ActionLine NEA

"The dream of uniting America's educators in a single organization is very much alive."

This was NEA President Bob chase's message to the millions of Americans watching this year's historic Representative Assembly.

What grabbed the nation's attention this July---and made front-page headlines almost everywhere---was the choice before the delegates: whether or not to approve a negotiated agreement that would unite NEA and the American Federation of Teachers into one, national organization.

In the end, after hours of intense debate, the nearly 10,000 delegates voted down---by a 58 to 42 percent margin---the specific agreement proposed to them.

But, then, the very next day, the delegates voted to reaffirm NEA's commitment to seek unity with the AFT.

This reaffirmation---introduced by Judy Schaubach from Minnesota---sets the stage for continuing cooperation at the national level with AFT.

The action also lays out a process for determining how NEA state affiliates ready to unite with their AFT counterparts can do so.

Minnesota is one of four states where NEA and AFT members are eager to unify. "We want to work together," explained Schaubach. "We don't want to fight."

In fact, as the debate over the proposed national unity agreement made plain, almost no one in NEA wants to fight AFT anymore. Almost all delegates who spoke against the proposed national agreement emphasized that they were for unity, just against the specific agreement that had been placed before them.

"Everyone said we support unity," as Schaubach put it. "Now we need to get back on track."

What happens next?

NEA will be surveying RA delegates to get their ideas on what sort of concerns should be addressed in any new national unity talks with AFT.

Meanwhile, guidelines to permit state-level mergers between NEA and AFT affiliates will be drawn up and presented to the NEA Board of Directors, probably this October.

That's good news to Maureen Dinnen, the incoming president of Florida's NEA affiliate---and an NEA higher education member. "The RA," she says, "has told us we can continue down our road to unity, and that makes me very happy."

The deadline for submissions for the 1998 NEA Art of Teaching, Democracy in Higher Education, New Unionism in the Academy and New Scholar Prizes is October 31, 1998. Visit the NEA Higher Ed Web page for details. You can also E-mail clehane@nea.org. Or write Con Lehane, Publishing, National Education Association, 1201 16th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20036.