The Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) is an education union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

 representing the public policy, labor and professional interests of its members. It is affiliated with the National Education Association

National Education Association

The National Education Association is the largest professional organization and largest labor union in the United States, representing public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college students preparing to become...

. Its headquarters are located in Madison

Madison, Wisconsin

Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....

, Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

.

History

WEAC began as a statewide educational organization of teachers and administrators in 1853. After passage of a collective bargaining law for public employees, it evolved into a pro-active teachers union and in 1972 changed its name to the Wisconsin Education Association Council. Later, WEAC expanded its membership to education support staff, as well as UW, technical college and State of Wisconsin education and information professionals.

WEAC represents its members in areas such as collective bargaining

Collective bargaining

Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions...

, legislation, professional development and support and public relations. WEAC also advocates on behalf of the 865,000 children in Wisconsin public schools.

On August 15th, due to the Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill which made Teacher Union membership voluntary instead of involuntary, WEAC issued layoff notices to 40% of its staff. After many unsuccessful measures to stop the implementation of voluntary WEAC membership, and unprecedented lobby spending , WEAC joined "We Are Wisconsin," a public union political action committe (PAC) which published death threats to the Govenor of the State of Wisconsin on their "Recall Walker Kick Off Rally" webpage on November 7th, 2011. WEAC and other public unions have used violence and intimidation before in Wisconsin, but this was the first published death threat of an elected official by a public union group.

Membership

WEAC membership includes:

• Teachers, counselors and library media specialists in Wisconsin public K-12 schools.
• Education support professionals — secretaries, teacher aides, bus drivers, custodians, cooks — employed in public K-12 schools.
• Faculty and support staff in the Wisconsin Technical College System.
• Active retired members.
• University students who are studying to be educators.
• Education and information professionals who are employed by the state and work in the Department of Public Instruction, Wisconsin Technical College System, State Historical Society, at other state schools and libraries, and in state prisons and other institutions, including the Centers for the Developmentally Disabled.

Legal affairs

WEAC attempts to interview candidates for political and judicial office, but at least one judicial candidate has refused an interview with the association, claiming, "it might give the impression of a hidden agenda."

Suits against Virtual School

WEAC had made several suits in the recent years against Wisconsin virtual schools. One such suit is when the association sued the Wisconsin Virtual Academy

Wisconsin Virtual Academy

Wisconsin Virtual Academy is a virtual school in Wisconsin. It is currently operated as a charter school by the McFarland School District, which has a contract with the for-profit K12 Inc. corporation of Virginia.-School history:...

and Connections Academy, because WEAC felt that the two schools "were operating in violation of open enrollment, charter school and teacher licensing laws" Wisconsin Virtual Academy was first established in September 2003 with full approval of the DPI. When WEAC sued WIVA, the DPI was a defendant, but it sided with WEAC in the lawsuit. WEAC also didn't talk to any of their members teaching in WIVA before issuing the suit, which, if the suit had succeeded, would have put those WEAC teachers out of a job and closed the two virtual schools.

Suit against State of Wisconsin for Constitutional 1st and 14th Amendment Violations

Background

The Wisconsin Legislative Branch wrote a bill to limit collective bargaining laws which were established in Wisconsin in 1959 which was signed into Law by the Govenor. The bill was halted by the Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi. The Wisconsin Supreme Court unanimously found Judge Sumi to be in violation of Constitutional Separation of Powers. . The Wisconsin Secretary of State Douglas La Follette refused to publish the Law immediately after the Wisconsin Supreme Court decision, enabling WEAC, along with other unions which represented public employees, to file a Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief against Wisconsin Govenor Scott Walker, (and others in the administration) on the basis that:

Basis of Lawsuit

• An employer that compensates employees of a public union with different specialties (in this case Public Safety employees), violates the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America.

• The lack of a public union to involuntary take funds from public employees in the State of Wisconsin violates the 1st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, because without those funds, the public unions claim, removes the ability for public unions to exercise free speech.

Financial

The delay of Wisconsin Secretary of State Douglas La Follette publishing a law which limited collective bargaining laws, (which stopped the authorization of WEAC to make automatic payroll deductions of public employees through school districts), enabled WEAC to solicit school districts to gather the names, addresses and email addresses of WEAC members, (apparently WEAC did not have this information for its own members), in order to allow WEAC representatives to contact and gather bank account information to have union dues automatically withdrawn from those education professionals who decide to stay in WEAC, (prior to the collective bargaining bill, public employees were automatically enrolled in the appropriate public union, with the collective bargaining bill they now have a choice)