Share This

News

Union Victories!

Our Union Observer Grievance:

Dear Members,

The Union was originally denied the opportunity to appoint an observer to the Data Committee, which is now comprised of rpk GROUP consultants, NJCU administrators, and Senate appointees. The State contract gives the Union locals the right to appoint observers to college-wide committees, and Bill Calathes, the Local’s grievance chair, initiated a grievance. An Agreement has been signed that permits the appointment of an observer and alternate to the Data Committee. The Union is also appointing an observer and alternate to the Steering Committee which is also comprised of rpk GROUP consultants, NJCU administrators, and Senate appointees.

-The Agreement

-Joe Moskowitz 2020 Settlement Agreement

Barbara Hildner
President, Local 1839

 

Labor Must Take on Capital

Unions must expand beyond narrow bargaining to challenge those who hold wealth and power at the highest levels. by Saqib Bhatti & Stephen Lerner (READ...)

Affordable Care Act

President Bill Calathes would like you to see the following correspondence provided by CNJSCL President Tim Haresign regarding current AFT policy on the Affordable Care Act. As you can see, much needs to be worked out specifically regarding our understanding and implementation of this very important piece of legislation. Rest assured, that this work will be carried out thoroughly. Tim Haresign stated: 

 
“The issue of how adjunct work hours will be calculated for this remains unresolved.  I'm not sure at this point if we have agreement among ourselves as to how we would like to see the hours calculated.  We will need to decide this first and then develop a strategy (hopefully working with NJAFT) to get our preferred rules implemented.“
 
AFT Center for Collective Bargaining: Update on Affordable Care Act Proposed Rules (PDF)

What unions do

In AFT President Randi Weingarten’s latest New York Times  column, she describes what it is exactly that unions do. Though unions are the most popular they have been in decades, anti-union sentiment still thrives in red states and across the nation. “Several years ago, The Atlantic ran a story whose headline made even me, a labor leader, scratch my head: ‘Union Membership: Very Sexy,’” Weingarten writes in the column. “The gist was that higher wages, health benefits and job security—all associated with union membership—boost one’s chances of getting married. Belonging to a union doesn’t actually guarantee happily ever after, but it does help working people have a better life in the here and now.” Click through to read the full column.

A torrent of censorship

Nearly 250 years since our country’s founding, some Americans are still attempting to restrict others’ basic freedoms. In Florida and elsewhere, censoring books is part of larger efforts to exert greater control over and undermine education.

more

Voting for democracy and a better life

In the leadup to the midterm elections, pundits predicted a red wave, even a tsunami, based on polls, historical precedent, and steep gas and grocery prices. But I had my doubts. I spent the weeks before the elections talking to voters and traveling on the AFT Votes bus, rolling through a dozen states with more than 50 stops. In a year when kitchen table issues, democracy and our freedoms were on the ballot, many people told me that the elections came down to a choice between, on the one side, election deniers and extremists stoking fear, and on the other, problem-solvers working to help the country move forward. Many races were close, but Americans turned the tide from a red wave to a swell of support for progress and problem-solvers. Read the full column here.

Sharing more pathways to student debt relief

As the landscape of student debt shifts, and more and more opportunities allow borrowers to have their debt relieved, the AFT is using every avenue to ensure that the word is out. In affiliate meetings, telephone town halls, media coverage and social media, the union is spreading the news, and at a student debt clinic at AFT headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 31, AFT President Randi Weingarten vowed to reach as many people as possible with information that could save them tens—and sometimes hundreds—of thousands of dollars.

more

Celebrating student loan relief

“It was like waking up and learning you won the lottery.” That’s just one of the comments flooding the AFT offices from members who are elated to be free of student debt at last. After relentless advocacy, including an AFT lawsuit against former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program that was so broken is finally doing what it is supposed to do: delivering relief from student debt for thousands of borrowers. So far, $6.2 billion in student debt has been forgiven for 100,000 public service workers like teachers, nurses and professors.

more

The AFT calls for freedom to teach

AFT President Randi Weingarten today delivered a major address on the crisis hollowing out the teaching profession—massive disinvestment in public education and deprofessionalization. In her speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., she called for reinvestment and freedom to teach. It was followed by two panels featuring education leaders who laid out pragmatic solutions.

more

Pages