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Post by Pahina722 on Jul 25, 2019 15:53:43 GMT
I’m a member at my unionized college, also executive board member and past president. It’s VERY important for us as we have an administration that is very antithetical to faculty.
In the last few years, we’ve fought (and won) against admin putting double the amount of students in online classes as in face to face, replacing tenure-track with non-tenure-track faculty, keeping faculty on annual contracts beyond state limits, censoring the student newspaper, . . . Unions do far more than bargain salaries!
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Post by christine58 on Jul 25, 2019 15:58:43 GMT
I've been teaching for 12 years and have always been a union member. I know several teachers who don't believe in joining the union because they will never need anything from them, but they also don't understand the purpose of the union and what it does other than negotiate salaries. Until they DO need something. We had a couple members like that. Joined because they had to (before the Supreme Court ruling). THEN needed our help with a discipline issue. Bad mouthing us then stopped.
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Post by Merge on Jul 25, 2019 16:02:36 GMT
No, they’re not illegal. They’re just non-bargaining. I belonged to HFT, which is a chapter of the nationwide AFT union. The primary purpose of the union in Texas is to make sure the protections for teachers that are put into state law are followed - for example, by law, public school teachers must have a 45 minute planning and 30 minute duty free lunch every day. Some admin will try to get around that and fill up teachers’ planning and lunch time with meetings. The union steps in and makes sure the law is followed. The union also advocates for teachers with the school board when compensation and benefits are discussed. They have no bargaining power, but they do make our voice heard. And of course they also lobby at the state level for increased funding for schools, more effective testing practices, and protection of the teacher retirement system, which is what we get instead of social security. So our 45 minute planning times are “kind of” protected. We have meetings ALL of the time during planning, including EVERY Tuesday, some Thursdays (ARDS), and every Friday. We contacted APTE and they told us we COULD fight, but the principal has every right to keep us after school for those meetings (we already have a weekly staff meeting that usually always goes to 4:30). So do we want to suck it up and use our planning or stay after school? Nope. Talk to someone else. They can’t keep you past contract time more than the once weekly staff meeting. Someone is giving you bad info. If they want you in ARDs they need to provide coverage to do it during class or recess time. If they want you in weekly data meetings that can be covered during the weekly staff meeting time. Not during your planning. Do you have an AFT chapter? The thing about APTE is that they also represent admin, so they’re not just necessarily looking out for teachers. AFT is for teachers only.
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Post by Merge on Jul 25, 2019 16:04:40 GMT
Definitely a union member. One of the things we bargained for was to have class sizes capped at 26. Other districts in our area have no class size cap so they have classes of 35 or more. This is awful for students. I am grateful for a lot of things we negotiated for, including pay, but the class size cap is a huge win for everyone. This was one thing they were pushing hard on with the lege this year. K-4 class sizes are capped at 22 statewide, but they hand out hardship waivers like candy and we’ve had first grade classes with 29. It’s ridiculous.
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Post by birdy on Jul 25, 2019 16:06:47 GMT
I didn't vote because I was a teacher until I had kids and when I was teaching, I was in a union. Now that they're older, I'm subbing (no desire to go back full time) and subs don't have a union. I wish we did though!
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Post by freecharlie on Jul 25, 2019 16:42:49 GMT
Thanks everyone. I have been a member of the union since I began teaching. I teach in a rural district and somehow just became co-president of our union. We have less than 50% membership which means we don't have collective bargaining but rather meet and confer. We have one school that only has one member and one school that has none. Our middle and high schools are better represented, but still rather low on participation.
First year teacher's membership is $31 per month. After the first year it jumps to $72 per month.
I am obligated to go with any staff if they request, but actual legal counsel is covered for members only.
In addition to legal coverage, which I personally think is worth the fee itself, we also get subsidized or free pd, and get all the benefits from being NEA members (I've used the car rental deals)
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Post by monklady123 on Jul 25, 2019 16:52:35 GMT
Another very important reason to be a member of the union in TX (even though it is not very powerful) is because it provides legal protection and insurance in case you are ever sued. If you are sued, you can be help PERSONALLY financially responsible. Parents sue over EVERYTHING. My school is currently being sued for $6 MILLION because a pre-k student was accidentally left outside for about 5 minutes after recess. (It was a substitute teacher. I am in no way defending the little girl getting locked out. I count my children every single time I come in from recess. But I do think $6 million is a little excessive.) My biggest fear as a substitute! losing someone.... -- I'm so paranoid about it that I count before we go out even though I know very well how many I have because I took roll first thing in the morning. lol. But then I count as they're lined up before we go in. And even then I'll often ask "everyone make sure your buddy is here" (for the littlest ones, they're supposed to have another student to look out for) even though I can see they're all there because I just counted. lolol... But yeah...my biggest fear. (actually, probably not the biggest, but that would be another thread )
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Post by monklady123 on Jul 25, 2019 16:54:16 GMT
I didn't vote because I was a teacher until I had kids and when I was teaching, I was in a union. Now that they're older, I'm subbing (no desire to go back full time) and subs don't have a union. I wish we did though! That would be wonderful and I'd join in a heartbeat! Talk about salary negotiations!
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Post by iteach3rdgrade on Jul 25, 2019 17:04:24 GMT
Thanks everyone. I have been a member of the union since I began teaching. I teach in a rural district and somehow just became co-president of our union. We have less than 50% membership which means we don't have collective bargaining but rather meet and confer. We have one school that only has one member and one school that has none. Our middle and high schools are better represented, but still rather low on participation. First year teacher's membership is $31 per month. After the first year it jumps to $72 per month. I am obligated to go with any staff if they request, but actual legal counsel is covered for members only. In addition to legal coverage, which I personally think is worth the fee itself, we also get subsidized or free pd, and get all the benefits from being NEA members (I've used the car rental deals) I'm worried about enrollment this year. Last year we only had one new person not join. We have great numbers at over 90% and hopefully it stays, but we have even more new people this year. I think the new people will be more difficult to encourage. It'd be challenging to represent so many people who don't feel the need to join. This will be my 4th year as president. I have great building reps, so I seldom have to be involved. Our building has a fabulous principal so that's helpful.
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Post by leannec on Jul 25, 2019 17:18:49 GMT
I'm a teacher and I'm in a union ... I support it and what it stands for but I have an issue at the moment that they have been less than helpful with
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Post by iteach3rdgrade on Jul 25, 2019 17:30:36 GMT
I'm a teacher and I'm in a union ... I support it and what it stands for but I have an issue at the moment that they have been less than helpful with That's too bad. I've seen a few instances where there wasn't anything I could do. Those are tough.
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luckyjune
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,685
Location: In the rainy, rainy WA
Jul 22, 2017 4:59:41 GMT
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Post by luckyjune on Jul 25, 2019 18:20:06 GMT
Proud union educator for 30 years. I've been a building rep and currently sit on the executive board for our district union. I've walked picket lines, sat in law makers' offices for meetings, and organized protests. Our state union, along with several other organizations and school districts, successfully sued the state over their underfunding of education (when your state constitution says that educating the children of WA is its "paramount duty," it's pretty clear as to what needs to happen). Districts in WA now pay teachers a decent wage, thanks to winning that case. We can thank the union for that!
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Post by SockMonkey on Jul 25, 2019 18:40:12 GMT
I'm a teacher and I'm in a union ... I support it and what it stands for but I have an issue at the moment that they have been less than helpful with Can you say more?
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ddly
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,961
Jul 10, 2014 19:36:28 GMT
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Post by ddly on Jul 25, 2019 19:33:35 GMT
I'm a teacher and I'm in a union ... I support it and it stands for but I have an issue at the moment that they have been less than helpful with I had an issue that resulted in my resigning. The union was not helpful and I was being disciplined for something I didn't do and they only allowed me one meeting to discuss the issue. The principal was not happy with me because I was concerned over legal issues involving special ed and she was sick of me voicing concern. The Uniserve guy at the state NEA was fabulous and understood my situation. When I made the decision to leave, the Union president was all understanding and said he upset to see me go, but I seriously don't think he wanted to deal with my issue. It was disheartening but the respect I got from the Uniserve director kept my faith in unions. I took the remainder of the year off to decide whether or not teaching was for me and ended up with a fabulous principal. I definitely feel like I made the right choice even though I really left the students in a bind, but I wasn't available with the crap I was dealing with from admin. It's tough spot to be in when you don't feel that support. Have you tried to call the Uniserve director for your state? The number should be on your state's NEA website.
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katybee
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,378
Jun 25, 2014 23:25:39 GMT
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Post by katybee on Jul 25, 2019 20:36:25 GMT
So our 45 minute planning times are “kind of” protected. We have meetings ALL of the time during planning, including EVERY Tuesday, some Thursdays (ARDS), and every Friday. We contacted APTE and they told us we COULD fight, but the principal has every right to keep us after school for those meetings (we already have a weekly staff meeting that usually always goes to 4:30). So do we want to suck it up and use our planning or stay after school? Nope. Talk to someone else. They can’t keep you past contract time more than the once weekly staff meeting. Someone is giving you bad info. If they want you in ARDs they need to provide coverage to do it during class or recess time. If they want you in weekly data meetings that can be covered during the weekly staff meeting time. Not during your planning. Do you have an AFT chapter? The thing about APTE is that they also represent admin, so they’re not just necessarily looking out for teachers. AFT is for teachers only. Interesting! We do have AFT, but it’s SO much more expensive. But I’m switching this year....now that we got our “big” raise.
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Post by honeyb on Jul 25, 2019 22:08:05 GMT
As a substitute teacher, I am part of the Union. Since substitute teachers don't have benefits, the union doesn't bargain for me. I do, however, pay the same dues as teachers. 🤷♀️
I think they can bargain our pay, but we only saw a raise here last year (the 1st raise in 7 years) to stay competitive with neighboring districts. I think they could work harder in that area. Subs are hard to come by.
One benefit I do have is representation should I be sued. That's something, I guess.
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