| Date: | 08/01/2017 |
|---|---|
| Organization: | Department of Labor Relations |
| Docket Number: | CAS-16-5059 |
- Respondent: Springfield School Committee
- Petitioner: Springfield Federation of Paraprofessionals, Local 4098, AFL-CIO
The issue before the CERB was whether to grant a petition filed by the Springfield Federation of Paraprofessionals, Local 4098 seeking to accrete a number of different tutor titles to its bargaining unit of paraprofessionals, licensed practical nurses, health assistants and other non-professional employees. The tutors, who became Springfield Public School Employees in the 2015-2016 academic year, provided academic assistance to individual students and to small groups of students mostly outside of the classroom based on a centralized curriculum. The School Committee opposed accretion on grounds that the tutors did not share a community of interest with the other members of the unit and argued that because the tutors had not expressed an interest in union representation, they should not be accrete to the unit without an election. The CERB rejected these arguments. It concluded that the tutors shared a community of interest with the other members of the paraprofessionals bargaining unit, all of whom were non-professional employees who worked directly with students in a school setting to provide a mix of instructional, physical and other types of adaptive, social or behavioral assistance and support to the student’s education program. The CERB also determined that the tutors shared a community of interest with the paraprofessionals in educational requirements, rate of pay, hours, work location and work contacts. Further finding that the petition raised no question concerning representation, the CERB accreted the tutors into the bargaining unit.