Denver substitute teachers have asked the Denver Classroom Teachers Association to let them join the union, officials representing both groups said.
This would mean that the 2,900-member Denver teachers union could gain hundreds more dues-paying members, and would negotiate pay and benefits for the 1,400 registered substitutes who work in Denver Public Schools.
“It’s clear to me that we’re in a corporate culture right now with the district,” said Jeannette Baust, head of the Denver Substitute Teachers Association. “Subs probably won’t get any further along until the district believes we have some power we can wield that will hurt them.”
Baust said she was determined to organize after the teachers union and the district reached an agreement a year and a half ago to pare substitute teacher pay by one-third – from $120 a day to $85 – to give more money to permanent teachers.
For retired teachers who work as subs, DPS pays $100 a day.
She hopes to find the names and phone numbers of all the substitutes in Denver. She currently has about 150 people in her organization.
Assistant Superintendent Andre Pettigrew, who bargains for the district, said an agreement could change the nature of substitutes’ work.
Right now, they are at-will employees, and “they have the freedom of when and where they work,” he said. “I’m not sure of how many in the sub pool are used to creating those kinds of disciplines and dynamics.”
Denver teachers union president Kim Ursetta said she has had several conversations with the substitutes, but that it is still early.
“We’re obviously interested in having them be part of us,” she said.
In Seattle, New York and Toledo, Ohio, substitutes have spelled out rights within the teachers’ labor agreement about pay, working conditions and other benefits, Ursetta said.
Ultimately, the school board would vote on whether to accept the substitutes into the teachers union. If they voted against it, that decision could be appealed, Ursetta said.
Staff writer Allison Sherry can be reached at 303-820-1377 or asherry@denverpost.com.
