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Union Member Demands Laid Off Teachers Have A Vote

March 12, 2010
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By Kavitha Cardoza

Teachers who are no longer employed by D.C. Public Schools cannot vote in union elections. But Nathan Saunders, who's vying for the top spot in the Washington Teachers Union, wants to change the union's Constitution to allow them to vote.

Saunders, is vice president of the WTU, and says all the teachers dismissed by DCPS should be allowed to vote until their cases are resolved. He says he'll file a lawsuit to try and make that happen.

"I met a teacher, 32 years in the system, never had a problem, paid union dues, finds herself forced out of employment. And now the union is quick to say 'can't help you, can't do anything,'" says Saunders.

But George Parker the current president says this is all political.

"The executive board got a interpretation from the legal WTU parliamentarian to support that. We've always abided by that and I don't know why this sudden questioning."

Sanders filed a different lawsuit against Parker in 2008 which was dismissed.

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