Tell Your Legislators to Restore Educator Voice NOW!
Please click the link below to send your legislators a letter now asking that they restore teachers’ voices at the bargaining table, protect our support staff from the threat of privatization and restore the power to collect our dues through payroll! The subjects of bargaining that educators can negotiate at the bargaining table have been chipped away under the Engler and Snyder administrations. Educators cannot bargain over evaluations, privatization of support staff, placement, layoffs and a plethora of other subjects. They also have to bear the burden of wage freezes and escalating health care costs when their collective bargaining agreements expire and a new contract is not in place, giving management unfair leverage during negotiations. We must restore K-12 employees’ right to deduct dues through payroll.
We need your help urging our allies to support HB 4355-57, HB 4044, and HB4233, which will restore educator voice and balance power at the bargaining table. Please click the link below and send the attached letter to your Michigan Representative and Senator. Thank you for all you do championing our fights in Lansing and supporting our allies!
AFT Michigan Leadership Summit
We had a great Leadership Summit at UM-Dearborn Saturday. Highlights included officially welcoming the members of the United Michigan Medicine Allied Professionals (UMMAP), AFT Local 6739, to the union and great conversations about our collective bargaining, organizing, and legislative strategies for the year ahead. Thanks to everyone who joined us – and please sign up for our Education Policy Conference on May 20 (see below)!
AFT Michigan Education Policy Conference – May 20
Are you an AFT Michigan member who cares about our schools, colleges, and the students we serve? Join us at our Education Policy Conference on May 20, 2023 at Fairlane North, UM-Dearborn. Participants will select two issue briefings to attend in the morning and meet within Higher Ed and K-12 constituency groups to discuss our policy goals moving forward in the afternoon.
Issue Briefing Topics:
- Academic freedom and a pro-higher ed legislative agenda
- Creating community schools
- “Green” schools & colleges – Good for students, workers, and communities
- How our decentralized system of higher ed impacts our efforts to increase access to full-time gainful employment in Michigan
- Michigan’s School Finance Research Collaborative K-12 budget framework
- Pathways to achieving free college
- Protecting BIPOC and LGBTQ students in K-12 & Higher Ed
- Rebuilding MPSERS to ensure a secure retirement for all educators
- “School support staff to teacher” career ladders
Click here to register:
Donna Jackson Honored at AFT PSRP Conference
Donna Jackson, President of the Detroit Federation of Para-Professionals, Local 2350, and member of the AFT Michigan Administrative Board, was the well-deserved recipient of the inaugural Ruby Newbold Award at the AFT Paraprofessionals & School-Related Personnel Conference this weekend. As we know so well here in Michigan, Ruby was a fierce advocate for public education, especially for the most vulnerable students and the school employees who supported them. Donna shared the award with Stephanie Carrecker, the President of Ruby’s local, the Detroit Association of Educational Office Employees, Local 4168.
Respect Rally at the EMU Board of Regents – April 20
April 20, 2023
1-3 pm | Welch Hall
We are doing it again! The Board of Regents is meeting for the last time during the semester on April 20, 2023 and EMUFT will hold another rally.
Invite friends, family, loved ones, and students to join us as we make noise to let the Board of Regents know lecturers are a vital part of EMU!
Detroit Teacher Member Regional Teacher of Year
Candice Jackson, a third grade teacher at Mann Learning Community in Detroit Public Schools Community District and member of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, was named by the Michigan Department of Education as Teacher of the Year for Region 10. Regional Teachers of the Year are selected following a multi-part, competitive application process that begins with being nominated for Michigan Teacher of the Year. The nominations were submitted by students, staff, and community members from across the state. Congratulations Candice.
GEO Strike Continues
The Graduate Employees Organization, AFT Michigan Local 3550, AFL-CIO, has been on strike since March 29 fighting for a living wage, affordable and accessible benefits, and a safe and inclusive workplace. You can donate to the GEO Strike Fund at https://t.co/wlbTgvTnSf.
Teaching Race Conference at Oakland University – August 9
Registration is now open for “Teaching Race in America: A Professional Development Conference” (August 9, 2023). Registration is $20.
The conference will feature presentations by Nikole Hannah-Jones (creator of The New York Times’s 1619 Project and Knight Chair in Race and Journalism at Howard University School of Communications), Roy Finkenbine (Professor of History and Director of Black Abolitionist Archives at the University of Detroit Mercy), Carlin Borsheim-Black (Professor of English Education at Central Michigan University), and local teachers and university professors.
If you are interested in attending or submitting a proposal, check out the conference webpage. If you have any questions, please contact outeachingconf@oakland.edu.
Unemployment Workshop – April 25
AFT Michigan will offer an unemployment workshop on April 25 at 1 pm. The workshop is a practical guide for AFT Michigan members to learn about how to navigate our state’s unemployment system. The workshop will focus on the challenges faced by non-tenured/ fixed term faculty in higher education. There will be a question and answer session at the end of the workshop.
The link to register is below:
Contribute to the AFT Michigan PAC Today
AFT Michigan fights for our members, students and communities all year round and we need your help. Can you donate $1 a week to aid us in this fight? Please visit the AFT Michigan website to contribute and make a big difference in protecting public education and building a better Michigan future!
In solidarity
David Hecker
President
