Happy May! We hope that you are staying safe and healthy and enjoying the beautiful spring weather. May has already been a very busy month: On Saturday, we celebrated International Workers’ Day and stood with labor and community groups fighting wage theft. We also stood up for immigrant worker rights and kicked off Immigrant Pride Week, spearheaded by the BTU Unafraid Educators Committee. May is also Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. Please see resources from AFT and the AFT AAPI Task Force and join a hearing on anti-Asian violence held by the MA State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Dept. of Civil Rights on Anti-Hate Crime this Thursday.
Last but not least, this week is also Teacher and Nurse Appreciation week! We are so incredibly appreciative of the work you all do every day of the year – and particularly this year. Please remember to take moments for self care – you deserve it! AFT and Share My Lesson are offering free wellness webinars this week to honor our educators and nurses, and we will share more opportunities throughout this month.
We are pleased to congratulate Xyra Mercer, who recently joined the Boston Student Advisory Council as a student representative. She is currently a junior at the Dr. William W. Henderson K-12 Inclusion School in Dorchester, where she is deeply engaged and involved in her school and her community at large. Xyra intends to pursue a career in education, with the ambition of obtaining a doctorate. Congratulations, Xyra! We are also thankful to all of the youth leaders who helped to facilitate and lead our last contract forum for students. It was an incredibly successful event and our CBC will be looking closely at their input this week.
In addition to our Union Election (mail-in ballots should be arriving in your mailboxes soon), Building Rep elections will be taking place in May as well. As a reminder, please see the guidelines from the BR Handbook on rules and regulations to follow as these votes are cast. Please remember that those running for Building Rep should not be facilitating the vote. Voting for Building Reps can take place either or in-person or electronically like last spring. If you have any questions, please reach out to an organizer. Additionally, in order to receive a 2021 Building Rep stipend, we need to have a W9 form on file. If you were a rep last year and sent one to us, you do not need to send another one. Please click here to get the form and forward it to Jeannie Turner.
Starting on April 30, 10-month paras are having double deductions for health insurance premiums. This applies to Substitutes and Sub Nurses as well. Please see here for more information and dates regarding these deductions.
Reminder: Do we have your correct mailing address on file? It is important to us that we are able to reach all of our members by phone, mail or email. Please check here to make sure we have your correct information.