CTA members have the legal right to a safe and healthy workplace. Get resources to help you understand, preserve, and enhance your rights. If you feel that your rights have been threatened, contact your Primary Contact Staff.
Our Right to Collective Bargaining Right Arrow An arrow pointing to the right
Our Rights on the Job Right Arrow An arrow pointing to the right
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Thanks to years of strong union advocacy, California educators have certain rights guaranteed by law on the job.
The rights of working people are constantly under attack. It is only through our strong collective power that we preserve and enhance our rights.
In The Classroom Teachers Have the Right To:
EC 49066
Make the final decision as to student grades.
EC 49331
Seize any injurious object from any student while on school premises or under the authority of school personnel.
EC 49079
Be informed of each student who engaged in, or is reasonably suspected of, acts that are grounds for suspension or expulsion, within the past three years.
EC 48910
Suspend students from class for the day of suspension and the following day. Ask the parent or guardian to attend a conference as soon as possible.
With Administrators, Teachers Have The Right To:
Ask what a meeting’s purpose is before attending.
Assert the right under Weingarten and EERA to representation in meetings that have the potential to lead to discipline.
Stop a meeting that has become disciplinary in nature until representation arrives.
Request unusual directives in writing before complying.
Refuse to give explanations and/or submit a written statement, until after consulting with a union representative.
Remain silent and consult a lawyer if accused of conduct that could lead to criminal prosecution.
DFEH provides numerous posters for worksites and other areas to help inform the public about their rights on the job. The posters about immigrant rights and family rights are available in 12 languages.
“If an employee has a reasonable belief that discipline or other adverse consequences may result from what he or she says, the employee has the right to request union representation. When the employee makes the request for a union representative to be present management has three options:
SCOTUS Decision, NLRB v. Weingarten
“If this discussion could in any way lead to my being disciplined or terminated, or affect my personal working conditions, I respectfully request that my union representative be present.”
Keep accurate and on-going records of student discipline.
Take and keep notes of all parent and administrator meetings.
Be cautious with what you post or share on social media.
At least once every few years, your local union and your school district sit down to negotiate the terms for working in the district. CTA has more than 1,300 chapters across the state, and educators in each chapter bargain a contract defining the issues for all members of the bargaining unit: teachers, librarians, counselors, and all certificated staff. Educators sit down as equals with administrators at the bargaining table and both sides start the process with initial proposals.
Once a union contract settlement is reached, it must be ratified by a majority vote of a chapter’s members, and then by the school board. When the contract expires, the process begins again. If a state mediator cannot help break any bargaining impasse that occurs, and a non-binding report from a neutral fact-finder fails to resolve the crisis, only then can teachers strike.
Not everything is negotiable. Critical job issues that are within the legal scope of bargaining include compensation, hours of work, safety matters, class size, evaluation and disciplinary procedures, health care, access to personnel files, preparation time, seniority, transfer rights, a grievance procedure with binding arbitration to settle major disputes, discrimination, job assignments, and early retirement.
Issues not within the scope of bargaining include a district’s staffing needs, the district budget process, matters affecting employees outside the bargaining unit, the timing of layoffs, an advisory committee formed by the employer, and access to information unrelated to union representation.
On Sept. 22, 1975, then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed CTA-sponsored Senate Bill 160 by state Sen. Al Rodda, known as the Educational Employment Relations Act or the Rodda Act, to give California public school teachers collective bargaining rights. The legislation established an administrative body that became the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB).
Disputes over labor law can be settled by filing an “unfair labor practice” charge with PERB. Disputes over sections of a labor contract can be settled by filing grievances against the school district. Our collective power fuels both of these enforcements. Strong local chapters have strong contracts!
Our right to collective bargaining levels the playing field.
