When ISTA management initially denied a request by two PSO members to the term of their parental leave to a 12-week period, frustration was high. After all, ISTA was actively lobbying to extend that extend benefit to it’s own members.
The staff in question, each ISTA UniServ Organizers, spent their working lives helping ISTA members to advocate for changes in their work place – including access to adequate parental leave. When they requested that their own return leave be extended, there was little thought that it might be denied. Then the answer came back – if PSO wanted their members to have adequate leave, they should have bargained for it.
At first, the members were somewhere between devastated and enraged. How could this possibly be ISTA’s position. After all, the contract made it clear that the Executive Director could extend any leave for good reason. They quickly reached out to PSO’s Executive Committee for help.
Parental leave been has an emerging issue for PSO. Recent changes and higher turnover have led to a younger workforce, many of whom are starting their own families. As a result, concerns related to the impact of working life on members’ families have been increasingly highlighted. Sometimes, the means finding places where the union itself has to improve. In this case, updating ISTA’s parental leave benefit to align with modern medical advice had been left unaddressed.
Rather than coming out swinging, PSO’s Executive Committee decided on a different tactic. Simply pointing fingers might entrench ISTA’s managers in their position, rather than causing them to reflect. Instead, they would own their part in arriving at this point, and ask ISTA to be part of the solution. ISTA had a newly Executive Director, Nate Williams. Maybe if PSO was willing share in the blame, Williams would join them in being part of the solution.
“Sometimes, you have to be honest about your own shortcomings,” said PSO President Rick Scalf. “PSO hadn’t had a member use parental leave in over a decade, and quite frankly we hadn’t prioritized updating that benefit in recent contract negotiations. That was a failure on our part. But by owning that, we were able to call on ISTA to acknowledge that not extending the leave meant failing to live up to their values. We both had a chance to set things right.”
PSO made it clear that a decision by ISTA to ignore its own position on parental leave would leave its employees feeling disregarded and undervalued. By contrast, working together, the issue could be resolved for these members, with a more permanent solution being negotiated in this year’s bargaining sessions. The approach worked. ISTA reconsidered its position, and granted the extensions.
“I saw that nearly every member of our executive team made statements to demonstrate the lack of investment we were feeling in each of our families,” said Juli Davis, one of PSO members seeking the extension. “The advocacy on behalf of our growing families means a lot to us. I know that I belong to a union who not only advocates for my contractual rights, but also for my family. It is a good reminder as to why unions matter and why we are able to accomplish change when they come together.”
PSO was gratified by ISTA’s decision to ultimately set things right for these two employees, but the work isn’t done. Updating this provision will be a priority in the bargaining sessions beginning this spring.
