Opinon piece by Harmon L. Walker,  Political Action Chairperson, Three Village Schools Retiree Association

Thank you for all of your support to get people out to vote NO on Proposition One.  Thanks to your help in spreading the word and voting, the proposal to hold a Constitutional Convention was defeated with over 80% of the vote!  We look forward to continuing to serve your interests in the years to come.

Colleagues,

Overcoming months of anti-union scare tactics, more than 350 respiratory therapists, pharmacy technicians and other healthcare professionals in the technical unit at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield, Ore., voted overwhelmingly to join the American Federation of Teachers-affiliated Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals. 

Lesson plans, professional development credit and more offered to teachers

(November 29, 2017) A free Web portal with access to valuable teaching resources is now open to teachers in our state, Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Larry Carter announced today.

“LFT Share My Lesson offers teachers over 400,000 free teaching materials, with more added every day,” said Carter. “Teachers can get professional development credits there, and also share their ideas with other teachers from around the country.”

Get tools to fight back against xenophobic policies and help protect our students and families.

A reminder that the first AFT-Maryland Lobby Night in Annapolis will be Monday, January 29th. Buses leave the BTU at 5:15 pm. People wanting a seat on that bus will need to RSVP with Todd Reynolds—either via phone (443-320-4719) or treynolds@aftmd.org by Friday, Jan. 26th.

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The Chair of the Kirwan Commission announced that he does not expect final recommendations from the Commission until after the 2018 session. However, there are still at least 3 commission meetings before the session begins, and the commission will issue at least a preliminary report to the 2018 state legislature. We are still hoping to push for our priorities on equitable and effective funding *this coming session*.

If the GOP’s tax plan passes, not only will it be bad for Maryland (taxes on a large portion of people in our state will go up to offset/pay for tax breaks for corporations), it will be bad for education professionals specifically because it removes the tax deductions we get for purchasing supplies for our schools.

The containers of supplies collected by OCCTA and wonderful partners and contributors have arrived in San Juan! They are being delivered to our sister union, Asociación de Maestros de Puerto Rico. Shout out to our friend and partner from CASA, Jimmy Torres-Vélez!