May/June 2012 Teachers stand up and win on education reform Constant pressure makes the difference Mystic Seaport workers organize Continued on Page 5 Continued on Page 2 Backus Federation of Nurses win their first contract 2 Meet the newest AFT Everyday Hero from Connecticut 3 Numerous award winners at annual convention 7 T hirteen weeks. That was all the time available to tackle the issue of education reform. Just prior to the 2012 legislative session opening, the Performance Evaluation Advisory Com- mittee (PEAC) issued a framework for a teacher evaluation system which was adopted by the State Board of Education. Discussions between AFT Connecti- cut, CEA and the Malloy Administration prior to the session appeared to foster an opportunity for collaboration to reach meaningful education reform ideas. And then, Governor Malloy deliv- ered his state of the state address. In it, he said, “... to earn tenure – that job security – in today’s system basically the only thing you have to do is show up for four years. Do that, and tenure is yours.” Nothing could have been further from the truth and teachers across Con- necticut knew it. In response, more than 650 current and retired teachers emailed Gov. Malloy telling him exactly what it is they do. At the governor’s education forums teachers came out immediately and challenged the governor. The co-chairs of the Education Committee, Senator Andrea Stillman and Representative Andrew Fleis- chmann, asked both unions to sit down with the Malloy administration and leg- islative leaders, to reach an agreement on changes to the bill. Meanwhile, anti-public school organizations like Michelle Rhee’s Stu- dentsFirst and Achievement First along with others were spending thousands of dollars on advertising in support of T he workers at the Mystic Sea- port are organizing to join AFT Connecticut. The more than 200 workers would join the ranks of unionized museum employees across the country. The AFT represents workers at museums from New York City to Alaska, whose collections range from geological specimens to the history of fashion. Staff members at many museums have themselves become part of this historic labor movement. Interpreters, educators, archivists, collections specialists, exhibit designers, and gift shop clerks employed by institutions and organizations as diverse as the Smithsonian, MOMA, the Montana Historical Society and the National Park Service are represented by unions. “We need to have a say in what happens to us and the Seaport, we owe it to our visitors, supporters and to future generations,” says Nick Canzellarini, who works in the Shipyard. West Haven Teacher Regina Milano rallies with thousands of other teachers.
Transcript
May/June 2012
Teachers stand up and win on education reformConstant pressure makes the difference
Mystic Seaport workers organize
Continued on Page 5
Continued on Page 2 Backus Federation of Nurses win their
first contract
2
Meet the newest AFT Everyday Hero from Connecticut
3
Numerous award winners at annual
convention
7
State of theUnion
Thirteen weeks. That was all the time available to tackle the issue of education reform. Just prior to
the 2012 legislative session opening, the Performance Evaluation Advisory Com-mittee (PEAC) issued a framework for a teacher evaluation system which was adopted by the State Board of Education.
Discussions between AFT Connecti-cut, CEA and the Malloy Administration prior to the session appeared to foster an opportunity for collaboration to reach meaningful education reform ideas.
And then, Governor Malloy deliv-ered his state of the state address. In it, he said, “... to earn tenure – that job security – in today’s system basically the only thing you have to do is show up for four years. Do that, and tenure is yours.”
Nothing could have been further from the truth and teachers across Con-necticut knew it. In response, more than 650 current and retired teachers emailed Gov. Malloy telling him exactly what it is they do. At the governor’s education forums teachers came out immediately and challenged the governor.
The co-chairs of the Education Committee, Senator Andrea Stillman
and Representat ive A ndrew Fleis-chmann, asked both unions to sit down with the Malloy administration and leg-islative leaders, to reach an agreement on changes to the bill.
Meanwhile, ant i-public school organizations like Michelle Rhee’s Stu-dentsFirst and Achievement First along with others were spending thousands of dollars on advertising in support of
The workers at the Mystic Sea-port are organizing to join AFT Connecticut. The more than
200 workers would join the ranks of unionized museum employees across the country.
The AFT represents workers at museums from New York City to Alaska, whose collections range from geological specimens to the history of fashion. Staff members at many museums have themselves become part of this historic labor movement. Interpreters, educators, archivists, collections specialists, exhibit designers, and gift shop clerks employed by institutions and organizations as diverse as the Smithsonian, MOMA, the Montana Historical Society and the National Park Service are represented by unions.
“We need to have a say in what happens to us and the Seaport, we owe it to our visitors, supporters and to future generations,” says Nick Canzellarini, who works in the Shipyard.
West Haven Teacher Regina Milano rallies with thousands of other teachers.
Sharon PalmerPresident
Melodie PetersFirst Vice President
Leo CantySecond Vice President
Charles MorrellSecretary/Treasurer
Eric BaileyCommunications Director
STATE OF THE UNION is published on an irregular basis up to six times a year by AFT Connecticut, 35 Marshall Road, Rocky Hill, CT 06067.Phone: 860/257-9782www.aftct.orgThird class postage paid at Hartford, CT
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T he Backus Federation of Nurses at Backus Hospital, Norwich, Conn., have secured their first collective bargaining contract which includes safe working
prov isions as wel l as professional and economic standards. These provisions will help to recruit and retain experienced RNs, AFT Connecticut announced today.
The three-year contract, which affects 400 RNs at the hospital, was achieved just over one year after Backus Nurses voted to unionize and 10 months of negotiations.
“This has been a long battle for us as a union, said John Brady, an RN in the Emergency Department. “The support we received from AFT Connecticut and AFT nationally was instrumental in our success.”
The contract recognizes the obligation of both the union and the hospital to provide a safe working environment. Workplace safety has become an important issue for healthcare workers as incidents of injuries to RNs has increased over the last few years. AFT Connecticut lobbied for state legislation to improve workplace safety in hospitals.
The contract also creates a Labor Management committee where the RNs can meet with management to discuss ways to improve patient safety and care in the hospital. A new study released by Cornell University shows that Labor Management partnerships can be beneficial to both nurses and the institution while improving patient care and controlling costs. The study is titled How Labor-Management Partnerships Improve Patient Care, Cost
Control and Labor Relations and was released
February 2012. The report makes several case studies out of hospitals where Labor –
Management partnerships have led to real results.“Both of these provisions will give us a voice in
making our hospital the community hospital it once was,” said Michelle Hayes, an RN in maternity and delivery. “We will be able to get back to focusing on putting patients first.”
The tentative agreement was overwhelmingly ratified by a vote of the nurses, May 16, and will take effect immediately.
AFT Connecticut is the largest representative of acute care hospital workers in the state.
Backus
Danbury
Bridgeport VNA
New Milford
John Dempsey
ManchesterRockville
Johnson
Windham
Lawrence & Memorial
Natchaug
Southeastern VNA
“Only by standing united can we ensure that our voice will be heard, our experience respected, and that the passion and skills of the Mystic Seaport Museum staff will be al-lowed to have a positive impact on the future of our institution and our community,” says Catherine Deich-mann, who works in Interpretation.
Recently, the workers filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board.
In virtually every organizing campaign we take on, management
has violated the law. The NLRB is the cop on the beat to ensure that labor law is followed and that workers can form a union free of fear and intimidation.
Go to our website aftct.org for more information on the Mystic Seaport organizing efforts.
STATE OF THE UNION 3
Saundra McCauley is an AFT Everyday Hero
Saundra McCauley, a school nurse with the West Haven Federation of Teachers and School Nurses, Local 1547, has been selected as one of the 2012
AFT Everyday Heroes after a nationwide nomination and voting process. She will be honored, along with five other union members, at the AFT's national convention in July.
One AFT member is recognized from each of the union's six divisions (representing teachers, paraprofes-sionals and school-related personnel, higher education staff and faculty, healthcare professionals, public em-ployees and retirees) for going beyond his or her daily responsibilities and making a difference every day in the workplace or the community.
"At a time when public employees are more often demonized than admired, these awardees are a small sample of the tens of thousands of other everyday heroes who inspire and change lives in big and small ways every day of the year," says AFT president Randi Weingarten. "We salute the AFT's Everyday Heroes and all Americans who educate our nation's children, protect our communi-ties, keep our families healthy and dedicate their lives to the service of others."
As school districts eliminate school nurse positions at a time when the number of disadvantaged students is increasing, Saundra fights for funding to ensure a nurse in every public school.
School nursing is a passion for Saundra McCauley. For the last 26 years, McCauley has committed herself to helping students and their families. “I try to get to know the children,” says McCauley. “Eventually, I find out what their problems are and what I can do to help.” McCauley’s help often comes in the form of Christmas gifts, Thanksgiving baskets or lunch money.
“School nursing is so different now than when I first started,” says McCauley. “I have grown with the job.” Her growth is not just in skills and education; McCauley is more than willing to go the extra mile for her students. “Students are needier, and I like being able to help. Sick, sad or hungry children can’t learn,” she says.
Whenever McCauley sees a need, she figures out a way to help. She has approached her local pharmacy to donate nebulizers for children with asthma, set up a bike safety program for students, and held an after-school program to teach children how to knit and crochet. “Members of the community are very supportive. They will respond if you ask,” she says.
As a school nurse in West Haven, McCauley is lucky and she knows it. Her school district is rare: There is a nurse in every school here. But, as nurse president of her local, the West Haven Federation of Teachers and School Nurses, she has to fight to maintain those positions.
“Every child needs a school nurse. I will always argue that,” says McCauley. “I can’t fathom having more than one school. You’re just not effective that way, and it’s not fair to the children. I’ll tell anyone who wants to cut school nurses, come follow me for a day, do what I do and then tell me you don’t need a school nurse.”
Being nominated as an AFT Everyday Hero was a sur-prise for McCauley. “It’s just me being me, and I think a lot of other school nurses are the same way.” Still, she hopes the nomination will serve to make others more aware of the role of the school nurse. “We have to keep ourselves out in front of the public in a positive way. This is a great way to get the message out that we do make a difference. Children need an advocate.”
4 STATE OF THE UNION
Malloy’s original bill. In the end, these organizations will have spent over $2 million on advertising.
“Our goal was to get education reform language that actually improved education for every child in Connecti-cut,” said AFT Connecticut President Sharon Palmer. “To that end, we never stopped talking with legislators even when things got tense.”
Nearly 1,000 members contacted their legislators urging them to keep talking with us about real reforms that were proven to work. And thousands of educators turned out at the capitol for a two-day rally.
Discussions with legislative leaders and the Educa-tion Committee co-chairs continued and ultimately resulted in the final bill.
“Senator Williams, Speaker Donovan, Sen. Stillman and Rep. Fleischmann were all instrumental in getting this done,” said Palmer.
On Feb. 7 at 10pm Gov. Malloy held a press conference with legislative lead-ers to announce that meaningful educa-tion reform had been reached with Senate
Bill 458. The senate voted on the bill at 3:45am on Feb. 8. by a vote of 28-7. The House of Representatives passed the bill later that day by a vote of 149-0.
“It was very fitting that this legislation passed on Teacher Appreciation Day,” said Palmer. “This has been a long, and important process. It took a great team to get this done and it will take continued teamwork to see it through.”
“We look forward to continuing our work on PEAC in developing an evaluation system modeled after the suc-cessful system developed in New Haven,” said Palmer. “This will give teachers the support and training they need to be successful in their profession.”
“The support of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus and the Education Committee for reading and literacy, as well as early childhood education and health and com-munity programs, helped put the focus where it should be - improving education for children where they need it most.”
“Teachers across Connecticut are committed to ensuring that every child receives the best education possible. This legislation ensures that we are headed in the right direction.”
John Stavens (left) from Bristol Federation of Teachers and members of the Hartford Federation of Teachers rally outside the capitol.
Teachers stand up and win continued
STATE OF THE UNION 5
FMLA for paraprofessionals becomes a reality
Additional legislative victories
The House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 150 which provides coverage under the
Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for paraprofessionals in Connecticut by a vote of 132-9. The State Senate had unanimously passed the bill earlier this past week.
FMLA allows workers time off to care for themselves or family mem-bers when they are ill. Unfortunately, paraprofessionals do not currently qualify for FMLA because they are 10-month, hourly employees. When a paraprofessional has been stricken with a serious illnesses, or has a fam-ily member who is ill or children that they must take care of, FMLA pro-vides them no opportunity to take time off from work without the risk of losing their job.
SB 150 would correct this injus-tice and let paraprofessionals receive the same FMLA benefits that other workers receive.
Last year, despite broad support from both parties, Sen. Rob Kane (R-32) filibustered the bill, effectively killing the legislation. Paraprofes-sionals from Watertown f looded Sen. Kane with calls and emails in reaction and this year he showed no opposition to the bill.
Paraprofessionals also contacted Sen. Len Suzio (R-13) when he voted against the bill in the Appropriations Committee. Sen. Suzio also showed no opposition to the bill on the sen-ate floor.
“This is one of the clearest ex-amples of grassroots activism at its best,” said AFT Connecticut Presi-dent Sharon Palmer. “When we speak out and make our voices heard we can achieve great things.”
The only no votes in the House were cast by Republican Representa-tives Alberts, Carter, Frey, Noujaim, Perillo, Piscopo, Sampson, Wad-sworth and Wood.
Ed Reform Highlights:Early Childhood Creates 1,000 new slots in school readi-ness programs in targeted districts.
LiteracyRequires the State Dept. of Ed. to de-velop and approve new reading assess-ments that districts must use to identify K-3 students who are reading deficient. Assessments must be frequent, aligned with best practices in reading research and instruction and measure phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabu-lary and comprehension.
Community Schools/Healthy SchoolsEstablishes 10 family resource centers and 20 school based health clinics in the 30 lowest performing districts.
Teacher RecruitmentCreates a teacher recruitment grant program in which the State Depart-ment of Education provides up to $200,000 to each of the 10 lowest per-forming districts to hire 5 seniors from teacher preparation programs in the top 10% of their graduating classes.
Accountability/TransparencyCreates a uniform chart of accounts for school revenues and expenditures. Applies to all public schools, including RESCs, charter schools and charter management operators.
Teacher Preparation Requires teacher preparation to in-clude 4 semesters of field experience, clinical experience or student teaching.
Professional DevelopmentEliminates 90 CEU’s and instead re-quires districts to provide at least 18 hours professional development, which should mostly be in a small group or individual instruction setting, focused on improving teaching methods, be teacher centered and be part of a job embedded process of continuous im-provement.
A complete summary can be found on-line at aftct.org.
SB 340 Vo-Tech Ethics – Adds an exemption to the Code of Ethics for state em-ployees so they may access services provided by CTHSS students beyond $100.
HB 5237 American School for the Deaf – Adds an exemption in the wage and hour law that permits ASD teachers to collectively bargain the disbursement of their wages.
SB 40 Remediation – Requires the CSU System and the community-technical colleges to offer remedial support embedded with the corresponding entry level course in a college-level program or offer an intensive college readiness program while also requiring public high schools, CSUS, and CTC to align their curricula by the fall semester of 2016.
SB 78 Live Here Learn Here – Opens the program to any student graduating from a college or a health care training school, in-cluding CTHSS LPN program. It helps students save towards a down payment on their first home by segregating a portion of their state income tax payments for up to 10 years after they graduate.
SB 186 CT Medical Examining Board – Expands membership to include more nurses.You can see a complete list of legislative accomplish-ments at aftct.org.
6 STATE OF THE UNION
Since 1995, zillionaires received biggest tax breaks
There’s always a lot of noise on campaign trails about cutting taxes. But as the Economic
Policy Institute (EPI) points out, the real question is: Whose taxes?
A new report by EPI finds that since 1995, the wealthiest of the wealthy in this country have got-ten far more tax breaks than those in the middle- and lower-income brackets, with the average effective federal tax rates falling more than 9 percentage points for the top 0.01 percent of households and more than 6 percentage points for the remain-ing households in the top 1 percent. Effective tax rates also have fallen for households between the 20th and 99th percentile, but by less than 3 percentage points.
As EPI economist Josh Bivens writes: “With the Bush ta x cuts scheduled to expire on Jan. 1, 2013, tax fairness is likely to be a promi-nent topic throughout the Presiden-tial campaign.”
Workshops covering:Autism - Common Core StandardsStrategies for Success and more.
STATE OF THE UNION 7
Technicality Snarls Fairer NLRB Union Election Rules
Awards abound at AFT Connecticut convention
Based on a technica l it y, a federal judge today rejected commonsense rules making
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) union elections fairer.
U.S. District Judge James Boas-berg said the NLRB did not techni-cally have a quorum when it adopted the rules last year. The NLRB had three members at the time; two approved the rules and the third, Republican Brian Hayes, took no action. Had Hayes voted or indicated his choice to abstain, that could have signified a quorum, according to the judge.
“We think the judge’s ruling is flat-out wrong,” says AFL-CIO Gen-eral Counsel Lynn Rhinehart.
You can find more information about the NLRB election rules on-line: aftct.org
Unionist of the Year Award - Sandy ReigalSandy cares about her local, the Hart-ford Federation of Pa raprofessiona ls Local 2221, and rec-ognizes the role it plays in her mem-bers' lives. Sandy has been there for her union whenever there has been a significant event or when the union pushed for change to protect all paraprofessionals.
Joseph H. Soi fer Awa rd - Ray BennettsonRay Bennettson is a supervisor in Fa-cilities Management at the University of Connecticut Health Center and has been a UHP activist/advo-cate virtually since he began work ing at UCHC i n 1996. When one looks for someone who mod-els union qualities and values, it is easy to see it is Ray Bennettson.
T he President’s Awa rd - Dave CicarellaIf there was ever a time that edu-cation reform and labor needed a strong voice and presence, it was this year. Dave Cicarella, the Presi-dent of New Haven Federation of Teachers, rose to that challenge. He
was instrumental in what has been lauded from coast to coast as a model of the collaborative way that labor and management worked together to come up with “The New Haven Model” for education reform, mak-ing us all proud here in Connecticut.
Honor Roll - Maree RogersA s a me m b e r of Hartford Federation of Paraprofessionals Local 2221, Maree is an outstanding union member. She is a real team player w ho i s e x t r eme -ly k nowledgeable about current af-fairs and politics. She has a genuine interest in world affairs as well. Maree attends union meetings, Board of Education meetings, PSRP Conferences, and shows her support wherever we need her. We can rely on Maree to stand with us anywhere and anytime.
Golden Achievement Award - Joella Bouchard MudryJoel la has been a long t ime activ ist not only in her local A&R but also as a retiree. Her efforts on indoor air qual-ity standards have made her a leader in our union.
George C. Springer Scholarship - Matthew Bornn Matthew Bornn is a member of the New Britain Federation of Teachers Local 871 and is currently working on his sixth year degree at Quinni-piac University.
AFT Connecticut Scholarship - Tameria StarksTameria Starks is the daughter of Tamara Mitchell, a Hartford Federation of Teach-ers (Secretaries Lo-cal 1018C) member. Tameria has been on the honor roll in both her junior and senior yea rs. She has been accepted to Central Connecti-cut State University.
8 STATE OF THE UNION
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It took a teamSharon Palmer, AFT Connecticut President
Going into the 2012 legislative session it was clear that education reform was going to be the priority issue. Early on, our union took on the message of “It takes
a team” because we understood that education reform was too important not to include educators in the discussion.
Our team approach encompassed our members as well as the legislature. Educators told their stories on our website, at public hearings and forums, and through emails to Gov. Malloy and their legislators.
Senate President Pro Tempore Don Williams and Speaker of the House Chris Donovan showed their support for educators at our legislative conference in February.
Time and again, these legislative leaders have proven themselves as supporters of our is-sues, and they were in-strumental in bringing about a successful resolution to the education reform bill.
Within the Education Committee, Senator Andrea Still-man and Representative Andrew Fleischmann helped us organize a presentation to legislators on the successful work done in New Haven. This presentation showed legislators that the collective bargaining process is instrumental in improving education. The evaluation system developed as part of contract negotiations in New Haven has been held up as a model for reform nationwide.
The combination of working with legislators and mem-ber activism proved to be a success. But this success came as a result of years of political groundwork by our union.
Each year our union and our locals work to elect can-didates that support our issues. It is this ongoing political involvement and activism that ensured we had numerous
supporters in both the house and the senate.That support led to the passage of not only the education
reform bill, but Family Medical Leave for paraprofessionals, and many other bills.
The political involvement extends now to the elections in November. Speaker Donovan is running for congress in the 5th district. We can expect his continued support for working families as a U.S. Representative.
The current congressman for that seat, Rep. Chris Mur-phy, is running for the U.S. Senate. Rep. Murphy began his political career in the state legislature first as a representative, and then as a senator, before running for Congress. During all
that time, he has been a strong advocate for our members and our families.
There is no doubt that your vote has made the difference in elections. Governor Malloy won his election by a very small margin and union voters put him over the top.
As we head into the elections this fall, we will be decid-ing who represents our voice best. From President to U.S. Senate and Congress to the State Legislature, our votes will make the difference.
It took a team to get meaningful education reform passed. It will continue to take a team to get people elected who support our work and our issues.
Go to our website, aftct.org, where you can register to vote and learn more about our endorsement process and the candidates we have endorsed.
Working together as a team we can continue to build upon our success as a union.
“There is no doubt that your vote has made the difference in elections.”
