American Federation of Teachers

Campaigns

• Tell the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf to Open the Books!

  The Pennsylvania School for the Deaf has projected a huge $800,000 deficit for the coming school year. Yet, despite repeated requests by families, outside agencies and the Union, PSD refuses to share relevant financial information about its budget and spending for the current and upcoming school years. Instead, the school has established a secret committee, which generated a list of programs and staff to be cut, ostensibly to address the yet-to-be-substantiated deficit. All of the staff threatened with layoffs provide direct services to children which are legally mandated in IEPs; are fluent in ASL; and have strong ties to PSD students, families and the Deaf community. PSD has not provided any concrete plans or answers to parents or staff about how children will continue to receive quality services, or how PSD will remain a financially viable and stable learning environment. It has also become evident that the PSD Board does not intend to honor the commitment made to respect and bargain with the new union in good faith. During negotiations PSD has ignored legally mandated bargaining with the union and made changes to staff working conditions, policies, and compensation. Parents, too, have been rebuffed and shut out of meetings, conversations, and decisions that will impact our children. The Board has consistently undermined communications, transparency, and the ability of staff to partner effectively with parents and administration to provide the best possible education and supports for our students. It is well past the time for transparency and good faith. Stop denying your stakeholders the opportunity to have input into the decision making for the future of PSD.

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  Created by Patricia A. Pomroy, PSD Parent Randy; Paulette Fisher, PSD Alumni; and Dr. Cheryl Wu, Professor of Counseling Gallaudet University
• University of Oregon: Graduate employees deserve paid sick leave

  Graduate employees at the University of Oregon have been bargaining for a year. These graduate students, employed by the school as research assistants and teaching fellows, are asking for paid sick leave and parental leave. At a time when Oregon is expanding access to basic workplace fairness like paid sick days, the University of Oregon should be a leader. Instead, it’s fighting to deny graduate employees these basic rights. The graduate employees have been on strike since Tuesday, Dec. 2. Tell the university that you stand with these workers, and demand the university expand paid sick and parental leave to graduate employees.

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  Created by Joe Henry
• We Stand with Our Teachers and Support Staff in Their Fight for Better Volusia County Schools

  Our teachers and support staff work hard every day to ensure our students in Volusia County get a high-quality public education. We ask that you respect Volusia County teachers, support staff and parents by providing a clean learning environment for our children; by investing in sufficient teaching resources; and by ensuring our schools are competitive with surrounding districts in terms of compensation. I am so grateful my child attends a school where the educators care so much about their students’ future. It is clear to me that they love working with my child, and it only seems logical that the county’s school board would be fair and supportive of the work educators do for my family and our community. When I heard that Volusia educators were standing up to address problems in our schools—the lack of learning materials, the insufficient amount of time available to engage students individually, the lack of support staff to do things like keep schools clean—I knew it was my responsibility to join them. I believe both teachers and parents play an important role in educating our children. That is why I have participated in walk-in protests with other parents and educators to show our solidarity and to show the school board and our county that we care about the conditions provided to teach our kids. The school board’s responsibility is to support educators in the teaching of our children and to provide sufficient resources for our schools—and it has the opportunity to address some of these issues during bargaining sessions happening right now. But until the school board does, we will continue marching every morning into our schools. Our school district’s vision statement says, “To make that vision a reality, we should be attracting and keeping hardworking employees by offering better wages, and we should be providing the materials and learning environments all students need to be successful.” To make that vision a reality, we should be attracting and keeping hardworking employees by offering better wages, clean learning environments and the materials all students need to be successful. Please join me today and tell the School Board of Volusia County that you support our teachers and school staff in our fight to improve our schools. This means recruiting and retaining the best while providing full resources and clean schools for our kids. Let’s reclaim Volusia County and provide the best education for all. Sincerely, Joanna Kaney Olivari

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  Created by Joanna Kaney Olivari
• Fully Fund Baltimore's Community Schools

  In Baltimore, 36.5 percent of people live below the poverty line. That’s $23,492 in annual income for a family of four, according to the 2012 Census Bureau American Community Survey. Linda Darling-Hammond, professor of education at Stanford University and architect of Stanford’s School Redesign Network, argues that socioeconomic status usually accounts for 50-60 percent of overall achievement in schools, while individual teachers may account for only about 7-10 percent. Darling-Hammond also points out that factors related to housing, nutrition, violence and gang-related activity, transportation, and a host of other obstacles communities face affect students’ educational experience as well. Community schools work to address some of these obstacles and have proven successful in providing meals, medical services, home visits and academic opportunities that go beyond the classroom. Increasing and expanding funding will help continue the great work started in the 47 existing community schools in the Baltimore City Public Schools district and help provide all Baltimore’s children the opportunity to succeed. Show your support for Baltimore’s community schools. Sign the petition below.

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  Created by Asher Huey
• Bring new leadership to Dallas schools

  Our school district has an opportunity to make the fresh start that we need and our students deserve. The news broke recently that Superintendent Mike Miles is resigning his post. As the Trustees begin the search for a replacement, we need them to hear the voices of all stakeholders. We need a superintendent who is committed to working with all stakeholders—parents, teachers and school employees, and members of our community. We need collaboration—not confrontation--to ensure that Dallas has safe, welcoming neighborhood public schools where students are inspired and educators are well-supported. The process for identifying and hiring a new superintendent must include the voices of those stakeholders. I urge you to take a moment to let your voice be heard. Please contact the Trustees and urge them to consider the following three points in the search for a new superintendent to lead our school district forward: 1) The process must be inclusive and transparent. Schools work best when all stakeholders are involved. The Dallas ISD Board should take the time and create space to get input from parents, educators and members of our community. 2) An independent search firm should be engaged. Efforts to identify a new superintendent should be broad and deliberate. 3) A broad-based Stakeholder Advisory Committee should participate in the search and interview finalists with the Trustees. The new superintendent should be someone who can build relationships with the full Dallas community. One good way to lay that foundation is to include an array of stakeholders and constituents in the selection process. At a minimum, the committee should have a place for educators, parents, business leaders, faith leaders and representatives of civic organizations. One model for how this works is already familiar to Dallas ISD; whenever a new principal is hired, a campus-wide committee is involved in the selection and interviewing of candidates. A fresh start for Dallas ISD means giving community stakeholders a seat at the table where our new superintendent is selected.

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  Created by Rena Honea
• Pearson: stop "gagging" teachers

  Principals and teachers who recently administered Pearson-developed Common Core-related tests in New York have asserted that they are barred from speaking about the test content and its implications for student success because of “gag orders” written into the testing contracts. These gag orders and the lack of transparency are fueling the growing distrust and backlash among parents, students and educators in the United States about whether the current testing protocols and testing fixation are in the best interests of children. When parents aren’t allowed to know what is on their children’s tests, and when educators have no voice in how assessments are created, and are forbidden from raising legitimate concerns about the assessments’ quality or from talking to parents about the these concerns, Pearson not only increases distrust of testing but also denies children the rich learning experience they deserve. Parents, students and teachers need assessments that accurately measure student performance through questions that are grade-appropriate and aligned with state standards—especially since standardized tests have increasingly life-altering consequences for students and teachers. By including gag orders in contracts, Pearson is silencing the very stakeholders the company needs to engage with. Poll after poll makes clear that parents overwhelmingly trust educators over all others to do what is best for their children—educators’ voices, concerns and input should be included in the creation and application of these assessments. (Read the full letter the AFT delivered to Pearson's board of directors here: http://www.aft.org/pdfs/press/ltr_Randi-Pearson042414.pdf)

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  Created by American Federation of Teachers
• Respect Ivy Academia Teachers’ Due Process and Just Cause Rights

  We formed our union at Ivy Academia to ensure that teachers and other stakeholders have an equal and valued voice and to achieve equitable conditions and pay in comparison to the rest of the teaching community. Unfortunately Ivy wants to keep teachers as “at will” employees and be able to fire teachers for no reason with no explanation, no notice and no due process. We deserve better.

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  Created by Ivy Academia UTLA Bargaining Committee
• Stop wasting Philly taxpayer dollars

  As parents and teachers struggle to start a new year in Philadelphia’s crippled school system, we call on you, ASPIRA’s leaders, to stop spending taxpayer dollars in your effort to silence teachers and staff. ASPIRA teachers and staff deserve a respectful, professional and collaborative learning environment – the kind of work environment found in every high-performing school system in the world. This high standard can only be met when teachers have a voice and a seat at the table.

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  Created by Kim Johnson
• Tell Northside: Stop Attacking Your Nurses

  I am a nurse at Northside Medical Center. As a nurse, I care deeply for my profession and for my patients. I take pride in the care I give patients and am proud of the reputation Northside has because of the work I do as a nurse. We’ve been working without a contract for 15 months. Northside and Community Health Systems, the for-profit corporate owner of the hospital, have proposed terms that could undermine my ability as a nurse to speak out in the future about issues including safety and patient care. And I’m very concerned that CHS proposals could lead to rationing of nursing care at the hospital. Nurses deserve a fair contract, fair pay and the right to advocate for the safety of patients and their caregivers. We went on a one-day strike yesterday because negotiations were not moving along and we needed to bring attention to our concerns. But today, when we returned, we were locked out. They have paid strikebreaking nurses taking our place in the hospital. We provide our patients with award-winning, quality care: How can out-of-town nurses match our record? Northside management is keeping me and my colleagues out while letting in nurses who have 24hrs of experience at Northside: who would you rather have caring for you and your family? If we have enough people speak up and sign this petition, Northisde will have to listen. Nurses deserve a fair contract, fair pay and the right to advocate for the safety of patients and their caregivers.

  818 of 1,000 Signatures

  Created by Candace Root
• Stand with L+M Nurses and Techs

  On Saturday Nov. 16th, the contract for at L&M Hospital expired. The nurses and techs have filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board and will be going on a 5 day strike, starting Wed. Nov 27th. These nurses and techs, represented by AFT Local 5049 and 5051, have provided quality care for thousands of patients, and have worked tirelessly ensuring L&M Hospital is the place where families can get the care they deserve, and when they need it. In return, the management of Lawrence + Memorial is transferring positions covered by collective bargaining agreements to newly created L&M owned-and-operated entities with no union representation. This is a blatant legal maneuver designed to avoid providing the wage rates and health insurance agreed to in existing union contracts.

 All the while, L&M has built enormous cash reserves and over $250 million in assets. Compensation for Executives has grown to well over 4 million dollars a year. These underhanded legal maneuvers and high salaries sound more like Wal-Mart than a community hospital.
 The hospital has hired paid strikebreakers. They’re investing resources to stand up to the nurses and techs, rather than work to make sure the contract is settled. This is not acceptable. Take a moment to stand up for the nurses and techs at L&M.

  8,159 of 9,000 Signatures

  Created by American Federation of Teachers