Ask lawmakers to describe the Davis Education Association and you'll likely hear the words "militant and aggressive."Years of tough-talk lobbying and the support of a two-day strike in 1989 gave the teacher union its reputation.
But now the DEA apparently isn't combative enough for about 50 teachers who have left its ranks, according to Vik Arnold, association president. The departures were a "dramatic increase" over numbers in years prior, he said.
"Both Vik and I need bullet-proof vests," Kaye Chatterton, executive director, told the Davis School Board last week. "(Teachers) simply don't like what you're saying . . . and the messenger has been shot this year."
Chatterton and Arnold helped negotiate for Davis teachers a 1 percent cost-of-living increase, the lowest settlement in the state last year. The meager increase "was the last straw" for those who left the association, Arnold said. "There will always be members who think we ought to be more antagonistic, militant and combative with our school district."
But the DEA gets more for teachers through less aggressive behavior, he said. Besides, the loss of membership was more than offset by the number of new recruits.
The time for compromise is over, however, according to Pat Riley, a teacher who left the association after 12 years in its leadership. And unless the DEA changes its approach, others will break ranks too, he said.
"It seems that the DEA looks to other groups to really lead out and then they jump on the band wagon," he said. That might have worked in the past, but "now a stronger position is necessary."
He said he left the association mostly because of how its leadership handled negotiations over cutbacks in insurance coverage for couples who worked for the district.
DEA leaders say the coverage cutbacks were necessary to gain in other areas. And complaints about low salary shouldn't be directed only at district officials.
"We can't, in all fairness, place the cause of our troubles in the laps of our district. It is a condition that arises from tremendous growth and the lack of an adequate tax base to fund that growth," Arnold said.
If association leaders ever believed the district was being "anything less than forthright," they would be far more aggressive, he said.
Despite complaints against it, the 2,000-member association is forging new ties with school district leaders. Arnold and Chatterton agreed last week to lobby legislators in concert with the district. It would be the first such joint effort and one that could work to the benefit of Davis teachers, Arnold said.