Tom Mooney, President of OFT, on access to teacher mailboxes

From Tom Mooney, April 3, 2006

OFT does not control access to school buildings. Administrators do. We have not instructed members to try to impede or restrict anyone's access to school buildings. If asked, I will urge them not to try to impede anyone's access, not that we have that right anyway.

I think this issue about access to buildings and mail boxes has gotten confused. No union has any right to determine who can come into school buildings. Where a teacher union has been recognized as the exclusive representative of teachers in that district for collective bargaining purposes, the union will usually try to negotiate the exclusive right to use teacher mailboxes. But what does exclusive mean? Obviously other school related organizations put info. in teacher mailboxes. The exclusivity clause is vis a vis rival organizations. These provisions date to a time when OFT and OEA were competing for representation rights in many districts. So the exclusive right is not an absolute right, in my opinion. It only restricts access by a rival organization. I don't see CORE as a rival organization because CORE is not seeking to represent teachers in collective bargaining. However, contract language on "exclusivity," if they have any, varies from district to district, and others may interpret their contracts differently. This is just my opinion on the overall issue.

Tom Mooney