Quick Take: Lusher Teachers Reject Union Educators Reject AFT Effort To Organize School

Teachers at Lusher Charter School have rejected an effort backed and funded by the American Federation of Teachers  (AFT) and United Teachers of New Orleans (UTNO) to organize the school.

National Labor Relations Board officials held a secret ballot on Tuesday that asked teachers whether they wanted AFT/UTNO to serve as their exclusive bargaining representative. When the votes were tallied Tuesday afternoon, 54 teachers voted yes and 77 teachers voted no.

The union’s defeat brings an end to a contentious few weeks at Lusher, as both pro- and anti-union sides attempted to sway teachers. 

It all started on April 11th, when AFT announced that, “Teachers delivered to management a petition of union support signed by a majority of teachers, teacher assistants and other certificated staff at Lusher” and called on the charter’s board of directors to voluntarily recognize the union.

A divided board eventually voted against voluntarily recognition at a meeting on April 26th, setting up the NLRB vote on Tuesday.