These local education service agency workers voted to unionize. What comes next?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- The Central Intermediate Unit 10’s support staff voted to unionize.
- They will merge with an existing union through the Tri-County Education Association.
- The unit helps provide resources for districts in Centre, Clearfield & Clinton counties.
Support staff employees at a nearby regional education service agency have overwhelmingly voted to unionize.
Following a monthlong vote, roughly 80% of voters chose union representation for support staff employees at Central Intermediate Unit 10, the agency that services Centre, Clearfield, and Clinton county schools. The unit’s workers will join unionized staff within the Tri-County Education Association, an affiliate of the Pennsylvania State Education Association and the National Education Association.
Central Intermediate Unit 10 is one of 29 such units across Pennsylvania that essentially serves as an intermediary between the state Department of Education and local school districts. These units provide a wide range of resources, including school improvement consultations, professional development, teacher training, special education services, and more.
The election will add roughly 23 employees to the 70 workers already represented by the TCEA. Collectively, the PSEA represents more than 177,000 educators, support professionals, retirees, aspiring educators and health care workers across the commonwealth.
The PSEA said the intermediate unit’s unionization will provide its support staff workers with a unified, protected voice in the workplace and equity and fairness for employees.
“I’m excited for this win because we know just how essential support staff are to the Intermediate Unit’s success,” Amanda Simcoe, president of the TCEA, wrote in a statement. “Without them, we wouldn’t be able to provide the essential services we deliver every single day.”
Next, union leadership will bargain with the intermediate unit to bring new employees under the existing union contract. That agreement is set to expire in June 2029, but those parties are expected get a head start and quickly incorporate newly organized support staff.
Ballots for the vote were mailed to eligible voters by the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board on Nov. 19. Those ballots, which were due Dec. 17, were counted at the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry building in Harrisburg on Thursday.
“By joining together as a single union, professional staff and support staff will have a powerful voice to improve working conditions and the quality of services that we provide,” Scott Burfield, vice president of the TCEA, wrote in a statement. “Now more than ever, the services provided by Pennsylvania’s intermediate units, from special education specialists to early childhood education, are critical for working families and our communities.”
Created in 1971, the intermediate unit helps provide educational resources and services to 12 school districts in Centre, Clearfield and Clinton counties as well as career and technology centers, charter schools and non-public schools within the region. The Philipsburg-based unit is funded through annual dues from member districts and schools.
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