Dear Mayor Adams,
I don’t know you well, but I support you. I’m currently in Washington DC for some leadership training thru my union, the Nat’l Education Assoc. I am part-time faculty for Clackamas Community College and soon-to-be president of my local, the CCC Part-time Faculty Assoc. While here in DC inside the actual NEA building (Come see us! We’re at M Street and 16th), my cadre and I got a chance to see some campaign work in action. It turns out that the NEA finds resolutions 52 and 53 (EASA and last & first out), brought to the floor by Mayors Villaraigosa and Johnson, problematic. I got the phone number of the Baltimore Hilton, but I was too busy to call you. Now I’m writing to see if resolutions 52 and 53 passed or not.
I look forward to hearing from you,
After that, the staff us more about what they do, like various research and TEF (Tax Structures, Economic Dev Policies and Financing for Schools). They have a "desk" in each state, who follows political developments in that state, then communicates with the NEA in order to get support. Cynthia Kane, who is the Oregon Desk Rep, intoduced herself to me.
Leadership Theory and Practice
We sat in small groups and again tried to define leadership. BTW, this is more difficult than it looks. Next we learned about Leadership Evolution, which was punctuated with small group tasks like assessing the readiness of our local union members. I got some great ideas about how to reach the vast majority of our local, who does not participate. This includes surveys, F2F meetings, offering mentors and an orientation for new hires (not nec in this order...:-). We also identified and talked about our own core values and the core values of a union.
The next section describes some of the NEA departments we learned about:
NEA Student Programs
The NEA department that hosted this training. It incluses retired members, higher ed (that's us!), urban/rural initiatives and student programs (pre-service teachers). The student programs are run by each state affiliate. They are on 1100 campuses and have 70,000 members. Pre-service teachers join for a variety of reasons: they love community service, they are politically aware (not so active) and, in order to get liability insurance for student teaching. They receive all the same benefits as regular members.
NEA Lobbyists
This session was hosted by a lobbyist from Government Relations. The NEA employs 7 lobbyists. There is also an inter-govermental team (state and local) and the Legislative Action Center (LAC): http://www.nea.org/home/LegislativeActionCenter.html. There you can become a Cyber-Lobbyist!
Collective Bargaining and Member Advocacy
Also known as CBMA. Our speaker has written three fact sheets on adjunct bargaining. I'll have to find them. His dept also adresses health care, pensions, salary campains, salary schedules and various databases.
Minority Outreach
We learned that ethnic students make up 40% of all students (probably K-12). They are Hispanic, African-Americans, Native Americans, and from Asia and the Pacific Rim. It's a "diversifying student pipeline". Therefore, we need more teachers of color. This dept provides a wealth of materials: working with undocumented students, lesson plans and workshops, event materials, travel and scholarships. See: http://www.nea.org/home/MinorityCommunityOutreach.html
Education Policy and Practice
This department writes policy recommendations, issue briefs, talking points, presentations and webinars. They have an online database in the Education Policy Resource Center (PPRC): http://www.nea.org/home/36271.htm.
Bus Tour of DC
15 of us took the 4 hour hop-off bus tour around DC. It was fantastic because it was a good way for busy people to see a little bit of all the monuments and such. The bus was a double-decker with a see-thru ceiling too. And the driver was funny and knowledgable- a great guy. Hopefully, I hope I can remember everything we saw, much of what was new for me. We stopped at the the Jefferson, Washington and Lincoln monuments. All three are very big and impressive. We also drove by or stopped at the WWII, Korean, Vietnam war memorials and the Iwo Jima Memoria. I've always wanted to see these. We went to the Capital building too, where some demonstrators were protesting the recent San Francisco proposal to ban circumcision. "A foreskin is not a birth defect" read one large sign.
The next section describes some of the NEA departments we learned about:
NEA Student Programs
The NEA department that hosted this training. It incluses retired members, higher ed (that's us!), urban/rural initiatives and student programs (pre-service teachers). The student programs are run by each state affiliate. They are on 1100 campuses and have 70,000 members. Pre-service teachers join for a variety of reasons: they love community service, they are politically aware (not so active) and, in order to get liability insurance for student teaching. They receive all the same benefits as regular members.
NEA Lobbyists
This session was hosted by a lobbyist from Government Relations. The NEA employs 7 lobbyists. There is also an inter-govermental team (state and local) and the Legislative Action Center (LAC): http://www.nea.org/home/LegislativeActionCenter.html. There you can become a Cyber-Lobbyist!
Collective Bargaining and Member Advocacy
Also known as CBMA. Our speaker has written three fact sheets on adjunct bargaining. I'll have to find them. His dept also adresses health care, pensions, salary campains, salary schedules and various databases.
Minority Outreach
We learned that ethnic students make up 40% of all students (probably K-12). They are Hispanic, African-Americans, Native Americans, and from Asia and the Pacific Rim. It's a "diversifying student pipeline". Therefore, we need more teachers of color. This dept provides a wealth of materials: working with undocumented students, lesson plans and workshops, event materials, travel and scholarships. See: http://www.nea.org/home/MinorityCommunityOutreach.html
Education Policy and Practice
This department writes policy recommendations, issue briefs, talking points, presentations and webinars. They have an online database in the Education Policy Resource Center (PPRC): http://www.nea.org/home/36271.htm.
Bus Tour of DC
15 of us took the 4 hour hop-off bus tour around DC. It was fantastic because it was a good way for busy people to see a little bit of all the monuments and such. The bus was a double-decker with a see-thru ceiling too. And the driver was funny and knowledgable- a great guy. Hopefully, I hope I can remember everything we saw, much of what was new for me. We stopped at the the Jefferson, Washington and Lincoln monuments. All three are very big and impressive. We also drove by or stopped at the WWII, Korean, Vietnam war memorials and the Iwo Jima Memoria. I've always wanted to see these. We went to the Capital building too, where some demonstrators were protesting the recent San Francisco proposal to ban circumcision. "A foreskin is not a birth defect" read one large sign.
i finally found and read lots of stuff on this blog site. WOW it has helped me understand what my older sister has been talking to me about, in little pieces,this past year. Jenny. you sure are not just teaching a few esl classes! You have become involved in an actual group thats voice creates change! I hope all the parttime teachers apppreciate Jennifer Reuda,and all the work she does for them.WOW, I am impressed jenny.
ReplyDeletelike to hear more about actual bargining? thanks
ReplyDeleteThank you, Liz. A lot more people work on these issues too. We're a team.
ReplyDeleteLiz, we can't bargain until Brett comes back from Italy. Once he's back, we may have one or two bargaining sessions with admin. If we don't settle the contract, we're going to mediation...
ReplyDelete