rebuild public schools and colleges. Calling for $30 billion to help prevent up to 280,000 teacher layoffs nationwide, the Jobs Act was designed to save 37,000 educator jobs in California. The reintroduced bills serve to preserve the intent of main aspects of the original Jobs Act.

“The significant and sustained improvements we’ve seen for nine consecutive years prove how hard teachers, school employees, administrators, and parents are working to help students achieve despite budget cuts that have affected our schools,” Schools chief Torlakson said. “Their heroic teamwork is paying off for California.”

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