A message from LFT President Steve Monaghan

Dear Colleague,

As the legislature returns to Baton Rouge for the 2014 regular session, let’s assess where we’ve been, where we are, and where we should be going.

On Friday May 2, 2014 at 7:00 pm, the annual variety show put on by NBEA Membership to raise money for scholarships will be held for one show only.  The event is already well underway in planning and practice.   Plan to perform with a group, help with gathering donations, providing silent auction items, assisting the night of the event or just attending.  Tickets will go on sale soon. Contact Jenn Van Dyke or Christine Bettendorf if you need more information or can help in any way. 

The most serious threats faculty members face now (March 31-April 3) are to the benefits that are part of their compensation package.  House Speaker Weatherford has made it clear that his top priority this session is to cut retirement and health insurance benefits for public employees. We have a chance of stopping this action in the Senate if faculty call (from a private phone) the Florida Senator from their district and leave a 30-second polite message with the receptionist. (It helps to mention that you live in the district.) See link below for phone number of your Senator.        

Dear Colleagues,
 
Your United Faculty of Florida- FSCJ Bargaining Team met with the Administration’s team today. We worked on several issues of importance to all Faculty.
 
We reached Tentative Agreement on Article 4 (Faculty Rights).  There were small changes to the current language, the main one being a clearer faculty notification policy when derogatory documents are placed in a personnel file.
 

Click here to read more:

Every person who teaches part-time in the University of Maine System is on a "service list" that helps keep track of seniority and rank. The System is required to compile the lists once a year, but the 2013 list disappeared from the UMS website a few months ago after it underwent a redesign.

As of March 27, 2014, the 2013 service lists are back, published by university. Check them out at:

http://www.maine.edu/about-the-system/system-office/human-resources/labor-relations/

On Wednesday, WBLTA's Joe Christensen, Paul Seeba, and President Michael McKenzie met with state legislators (Pictured below along with Stillwater and Forest Lake EdMN members).

WBLTA met with Senator Wiger, Majority Leader Hanson, Representative Fischer and Senator Chamberlain, among others.(Legislative briefing before heading to the capital)

In response to reports that some supervisors are denying employees proper representation, Baltimore County Federation of Public Employees (BCFPE) president John Ripley wants members to know that union representation is their right. President Ripley says that it is important that union members know it is their responsibility to request to have a representative present during an interview with a supervisor. Ripley reports that some supervisors are denying an employee representation, by saying that a meeting is a “Fact Finding," not an investigatory inquiry.

AFT-Maryland staff and affiliate members journeyed to Wichita, Kansas, March 9-14 for a week of intensive training in the AFT organizing model and to help the Kansas Organization of State Employees (KOSE) identify potential activists and recruit new union members. The AFT-Maryland volunteers joined union members from Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, and Kansas in the joint organizing effort, which was launched as a part of the “Reclaiming the Promise of High Quality Public Services for Strong Communities,” an AFT national initiative."

The bill that would increase Maryland’s minimum wage to $10.10 an hour has been stalled in the Senate Finance Committee. Senator Thomas Middleton (D-Charles), chair of that committee says that he will not move on the minimum wage proposal until an agreement to raise the wages of workers who care for the developmentally disabled has been reached. Middleton wants to raise the hourly wage for workers who care for the developmentally disabled to a level that is higher than the proposed minimum wage increase.