A blog designed to facilitate communication about education, teaching, schools, labor issues, social justice, politics and ordinary life. Statements or expressions of opinions herein 'do not' represent the views or official positions of DCPS, American Federation of Teachers, Washington Teachers' Union or its members. Views are my own. Anyone who claims otherwise is violating the spirit and purpose of this blog.
WTU will host a membership meeting on Thursday, March 17, 2011 from 4:30- 6:30 p.m. at McKinley Senior High School. All WTU members are encouraged to attend.
14 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Where did this membersip meeting come from? Why wasn't there more notice? I only heard about it when the WTU sent out an e-mail announcing it this week.
If you really want teachers to come out to a meeting, you need to start building it a few weeks in advance. I was hoping we could do things differently from when George was in office and announced meetings at the last minute.
Please give us more notice and BUILD the meetings. Remember, people=power. That should be the motto of our union.
why wasn't there more notice for the membership meeting. do you really want most people to go? if you do, you need to give more notice. this is what george did throughout his time as union president. we voted for a change. please build the membership meetings. that's what makes a strong union.
In December at the holiday event, WTU put out a calendar of meetings for the year including the March membership meeting. In addition, in the 30 Days of WTU Progress - reference was made to these meetings. A robo call and an email was also sent out to members as well a robo call in addition to being placed on the WTU website.
I never get calls about meetings, our building rep never goes or mentions them either; however, I was recently alerted to the fact that the information is on the WTU website. I think it would be great if you asked each building rep. to maybe forward an email to their school or put up a notice. Do you keep a record of those building reps who never go to meetings? I think you're doing a great job though so not complaining. Thanks,
Cash-strapped urban districts such as Detroit are turning over their schools to charter operators. I hope teachers start looking into this for themselves. A teacher-run charter will solve many problems. It's time for teachers to control their own schools. Perhaps this is not practical but I hope someone looks into it.
Candi, please update this blog more. There's a lot going on in DCPS that teachers need to be aware of. I.E. the David Pinder scandal. This is what happens when teachers stand up and fight against corruption.
I was at the meeting because I marked it in my calendar when the WTU distributed the meeting schedule at the December Christmas Party. I also received the "robo" call on Sunday before the Thursday Meeting.
I make it a point to check the WTU website as well frequently to see what is going on. I am not going to be a passive union member ever again because that behavior did not serve me well over the past three years.
I agree that Building the membership meetings is important because we have not have them in FOREVER! And because of the new WTU constitution, these meetings only HAVE TO HAPPEN a couple of times a year as opposed to monthly--like they used to.
All in All, my dues money is hard earned and I am going to take advantage of the opportunities to ask my own questions--face to face... WE MUST GET MORE INVOLVED!
Was there discussion of Mr. Saunders' latest offer to give up our pay raises for next year at this meeting?
I ask because I know that Mr. Saunders was elected based on not giving back to DCPS, but 6 months in, it appears that he has decided to just give back the pay raise that was negotiated last year.
If this was discussed at the meeting, then ok, but from the reaction in my school, it seems pretty obvious that it was not.
I, for one, am NOT willing to meekly accept the lost pay on top of the furloughs (for which Mr. Saunders sent a mildly worded letter of complaint).
In response to the blog dated April 7, at 2:54 PM Look at the larger picture in regards to giving up the pay raise! To give back the payraise is in the best interest of all individuals so they may remain employed. Would you rather receive the reduction in your salary or have a loss of job entirely? I implore you to STOP thinking of yourself only and START thinking about your neighbor as well! Many individuals, myself included would gladly take the reduction knowing that we have helped to save someone's job, maybe even our own! Kudos to you Mr. Saunders for thinking about a method to save as many jobs as you possibly can! We are behind you!
The WTU leadership HAS NOT made a decision to give up teachers raises. We have made a PROPOSAL to give up the 5% raise in order to save teacher and school personnel jobs. The final decision will be made by the WTU membership. A letter was sent to the Mayor outlining this PROPOSAL in order to begin the needed discussion on how many jobs could possibly be saved. We know that there will be budget cuts and jobs will be lost in the teaching work force.
We brought this PROPOSAL to the WTU Representative Assembly, WTU membership meeting and WTU Executive board. The importance of teachers having their Building Reps or alternate attend the Representative Assembly meetings is so that they can bring back information to members. Of course the membership meeting was open to all WTU members. The WTU Representative Assembly which represents all schools in the city was overwhelmingly for this idea. We had more than the required quorum at that meeting. The WTU Executive Board was for this idea as were those in attendance at our WTU membership meeting.
I strongly encourage you to get the facts from the WTU first. Our administration planned to be proactive instead of reactive and give our membership options. Our union is a democracy and you will have a choice just like teachers/school personnel did in approving the last contract. Check with your WTU Building Rep. to make sure you have been supplied all of the information.
14 comments:
Where did this membersip meeting come from? Why wasn't there more notice? I only heard about it when the WTU sent out an e-mail announcing it this week.
If you really want teachers to come out to a meeting, you need to start building it a few weeks in advance. I was hoping we could do things differently from when George was in office and announced meetings at the last minute.
Please give us more notice and BUILD the meetings. Remember, people=power. That should be the motto of our union.
How did the meeting go? Why was there such short notice? Two days??? I have a daughter and need some more advance notice to get someone to watch her.
In the future it should be at least two weeks notice unless it is an emergency meeting.
why wasn't there more notice for the membership meeting. do you really want most people to go? if you do, you need to give more notice. this is what george did throughout his time as union president. we voted for a change. please build the membership meetings. that's what makes a strong union.
In December at the holiday event, WTU put out a calendar of meetings for the year including the March membership meeting. In addition, in the 30 Days of WTU Progress - reference was made to these meetings. A robo call and an email was also sent out to members as well a robo call in addition to being placed on the WTU website.
I never get calls about meetings, our building rep never goes or mentions them either; however, I was recently alerted to the fact that the information is on the WTU website. I think it would be great if you asked each building rep. to maybe forward an email to their school or put up a notice. Do you keep a record of those building reps who never go to meetings? I think you're doing a great job though so not complaining.
Thanks,
Cash-strapped urban districts such as Detroit are turning over their schools to charter operators. I hope teachers start looking into this for themselves. A teacher-run charter will solve many problems. It's time for teachers to control their own schools. Perhaps this is not practical but I hope someone looks into it.
Well, what happened at the meeting???
Candi, please update this blog more. There's a lot going on in DCPS that teachers need to be aware of. I.E. the David Pinder scandal. This is what happens when teachers stand up and fight against corruption.
Anon at 3:35am,
I was at the meeting because I marked it in my calendar when the WTU distributed the meeting schedule at the December Christmas Party. I also received the "robo" call on Sunday before the Thursday Meeting.
I make it a point to check the WTU website as well frequently to see what is going on. I am not going to be a passive union member ever again because that behavior did not serve me well over the past three years.
I agree that Building the membership meetings is important because we have not have them in FOREVER! And because of the new WTU constitution, these meetings only HAVE TO HAPPEN a couple of times a year as opposed to monthly--like they used to.
All in All, my dues money is hard earned and I am going to take advantage of the opportunities to ask my own questions--face to face... WE MUST GET MORE INVOLVED!
I was there...great information!
It was wonderful to be able to ask questions openly and listen to the questions and comments of others.
Thanks for the desserts as well..It helped after a long hard day at the office.
Also, the WTU umbrellas that were passed out came in handy this week!
Cheers to the WTU
WTU Presents a Spring Break Conference for DCPS Teachers and Related Service Providers!
"Working Through IMPACT Tips and Strategies"
April 18th - April 20th
Click here for more information
Was there discussion of Mr. Saunders' latest offer to give up our pay raises for next year at this meeting?
I ask because I know that Mr. Saunders was elected based on not giving back to DCPS, but 6 months in, it appears that he has decided to just give back the pay raise that was negotiated last year.
If this was discussed at the meeting, then ok, but from the reaction in my school, it seems pretty obvious that it was not.
I, for one, am NOT willing to meekly accept the lost pay on top of the furloughs (for which Mr. Saunders sent a mildly worded letter of complaint).
Even Parker wouldn't have rolled over like this.
In response to the blog dated April 7, at 2:54 PM Look at the larger picture in regards to giving up the pay raise! To give back the payraise is in the best interest of all individuals so they may remain employed. Would you rather receive the reduction in your salary or have a loss of job entirely? I implore you to STOP thinking of yourself only and START thinking about your neighbor as well! Many individuals, myself included would gladly take the reduction knowing that we have helped to save someone's job, maybe even our own! Kudos to you Mr. Saunders for thinking about a method to save as many jobs as you possibly can! We are behind you!
Anonymous @ 2:54
The WTU leadership HAS NOT made a decision to give up teachers raises. We have made a PROPOSAL to give up the 5% raise in order to save teacher and school personnel jobs. The final decision will be made by the WTU membership. A letter was sent to the Mayor outlining this PROPOSAL in order to begin the needed discussion on how many jobs could possibly be saved. We know that there will be budget cuts and jobs will be lost in the teaching work force.
We brought this PROPOSAL to the WTU Representative Assembly, WTU membership meeting and WTU Executive board. The importance of teachers having their Building Reps or alternate attend the Representative Assembly meetings is so that they can bring back information to members. Of course the membership meeting was open to all
WTU members. The WTU Representative Assembly which represents all schools in the city was overwhelmingly for this idea. We had more than the required quorum at that meeting. The WTU Executive Board was for this idea as were those in attendance at our WTU membership meeting.
I strongly encourage you to get the facts from the WTU first. Our administration planned to be proactive instead of reactive and give our membership options. Our union is a democracy and you will have a choice just like teachers/school personnel did in approving the last contract. Check with your WTU Building Rep. to make sure you have been supplied all of the information.
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