LCOT President Makes Statement of Unity
By Polly Baker
On Friday, December 7, Scott Osborn, President of the Lawrence County Organization of Teachers, made a gesture of unity.
The gesture was the signing of an executive order recognizing all Lawrence County teachers who are not affiliated with a state education advocacy group–such as KEA or KAPE–as auxiliary members.
“Basically, this is just the recognition of the current realities in our state,” said Osborn. “Because of the recent Right-to-Work legislation and state supreme court rulings, all teachers are recognized as beneficiaries of KEA’s work, as well as the work of their locals. It’s also the extension of an invitation to all teachers to unite ahead of what is sure to be a difficult legislative session.”
The state’s Right-to-Work laws are generally considered to be against organized labor, and the high court’s ruling in Zuckerman vs. Bevin upheld those provisions that enable non-union members to receive union benefits, something widely thought to be harmful to labor unions.
Osborn offered a different view. “Sure, the governor and his people intend this to drive membership down in labor and professional organizations such as the United Mine Workers and the Kentucky Education Association,” he explained. “But the silver lining is that it really says we’re all on the same team. I can now say that I have two types of members– dues-paying and non-dues-paying–but both are Non the same side. We are all unified in our fight for better education in the Commonwealth.”
The local president went on to elaborate: “Of course I want everyone to pay for the benefits that the rest of us are sacrificing to earn for all teachers and students. Butwhenpushcomestoshove,weneed allhandsondeck–weneedeverybody. Thegovernor and most of his state board of ed appointees are against us–and so we need to stand together. And at the end of the day, hopefully a lot of teachers will be inspired to become full-fledged members.”
Osborn went on to explain that auxiliary members would not be part of the official decision-making and planning apparatus of the local teachers’ organization; however, they will still be welcome to participate in all rallies, demonstrations, and other public events, as well as most LCOT meetings, something which already occurred frequently over the course of the past year.
“With the threats the governor and so many others in Frankfort are lobbing at us with regard to the 2019 General Assembly, all Lawrence County educators are targets–indeed, all Kentucky public educators are targets. So there’s no point in recognizing distinctions between teachers.. We will fight any policies and practices that will harm our profession and our students’ education–and we will fight them together.”
“If Frankfort’s negative rhetoric and harmful policies aimed at public schools and public educators don’t improve,” Osborn said that the public could expect to see LCOT members–both dues-paying and auxiliary–on the front lines of the fight once again.
The Executive Order was signed in the presence of a member and formerly unaffiliated member, marking, as Osborn stated it, “a new era in the history of the Lawrence County Organization of Teachers, a new chapter that we hope will be defined by unity.”
