| Good Morning,
We hope that all of the mothers, mentors and maternal figures in our lives were able to enjoy the beautiful weather this Mother’s Day weekend!
In case you missed it, last Wednesday the Boston City Council unanimously voted to approve funding for our contract agreement applying to SYs ‘24-27.
Thank you to Boston City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune and the entire council for supporting a contract that guarantees more resources for all students, as well as significantly improved wages for all BTU members, particularly our lowest-paid members.
BTU members, please take a moment to give yourselves some gratitude. For more than a year and a half, BTU members of all roles showed up at bargaining sessions, rallies, stand-outs and school committee meetings to advocate for a better education system for Boston’s students and better conditions for Boston’s workers. Our collective fight for a fair contract was sustained by the passion, dedication and bravery of our individual members.
The contract terms are retroactive to September 1st, 2024, and will apply through August 31st, 2027. We have been and will continue to advocate for the district to promptly implement the new terms set out in the contract. We will also continue to push for the district to provide the retroactive pay owed to members as soon as possible.
Membership Meeting and BTU Elections:
The monthly BTU membership meeting is TOMORROW, May 14, beginning at 4:30 pm. The structure of the meeting will be different than normal. The first section of the meeting will be dedicated to the ongoing BTU internal elections. Candidates for President, Executive Vice President, Secretary Treasurer, Political Director, and Elementary, Secondary, and Para/ ABA/Substitute Field Reps will each have two minutes to speak. The BTU also held a primary election for Executive Board last week. Please see the message from the BTU Election Committee below to see who has advanced to the next round.
If you need childcare for the meeting, please let us know!
Important Paraprofessional Pay Schedule Information
Paraprofessionals have the option to choose to have their yearly pay follow a bi-weekly 26 paycheck schedule. The deadline to opt-in to this pay schedule is June 2nd, 2025. You can find more information in this Superintendent Circular. You can access the required form here.
Ongoing Advocacy Updates
Rümeysa Öztürk has been freed. Öztürk is a Tufts University student, SEIU Local 509 member and Fulbright scholar who was abducted by ICE agents in Somerville at the end of March for expressing an opinion in a student newspaper op-ed that the Trump Administration did not like. She spent six weeks in federal detention in Louisiana, with limited access to her legal team and her family under conditions that exacerbated her asthma.
The BTU joined SEIU Local 509 and dozens of other labor unions for multiple protests over the past two months to stand in solidarity with Rümeysa and protest the egregious violations of her civil rights. Her case is still open so the fight is not over. But this is proof that when labor unions join together to fight for the rights of their members, we can overcome obstacles set by the most powerful people in the world.
Thank you to Latinos for Education for organizing a celebration of the passage of the Educator Diversity Act. The BTU joined dozens of organizations from across the state to advocate for the passage of this bill. At multiple points over the years it appeared the bill would not pass, but our collective persistence and resilience persevered. We are honored to have played our part in establishing new pathways to the classroom for aspiring educators of color. |
