Area Council meeting at ABCFT Union Hall

The 3rd Area Council meeting was held at the ABCFT Union Hall this Thursday. At this council locals were informed about the political programs that are in full swing in support of Proposition 30 and in opposition of Proposition 32. As of last week the polls showed the following percentages:

Proposition 30 - 52% yes vs. 40% no

Proposition 32 - 42% yes vs 49% no

The ABC Federation of Teachers along with their ABC District counterparts in the AFSCME and CSEA will begin phone banking Oct 1, Oct 3, Oct 8, Oct 10 from 5:#0 to 8:30.
If you are interested in joining us to carry our message to our ABC brothers and sisters please call the ABCFT union hall at 562-924-6942.

Also check out the CFT Campaign website @:

http://cft2012.org/

Also in attendance at the Area Council was Jeff Freitas the Secretary Treasurer for the California Federation of Teachers and past president of ABCFT Laura Rico representing the ABC Retiree chapter. Jeff Freitas discussed updates of the CFT political campaigns and Laura Rico informed the council about the retiree chapters adventures as they hand out information on Propositions 30 and 32 at the local Cerritos Walmart. Laura had a couple of zingers that I wrote down during her report. She was asked by the Walmart customers why she was handing out papers since she was retired already and didn't work int he school district. Laura stated that "I

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 care about the organization I spend my life in" and that Proposition 32 needed to be defeated because "If teachers lose their voice they will no longer be able to protect students in the classrooms" Laura was referring to Sacramento but she also explained that the ABC Unified School District would suffer an 8.5 MILLION dollar mid-year cut that would immediately impact the services of the district, these are just a few reasons why both of these propositions are so important to all educators, parents, students, and anybody in the middle class that wants to have a voice in our democracy. Don't let the voice of working people be silenced.

During the ABC Convocation I mentioned in my speech about having the opportunity to speak in Hawthorne at a local elementary with Governor Jerry Brown. Below is the transcript of what I stated in favor of the passing of Proposition 30.

"My name is Ray Gaer and I am a special education resource teacher from the ABC Unified School District in Southern California. I am here to urge all Californians to vote yes on Proposition 30.

When my students begin the new school year next week they will notice three new challenges to their education. First, they will notice that there are more students in their classes then in previous years which will impact their one-on-one face time with their teachers. Second, they will notice that their teachers are teaching to a new set of national standards called the Common Core Curriculum. Third, they will realize early in the year when they are issued a six year old textbook that it won't have the Common Core Standards that they are learning from their teachers.

Textbooks are a basic tool and necessity for teaching all California students what they will need to complete in the 21st century. As student without a textbook is no better than a student without a lunch, it is a setup for failute. Our schools and classrooms need new textbooks to help teachers teach the new  Common Core National Standards. Without educational funding California students will continue to use outdated materials and will fall behind. 

Proposition 30 is a temporary tax that will prevent another SIX BILLION dollars in cuts to education. This initiative prevents those additional cuts and provides new funding for schools districts throughout California who are desperately in need of buying new textbooks, lowering class sizes, hiring back teachers and becoming 21st century schools.

Over the past 20 years the wealthiest Californian's have enjoyed a doubling of their income but are still paying a low rate of taxes which directly impacts our schools and our safety. We all need to pay our fair share. My students' futures are riding on this Proposition, our neighborhood safety is riding on this proposition, and California's future is riding on this proposition. Funding should not be a gamble. 

I urge you as a classroom teacher to vote YES on Proposition 30. Thank you.

Anyway,

Get out the word on these two propositions and join the phone banking if you can. See you on the battlefield!

In Solidarity!

Ray Gaer

President, ABC Federation of Teachers 

Los Angeles County Federation of Labor Congress

On September 20th Richard Hathaway (ABCFT Treasurer) , Ruben Mancillas (ABCFT Ex. Vice President) , and myself (Ray Gaer ABCFT President) attended the bi-annual Los Angeles County Federation of Labor Congress. Over 130+ unions from all over the Los Angeles County participated in this gathering and filled a giant union hall to listen to motivating speakers on the state of labor in California.

A majority of the speakers focused on the brutal attack tactic being used by big business to push the deceitful Proposition 32.  Make sure you tell everyone you know how undemocratic and unAmerican this proposition is for the all Californians and potentially against Americans across the country. What will happen to the United State if California, the 13th largest economy in the world silences the voice of the working class....tyranny. Make sure you are informed and that you tell all of your friends and families to stop the corporate power grab.


A major highlight was an inspiring speech by Richard Trumka the President of the AFL-CIO.

Here's his speech at the National Democratic Convention:

At the end of the day the delegates of the convention walked across the street to a picket line in front of a construction site where a "rat" construction company was using non-union "scabs" to build and regardless of the intense heat many of the convention delegates picked up a sign an marched in front of this construction site and hollered union pride songs. Last Thursday was a great UNION DAY.

In Solidarity,

Ray

ABC School Board recognizes ABCFT's 40th Anniversary

ABC School Recognition
Pictured ABCFT President and Past Presidents with ABC School Board

Its been a busy one and both on the school front and the home front with kid activities so I'm a little backlogged on posts so here is the first.......

The ABC Unified School District School Board formally recognized the ABC Federation of Teachers 40th Charter Anniversary with a commemorative plack. Here is the transcript of some of what I said at the school board meeting:

"I would like to thank the District for recognizing the ABC Federation Teachers for their 40th anniversary. I would like to take this opportunity to pay homage to those past presidents and past executive boards. Here is a list of all the past presidents of ABCFT and the school that they worked in when they were elected to the office of President.

1. Charlie Ryder - Artesia High School
2. Dick Neville - Cerritos High School
3. Julien Minard - Faye Ross Middle School  Pictured
4. Roni Love - Faye Ross Middle School
5. Dennis Cox - Cerritos High School
6. Walter Zavaleko - Carver Elementary
7. John Ennes - Kennedy Elementary
8. Richard Hathaway - Hawaiian Elementary  Pictured
9. Joan Elliot - Cerritos High School
10. Don Saul - Cerritos High School
11. Laura Rico - Artesia High School Children's Center  Pictured
12. Ray Gaer - Artesia High School  Pictured

There have been many dedicated unionists that have strived to make ABC a diamond in the rough. This Union continues to work for the traditional bread and butter issues commonly associated with the union movement, however, the ABC Federation of Teachers has continued to strive to evolve and in partnership with the ABC Unified School District together we have become nationally known for our ability to work together and to keep our eye on the main thing....student achievement (note: Randi Weingarten has called the way we do the business in ABC as "solution driven unionism.")

In our next 40 years we will continue to find new ways to reach out to the community as we look for new partners who have the same interest as our own, our students in 21st century schools. 

Thank you for the honor and respect you have shown to your employees with this presentation."

Thanks to all that attended this presentation. Happy Birthday ABC Federation of Teachers!!!!

In Solidarity,

Ray Gaer
President, ABC Federation of Teachers Local 2317

NO on 32...say NO a campaign to silence the middle class

Koch Brothers' Group Drops $4 Million into  Prop. 32 Campaign to Silence Us Image credit: Robert Greenwald's "Koch Brothers Exposed," Brave New Foundation On Thursday, the LA Times reported on a new poll that credited labor’s efforts for causing a 10-point drop in support for Prop. 32. On Friday, a group tied to the conservative billionaire Koch brothers dropped $4 million into the Yes on 32 campaign to silence the voices of California's workers. Who are the Koch brothers? Check out a short video from "Koch Brothers Exposed." Brother Kevin Norton of IBEW Local 11 sums it up, "It just goes to show that this initiative is backed by out-of-state oil billionaires and is a thinly veiled attempt to destroy labor. The Koch Brothers are the text book example of special interest money and the fact that they are supporting Prop. 32 makes the argument in favor of it null and void. We have to get involved more than ever. Unless we want a President Koch, we have to get mobilized. It's not good for our democracy that only the uber wealthy can be involved in politics. Twenty years from now, this will be a point that we'll all look back and say 'This is where we lost it.' or 'This is where we turned it around.' Let's turn it around." It's time to re-double our efforts on the phones. We know it requires having conversations with voters for us to defeat Prop. 32. Download this flyer for volunteer phonebank information. If your union can turnout at least 10 people to make calls, we will bring the phonebank to you! Contact Hector Saldivar at 213-381-5611 ext. 136 or hsaldivar@launionaflcio.org.

AFT Progressive Caucus Stands with Local 1

AFT Progressive Caucus Standing Tall with

Chicago Teachers!

 The AFT Progressive Caucus stands tall with the Chicago Teachers Union in its fight for fairness and respect.

As AFT President Randi Weingarten stated “the Chicago teachers are fighting to make sure every student has what they need to succeed and that every teacher has good health benefits, job security and a fair evaluation system that uses standardized tests appropriately and in the best interest of students they serve.”

 The Progressive Caucus will stand in solidarity until a fair and just result is achieved for the members of the Chicago teachers, their students and their communities.

 If you and/or any of your members would like to help the Chicago teachers, we encourage you to participate in one or more of the following activities:

 1.  Letters/Resolutions of support.  They should be sent to Karen Lewis, President Chicago Teachers Union Local 1. Attention: Audrey May. 222 Merchandise Mart, 4th Floor. Chicago, Il 60654.

2.    Donations. Donations may be made via check or credit card. Checks should be made payable to: CTU Solidarity Fund and mailed to the address above. Credit card donations should be made using the format found on the CTU web site at http://www.ctunet.com/

3.  Show support on Twitter and Facebook. Post and tweet messages of support to CTU members.  On Twitter: www.twitter.com/CTULocal1.  On Facebook:www.facebook.com/pages/Chicago-Teachers-Union/137764189586887

Chicago School Strike Could End with Union Vote

Chicago Strike Update

 An afternoon union meeting in Chicago could put an end to a strike that has kept students in the city out of the classroom for five days.
A union gathering Friday afternoon could approve a deal that could end the back-and-forth bargaining that had stalled for months.
Rank-and-file teachers prepared to return to the streets for morning rallies to press the union's demands that laid-off instructors be given first shot at job openings and for implementation of a teacher evaluation system that does not rely heavily on student test results.
Contract talks pushed on for more than 15 hours Thursday with little word of progress until negotiators called it quits close to 1 a.m. Friday. Chicago School Board President David Vitale said the two sides had worked past the contentious evaluations issue — though he didn't elaborate — and had begun crunching numbers on financial matters.
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said the two sides had many "productive" conversations but she declined to describe the talks in detail. She and Vitale said they hope students can be back in class Monday.
"It was a long day. There were some creative ideas passed around, but we still do not have an agreement," Lewis said.
The union called a meeting Friday afternoon of some 700 delegates who would be required to approve any contract settlement with a majority vote. The meeting could be used to present an agreement or merely to update union members on where the negotiations stand.
The strike by more than 25,000 teachers in the nation's third-largest school district has idled many youths and children, leaving some unsupervised in gang-dominated neighborhoods. It also has been a potent display of union power at a time when organized labor has lost ground around the nation.
School district officials said the main sticking points remained the evaluation system and the union's demands that laid-off teachers get top consideration for rehiring. The district worries that could result in principals being forced to hire unsuitable teachers.
The union says using student test scores to evaluate teacher performance is unfair, arguing that poor test results can be the result of poverty, hunger and other conditions beyond their control. Under an older proposal by the district, the union estimated that 6,000 teachers could lose their jobs within two years.
An offer made late Wednesday included provisions that would have protected tenured teachers from dismissal in the first year of the evaluations. It also altered categories that teachers can be rated on and added an appeals process. A spokeswoman said late Thursday that the two sides have held 35 meetings over 90 hours on the teacher evaluations issue.
The other outstanding issue was whether laid-off teachers should have first shot at open jobs. School officials plan to close 100 schools "as soon as the ink is dry" on a new contract, unfairly displacing teachers, many African-American, who work in struggling schools that often don't have adequate resources, Lewis said this week.
The union is trying to win assurances that laid-off but qualified teachers get dibs on jobs anywhere in the district. But Illinois law gives individual principals in Chicago the right to hire the teachers they want, and Emanuel argues it's unfair to hold principals accountable for their schools' performance if they can't pick their own teams.
The district has offered a compromise. If schools close, teachers would have the first right to jobs matching their qualifications where schools absorb the children from the closed school. The proposal also includes provisions for teachers who aren't hired, including severance.
It wasn't clear if the union had accepted the proposal, but Lewis said it "did not intend to sign an agreement until these matters are addressed."
Late Thursday, the school board said its latest proposal was in the hands of the union and that the union bargaining team was meeting separately to discuss it. Board spokeswoman Becky Carroll had expected a response later in the night.
"We are at the brink of getting all the key issues addressed so that we can move forward with getting a deal and getting our kids back to school," she said. "We've made many modifications over the last several days to our proposal. We feel that we're there. And at this point, it's in the CTU's hands to bring it to a close."
When negotiations resumed Thursday morning, Lewis predicted that students could be back in class by Monday, a week after the teachers walked out. District officials expressed similar optimism, and others noted a more focused atmosphere in the talks.

  FOX News

Share My Lesson Website Offers One Lucky Registrant $5,000 Toward Student Loans

WASHINGTON—Share My Lesson, the online collection of teaching resources created by the American Federation of Teachers and TES Connect, announced a new contest today that brings attention to the website and to the problem of student debt.

Student loan debt has piled up to an astounding $1 trillion, leaping over all other household debt, including credit card and housing obligations. The average student debt burden is about $235,000, with 10 percent of borrowers owing more than $54,000 and 3 percent more than $100,000. The problem is particularly acute for teachers, who have an average starting salary of $30,000, lower than other white-collar professions.

Share My Lesson has more than 255,000 teaching materials for educators who register, all free of charge. These resources include grade-specific curricula, lesson plans, quizzes and interactive resources for grades pre-K through college. In addition, Share My Lesson has targeted materials to assist teachers with teaching to the Common Core State Standards in their lessons, now required in 46 states and the District of Columbia.

To promote Share My Lesson (www.sharemylesson.com), we will enter all registrants who have registered by Oct. 31 into a drawing. The winner will receive their choice of $5,000 to be used to help pay off their student loan debt or a $3,500 Visa cash card.

“Teachers want and need the resources, tools and time to help their students succeed. Share My Lesson is a voluminous collection of online teaching materials by teachers, for teachers—and for free,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “When teachers share their best practices and ideas, it’s a win-win for teachers and their students.”

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The AFT represents 1.5 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; federal, state and local government employees; nurses and healthcare workers; and early childhood educators.

AFT Statement in Support of the Local #1 STRIKE

Join us to show your support for the CTU and strong public schools in Chicago by wearing red on Wednesday, Sept. 12. “Chicago Teachers Union is the AFT’s Local No. 1; it’s where our union was born,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said in a statement of support. “The CTU has a proud tradition of uniting and standing together to advocate and agitate for better—for students, for our communities and for our members.”  The 1.5 million members of the AFT are proud to stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in their fight to ensure that every child in Chicago’s public schools has access to a great education, and that educators and their work are valued.  Show Your Solidarity: Wear Red! In unity,Randi WeingartenAFT President P.S. You can also post your expressions of support on the CTU Facebook Page AFT Statement in Support of Striking Chicago Teachers Union Members

Washington—Statement of AFT President Randi Weingarten in support of striking Chicago Teachers Union members. “For the first time in 25 years, the members of the Chicago Teachers Union are on strike. No one wants to strike, and no one strikes without cause. In this instance, it comes on the heels of numerous steps that left CTU members feeling disrespected, not the least of which was the district’s unilateral decision to strip teachers and paraprofessionals of an agreed-upon 4 percent raise. The strike comes only after long and intense negotiations failed to lead to an agreement that would give CTU members the tools they need to help all their students succeed. “The American Federation of Teachers and our members across the country stand firmly with the CTU, and we will support its members in their efforts to secure a fair contract that will enable them to give their students the best opportunities. “CTU members—the women and men who spend every day with Chicago’s children—want to have their voice and experience respected and valued. They want to be treated as equal partners in making sure every student in Chicago succeeds. That has been the CTU’s guiding philosophy throughout these negotiations, and it remains so on the picket lines. “The Chicago Teachers Union is the AFT’s Local No. 1. The AFT was founded in Chicago 100 years ago by teachers determined to have a voice in the quality of their workplace and the quality of the instruction provided to their students. They knew then, as CTU members know now, that collective action was the only way to improve their schools, their communities and their students’ education. We know that the members of the CTU are prepared to stay on the picket lines. We also know they would rather be on the job, in the classroom educating their students. “CTU President Karen Lewis made clear last night that the CTU is prepared to continue negotiations during the strike. Mayor Rahm Emanuel echoed that sentiment on behalf of the district. The students, teachers and educational support staff—and the city of Chicago—deserve a school system that works for everyone. In the end, that is what this strike is all about.”

MY 2012-13 Blog Commitment

Hi everyone,

Last year the ABCFT was humming along and I was keeping up with the ABC Teacher News Blog and then.......budget......and then.....negotiations, but that is just excuses. I just plain got relaxed and lazy and kept the blog off my plate for awhile.

Anyway  

I have made a commitment to post at minimum every Friday so that all those interested could look over the weekend or early in the week at teacher/nurse union information.

Okay, I got that commitment out in the public....2012-13 will be a GREAT SCHOOL YEAR!

MY BEST WISHES TO MY ABCFT BROTHERS AND SISTERS THAT THEY ALL HAVE A WONDERFUL SCHOOL YEAR!


ONWARD!!

Ray Gaer

President, ABC Federation of Teachers