Our demands are not 'trash.' They represent our vision.
Our demands are not 'trash.' They represent our vision.
Barbara Madeloni,
President
Greetings:
This past weekend I attended the MTA's Collective Bargaining Summit, the fourth we have held in the last three years. This training, which grew out of a motion passed at the MTA Annual Meeting, invites local leaders to involve members more actively in developing demands, participating in negotiations, growing cross-unit solidarity, and expanding the scope of bargaining. The plenary panel included leaders from Brookline, Granby, South Hadley and Belmont who are committed to transparency with members about negotiations, developing leaders, holding one-to-one conversations and growing solidarity across teacher, ESP and administrative units.
I then went out to Chicopee on Monday morning as educators there began a work-to-rule action in an effort to get the School Committee to address demands that include less testing, more time for students to play, dealing with concerns about air quality and providing a decent pay increase. The decision to work to rule is not made lightly. I applaud the educators of Chicopee, who understand that our commitment to our students is manifest in standing strong for the schools our communities deserve.
We have tremendous power when we are open and transparent in our bargaining, act collectively, and assert a powerful vision for our students, schools and communities.
Higher Ed Unions Confront the BHE: Our Demands Are Not 'Trash'
Halloween was the perfect setting for C.J. O'Donnell, president of the Massachusetts State College Association, to call out the Board of Higher Education for its dismissal of faculty demands as "trash." O'Donnell, costumed as trash and speaking at Westfield State University, was joined by members of the MSCA and the Association of Professional Administrators to demand that the BHE take their issues seriously and ask the governor for additional funds to support a fair contract.
Solidarity with Puerto Rico: Sponsor a School as It Rebuilds
Many people in Puerto Rico continue to go without electricity - and without clean water. Schools are not in session or are struggling to hold classes. Union sisters and brothers in New York City have formed a working relationship with the Puerto Rican Federation of Teachers - FMPR - and are helping to link schools on the mainland with schools on the island. They are asking for schools to create small committees and complete this questionnaire. A representative from the FMPR will then be in touch to connect the mainland sponsor with a Puerto Rican school. This is an opportunity to not only support a struggling community, but to build relationships that will carry into our efforts to fight for public education and economic justice.
Backpack Full of Cash: Screenings and Conversations
The first part of the maxim "educate, agitate, organize" is especially necessary as we inform members and the community about the privatizers and profiteers out to dismantle public education. The MTA screened an early version of Backpack Full of Cash at our summer conference, and now locals across the state are holding screenings and conversations. These include Marshfield on November 21 and Amherst on December 7 - where I will join a panel for a discussion afterward. If you would like to find out about holding a screening in your community, click here.
For those of you in Senator Pat Jehlen's district: Please join a conversation about saving public education from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Monday, November 6, at Bertucci's, 4054 Mystic Valley Parkway, Medford. Contact Mary Cummings at mcummings@massteacher.org for more information and to let her know you will be there.
Learn More About the Film Register to Hold a Screening
Malden Educators Oppose Pro-Charter School Committee Candidate
The Malden Education Association has endorsed Jennifer Marie Spadafora, an active supporter of the No on 2 campaign, in her Ward 3 School Committee race. Her opponent, Mekka Smith, is the chief of staff for the KIPP Massachusetts charter school chain. Smith has raised a tidy sum of $11,490, more than $10 for each person who voted in the last Ward 3 election. Much of that money comes from the same folks who backed Question 2.
In his WGBH blog post, UMass Professor Maurice Cunningham concludes: "School committee races, especially ones for a small area like a ward, are usually sleepy little affairs funded by friends and family. But they have become of interest to investors who can tip a race with relatively small sums of money. This has been happening all over the country."
The MEA has been fighting back with canvassing, phone banking and other strategies deployed to defeat what Cunningham calls "the Dark Money/Privatization Industrial Complex." Local associations are wise to look closely at the track records and funders of candidates for local offices - and fight back.
Solidarity,
Barbara