Landslide Vote Grants Collective Bargaining To FCPS Staff, Educators

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Nearly 97 percent of instructional staff and more than 80 percent of operational staff at Fairfax County Public Schools voted to allow Fairfax Education Unions to represent and collectively bargain for nearly 27,000 public school employees.

Fairfax Education Association and the Fairfax Federation of Teachers teamed up for the "YES for FEU campaign" to have the right to collectively bargain in order to guarantee staffing for full-service public schools.

"This is a historic and exciting day for Fairfax County," said Fairfax County School Board Chair Karl Frisch in an email to Patch. "Collective bargaining will help staff retention and student success. Everyone wins when teachers and other school staff have a seat at the decision-making table — pay increases, working conditions improve, and turnover becomes less common.”

Frisch had personal connection to how collective bargaining benefited his own family. Growing up, his father had a public sector union job and his mother waited tables.

"Our family’s stable middle-class existence was a direct result of their hard work and the transformative power of collective bargaining," he said. "I am excited that our tireless educators and staff will now have that right too."

“Educators are deeply committed to the success of every student and know what our students need to thrive. When we are united, we can demand powerful changes for our schools and students. This is how we win respect and ensure that we have the resources we need to give students our very best,” said NEA President Becky Pringle, in a release on Monday. “In Fairfax County, educators are coming together and making history to collectively bargain so that their students have the public schools they deserve. They join a growing chorus of voices across the country who are winning with their unions and advocating for better pay and benefits, better working conditions, and better learning conditions for our students.”

From June 3-10, a total of 10,108 FCPS educators and support staff voted. The results are as follows.

Instructional Staff

• Yes - 7,779 (96.92 percent)
• No - 247 (3.08 percent)

Operational Staff

• Yes - 2,318 (80.68 percent)
• No - 555 (19.32 percent)

In 2021, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance granting county workers collective bargaining powers. This came after the Virginia General Assembly passed legislation in 2020 that allowed counties, cities and towns to adopt collective bargaining ordinances. However, the ordinance that the supervisors approved did not apply to FCPS employees.

Related: Collective Bargaining Rights For Fairfax Schools Employees Allowed

During its March 9, 2023 meeting, the Fairfax County School Board voted to extend collective bargaining powers to school employees.

"We face a staffing crisis in public education. Longstanding teacher and school staff shortages are driven by low pay relative to peers in other professions with similar credentials, inadequate or uneven professional support, and challenging work conditions," said school board member Karl Frisch (Providence) , when he introduced the measure in 2023. "Collective bargaining will positively impact staff retention and student success. Everyone wins when teacher-pay increases, working conditions improve, turnover reduces, and educators have a seat at the decision-making table."

For the first time in nearly 50 years, both FCPS educators and support staff will be represented by a single union. Among some of the things the union will be advocating for are improved learning conditions, smaller class sizes and increased prep time, according to a release. The union will also advocate for enhancing school safety and mental health resources in schools.

“In the words of Frederick Douglass, ‘Power concedes nothing without a struggle.’ For close to 50 years, Fairfax County Public School employees have struggled to have a stronger voice in the workplace. Now, those desires have become a reality,” said FEA President Leslie Houston. “This win will be transformative for both Instructional and Operational employees. Our efforts will focus on securing fair compensation and living wages for all. Collective bargaining will be the springboard to much needed improvement for the generations of children in Fairfax County.”

“Having a voice — having the ability to collectively bargaining for our working conditions—will be very empowering for teachers and staff. We’re the ones actually in classrooms. We know what we need to actually improve things,” said Molly Cronin, Fairfax special education teacher. “Our working conditions are our students’ learning conditions. This is about making things better for all of us."