Public school support staff perform work that keeps their schools running, work that is essential to the educational mission of Wisconsin’s public school system.  Unfortunately, this work is too often undervalued by school district administrations, who frequently ignore pressing issues that make it hard to recruit and retain the best school staff.  So, after five years of pay freezes, reduced take-home pay, and declining benefits, members of AFT local 4018, the Eau Claire Schools Classified Staff Federation, decided they’d had enough, and made plans to take their issues directly to the school board.

We’ve had a busy start to the Winter semester.  What follows are some brief updates on current issues.   For more information and ways to get involved on these or any other issues, see the contact information at the bottom of this email, or stop by the Union office during weekly union office hours (Mondays 5-6pm and Tuesdays 12:30-1:30pm).

Part-time Lecturer Pay Schedule

The first version of the employee handbook for the Ashland school district was created with extensive input from members of the Ashland Federation of Teachers (AFT local 1275) and the Ashland Federation of Paraprofessionals (AFT local 4232), with representatives of each union sitting on a handbook committee with the administration.  However, the following year, union members were surprised to see substantial changes made without any opportunity for employee input.  Members of both locals met to discuss the issue, and decided to organize their coworkers and take the issue to the next district school board meeting, where they would petition the board to re-form the handbook committee as a permanent working group.

When Wisconsin Republicans introduced legislation to remove key components of the civil service system, members of AFT-Wisconsin state employee unions quickly mobilized alongside other supporters of clean government, forming the Wisconsin Coalition to Save Civil Service.  Alongside their AFSCME union sisters and brothers, AFT-Wisconsin activists organized building meetings to spread the word about the importance of civil service to clean government and effective state agencies.

AFT Michigan has three eligibility categories of the “Rollie Hopgood Future Teachers Scholarship Award” for qualifying individuals.

February 12, 2016 – BATON ROUGE, LA – The leaders of Louisiana’s two largest public education unions – the Louisiana Federation of Teachers and the Louisiana Association of Educators – announce a partnership on legislative goals for the 2016 special session set to begin on February 14.

Delegates and State Senators in Annapolis made their way to the Maryland Inn Monday night for an AFT-Maryland legislative reception. It was well attended by labor leaders and elected officials alike. The staff and service at the Maryland Inn was superb as politicians got a chance to meet with important figures in Baltimore and ostensibly Maryland's labor movement.

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

The recent decision by Gov. John Bel Edwards to drop an appeal of former Gov. Bobby Jindal’s lawsuit challenging Common Core standards was the right move.