Culver City : Unions Consider Merger

The Culver City Federation of Teachers has offered to merge with the Culver City Teachers Assn., a rival union that displaced the federation in 1988 as the teachers’ bargaining agent with the school district.

Teachers “are sick of the infighting,” said federation President David Mielke. “We spend a lot of time hammering each other instead of working together for better working conditions.”

More than half of the 275 teachers, nurses, librarians and counselors in Culver City schools belong to the teachers association, according to its president, Bess Doerr. Mielke said his union has about 70 members.

Doerr agreed that teachers want unity and said a merger would increase the teachers’ bargaining power with the school district. However, she criticized Mielke for having urged rejection of the contract that the teachers association negotiated with the district in November. The federation, she said, “tore things apart when we needed support.” The teachers ultimately ratified the contract.

Mielke said his offer is prompted by the merger in October of the two teachers unions in San Francisco. One union is affiliated with the California Teachers Assn. and one with the California Federation of Teachers, as is the case in Culver City. The teachers in San Francisco belong to the one merged local and then to both of the separate state groups, which split the dues, Mielke and Doerr said.

Doerr said she will discuss the merger idea with the association’s parent group, the California Teachers Assn.