César Chávez Academy (CCA) is the largest charter school district in Michigan educating roughly 2,000 students at five campuses across Detroit. The Leona Group LLC (Leona), one of the largest for-profit education management organizations in the country, manages CCA. Leona has schools in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Florida, and Arizona. CCA was one of the first charter schools in the state. Established in 1996, CCA is Leona’s flagship school and remains a key component in Leona’s national charter school network.
On this date teachers and staff went public with our intent to form a union. We launched our organizing campaign and filed for an election in December 2012.
As organizing for our union progressed, Leona fought back by hiring an Anti-union firm, Craft-Barresi Consultants, Ltd. The firm was invited into the schools and, at times, pulled teachers from their teaching duties to speak about the union.
In order to remove CBC from the buildings, educators and the newly formed "Mujeres Mejorando la Educacion" gathered at a regularly scheduled CCA Board Meeting to request that they put pressure on the Leona Group.
By early December 2012, a super-majority of educators at CCA had signed an NLRB petition and asked to be officially recognized as the teachers’ union, CCA-ACTS, at a large rally outside the CCA district headquarters.
The date of February 7th, 2013 was set for the election of Michigan ACTS as the agent for the teachers union at CCA.
CCA-ACTS won overwhelmingly, by a greater than 2-1 margin, and thus certified the Michigan Alliance of Charter School Teachers and Staff (Michigan ACTS), as the official union at CCA.
Eva Coleman, a teacher at CCA for 13 Years, speaks at the Education Nation Detroit Educator Panel.
Working alongside community groups and parents, CCA ACTS took hard stances on school issues like bullying and availability for Spanish translation at board meetings.
Teachers at Cesar Chavez Academy gathered to thank parents for their support during the election campaign.
After the Union victory in February '13, Leona took it upon themselves to ignore the collective bargaining rights of the newly formed CCA-ACTS and change health care providers.
At the end of the 2012-13 school year, six bargaining unit members were fired.
During the summer teachers continued to be active in union activities.
After dedicating 13 years of her social work career to Cesar Chavez Academy, committed union activist, Lynne Santoscoy, was laid off and her position was eliminated. Click "Find Out More" to read AFT Michigan's press release about the event.
In response to Lynne's firing, dozens of parents and teachers gathered in protest.
Teachers, parents and community members planned to attend the November board meeting to ask for intervention in Leona's hiring and firing practices.
Over 100 school employees, parents, former students, and community supporters arrived at the CCA board meeting on November 14, but were turned away because the board did not have a quorum.
The CCA Board was scheduled to meet again on December 12, and again they canceled their meeting.
The Detroit News published an article by Allie Gross, a parent and journalist in the Southwest Community discussing the concerning behavior by the CCA Board of Directors.
In an effort to engage Dr. Bill Coats (CEO of The Leona Group, LLC) and Mr. Fred Pacheco in the ongoing bargaining process, teachers made "Valentine's" to show how much we LOVE CCA!
Detroit Charter School Union charges administrators with bad faith bargaining, labor law violations.
Over 200 Teachers, Students, Parents, and community members gathered to march in the community of Cesar Chavez Academy.
Union Teachers at Detroit’s Largest Charter School Win Unprecedented Settlement While Hundreds of Students, Parents, and Teachers Watch Film About César Chávez
After the historic settlement at the NLRB, and acceptance by the CCA Board of Directors, Lynne Santoscoy returned to work.
After the settlement, The Leona Group responded at the bargaining table by changing their team and by using stalling tactics. In response, teachers at CCA joined our bargaining team at the following session to participate in a "Grade-In"
After such movement at the table, teachers were hopeful that The Leona Group would bargain in good faith a contract that would retain quality educators for the long term.
Teachers and Staff from various AFT Locals and other unions stand in solidarity with teachers at CCA schools.
Students show support at school.
Teachers vote to take action.
Community members and members of the League of Extraordinary Educators gather to support contract efforts at CCA.
After more than two years of fighting, teachers finally gain a fair contract.
In place of a picket, teachers threw a party!
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