By Victor Skinner
EAGnews.org

BURLINGTON, Vt. – Thanks, but no thanks.

That’s the message office workers at the University of Vermont sent to the National Education Association this week in an election to decide if they wanted to join the union.

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The vote was 443-189, the Burlington Free Press reports.

The University Staff Union-NEA, the local NEA affiliate, was vying for the right to exclusively represent 779 clerical, administrative, technical and specialist employees at the university.

“The University Staff Union-NEA began its organizing drive more than a year ago and has been campaigning recently for a ‘yes’ vote. Opponents of union representation have also been marshaling support. UVM staffers holding ‘Vote Yes’ and ‘Vote No’ signs stood outside the entrance of Billings (the location of the election) over the course of the election,” according to the Free Press.

University employees voted in September for union representation, but were split between two unions –  University  Staff Union-NEA and United Staff –  with no clear majority for either. University Staff Union-NEA garnered more votes in that election, setting up the final representation vote this week.

So despite the fact that employees want to join a union, and the NEA campaigned for more than a year to be their exclusive bargaining agent, the vast majority still decided against the move.

NEA officials say they are planning to mount another campaign next year. In the meantime, the union is focused on 800 professional staff members at the university it’s also attempting to recruit.

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Hopefully those professionals will send the NEA the same message as their colleagues did this week. Education at all levels works better without the constant disruptions caused by collective bargaining relationships.