Mr. Chase, the union's president, said he hopes an advisory panel of about 15 members can be appointed this month. Its first task will be to review a draft of the survey, to be sent to delegates this fall. You've got to be constantly assessing how far your members are willing to go out on that plank. It called for a constitutional convention to draft the United Organization's governing documents. Faced with both proposals, NEA delegates voted 53 percent to 47 percent in a rare roll-call poll to consider the less restrictive merger policy, which they went on to pass by a wide margin.
Most observers agree that the two unions are destined to become one.
The only question is when. Union critics hailed the rejection of the unity principles as a victory for teachers because it will preserve a measure of choice in representation. Gregory Fossedal, the chairman of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution in Arlington, Va., asserted that the focus on merger misses union members' real concerns. On Both union presidents pledged that their organizations would not go back to fighting each other. May. Ms. Feldman said the AFT's executive council would consider renewing the agreement in October.