<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2gAf6z_1Gxuvrt700" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2gAf6z_1Gxuvrt700" width="1200" height="600" >ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - Dozens of Roanoke City Public Schools employees gathered outside the school system’s headquarters Tuesday to urge school board members to hear their concerns and consider collective bargaining.The Roanoke Education Association is pushing to form a union and negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with the school board. Among its priorities are duty-free time for employees to eat lunch and plan.“We’re burnt out, we’re grading, we’re dealing with behaviors, you know, we’re not robots. We’re human beings,” said Marcus Donner, an instructional assistant.Michelle Brooks, secretary of the Roanoke Education Association, said meetings often take up planning time.“A lot of our planning time is taken up by meetings and that makes it very, very difficult to get everything done to be successful in meeting all the diverse needs of our students,” Brooks said.The association wants to create three bargaining units representing teachers, noninstructional staff and administrators. Supporters hope collective bargaining can help keep employees in Roanoke City schools.One instructional assistant also raised concerns about pay, saying instructional assistants, custodial workers and secretaries need more money.The education association is not the first group seeking collective bargaining locally. The Roanoke Firefighters Association made a proposal to City Council in September.Under Virginia law, public employees cannot collectively bargain unless their local government authorizes it. Legislation introduced in Richmond this year would have granted public employees bargaining rights without requiring local approval, but Gov. Abigail Spanberger vetoed the measure.School board Vice Chairman Michael Cherry said the board cannot promise collective bargaining will happen, but he described the ongoing talks as a sign of progress.“We’re having very concrete conversations with timelines and we want to make sure we move this thing along. We don’t want the conversations to go dormant,” Cherry said. “So we’re going to continue these conversations monthly and we’re excited to see what comes from these conversations.”</div></body>

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ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - Dozens of Roanoke City Public Schools employees gathered outside the school system’s headquarters Tuesday to urge school board members to hear their concerns and consider collective bargaining. The Roanoke Education Association is pushing to form a union and negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with the...

Roanoke educators push for collective bargaining with school board

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ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - Dozens of Roanoke City Public Schools employees gathered outside the school system’s headquarters Tuesday to urge school board member

Roanoke educators push for collective bargaining with school board

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