6 questions for Pasco County’s new school employee union president

LAND O’LAKES — Pasco County’s largest employer got a surprise this spring when the recently reelected leader of its employee union stepped aside for health reasons. The school district and union were soon to embark on contract talks, with the union also facing pressure to remain certified as the bargaining agent for nearly 10,000 workers.

Jeff Larsen stepped up for the job.

A Pasco County middle school reading teacher since 2004, Larsen, 47, had spent a couple of years working in the United School Employees of Pasco office as a business representative and then its chief of operations. He saw his education experiences, combined with his six-year stint as a Tarpon Springs city commissioner, as strong qualifications for the leadership post.

Larsen sat for an interview with the Tampa Bay Times eight days after his election in early July to talk about his plans for the next two years. The questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.

You come to the presidency at a time when the state is really cracking down on unions, teachers unions in particular. What do you see yourself having to overcome?

You know, the state took away the right for employees to utilize a payroll deduction in order to be a part of their employee organization. This is a distraction (created by) the state. We’re talking about the state increasing the minimum membership threshold all the way to 60% even though many of those same elected officials won their election with with a lower threshold, under 60%. And I just want to be clear, these are distractions that have nothing to do with helping instructional and SRP employees. And maybe more importantly, these distractions have nothing to do with helping students or moving education forward.

Another challenge that we are facing is turnover because of the high turnover rate in education, it is extremely difficult for us to maintain and grow our membership.

And what do you hear when you talk to people who are leaving, particularly the district, but also the field of education?

Educators feel overworked in many situations, and they feel like they’re not necessarily able to do what they entered the field to do. In many cases, they feel overburdened by additional paperwork, additional requirements put on by the state that get in the way of them actually teaching and enjoying the art of teaching.

What do you as a union leader do to alleviate that process?

I would like to talk about some of our opportunities, some of our priorities moving forward. One of them, obviously, is compensation increases. A few years ago, Pasco was well behind our neighboring counties in regards to compensation. We are still not where we want to be, but we have made significant progress. Over the last two school years, both SRP (school related personnel) and instructional employees have experienced average compensation increases well over 17%. We really appreciate the district and the board working with us on compensation, and that includes the referendum. And moving forward, I want to build on our recent momentum.

A lot of people focus on wages and benefits. But working conditions seem to be very important too. And I wonder, what is that balance?

For decades, we’ve worked with the district to negotiate these contracts. They’re over 80 pages long, and these 80-some-odd pages describe the working conditions for employees in the Pasco County School District. So, for example, our instructional employees get a half-hour duty-free lunch. During that lunch time they are not required to supervise students. That is not the case in some districts and other places, but that is a working condition that we have negotiated and that we think is very important.

About the membership: where do you stand right now on that, and how are you making progress on towards that goal?

It’s a difficult time, but I will tell you, we were in the mid 40s (in percentage membership) at the end of last school year. We were certainly well below that 60% threshold number. We’ve already been working on the the petitions (to hold an election to continue union representation). Certainly, the ultimate goal is to get our organization to 60%. But we understand that that’s not going to happen immediately.

So what’s your message to everybody as you’re coming in, and what do you want them to take away from what you hope to accomplish?

The message is pretty simple: Join us. I want to make sure we avoid the trap of getting distracted, and when we tell our story to new employees that don’t know anything about unions, we want to stay focused on exactly what it is that we do and why it is beneficial for employees to join us. We as an organization are united and ready to work together to improve wages, working conditions and benefits for Pasco County school district employees.