Friends and Family Plan: NEA to Send 100 Staffers and Kin from DC to Ohio

posted at 2:10 pm on October 24, 2011 by Mike Antonucci
[ Education ]   

Two weeks ago, EIA reported on the contribution of up to $5 million by the National Education Association to defeat Issue 2 in Ohio. The measure would severely limit collective bargaining for public employees. Additionally, the story noted the likelihood of “a large presence of NEA national staff and UniServ directors from other states in Ohio over the next month.” Now that prediction is coming to pass.

NEA will send, and partially fund, the deployment of up to 100 staff volunteers from the union’s Washington, DC headquarters to Ohio to participate in the ballot referendum campaign. These employees are in addition to staffers recruited from other NEA state affiliates and, of course, the employees of the Ohio Education Association.

The NEA employees will begin arriving in Ohio this Friday, and contingents will operate through Election Day. EIA is unaware of any previous effort of this size, encompassing nearly one-fifth of NEA’s DC workforce.

What makes this undertaking truly unique is that the union will also provide meals, hotels and transportation for friends and family members of these employees, provided they also volunteer to work on the Issue 2 campaign.

It is not clear at this time whether these in-kind contributions are part of, or in addition to, NEA’s $5 million commitment to the referendum’s defeat.

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