Throughout the break, we have continued to plan for the weeks and months ahead. While we continue to prepare for our hearing next week at the Department of Labor Relations on the BPS charge for their failure to impact bargain with us in the last round of school reopenings, we also continued with our organizing campaign Get S.E.T. BPS and held a successful forum for families last week. Over the break, we also
had over 1,600 members fill out our official survey in our member portal, and are still seeking to reach our goal of over 50% by the end of the week.If you haven’t done so yet, please take a moment to fill out the official reopening survey for BTU members.
If you have any trouble getting into the portal, you can call Regina at 617-227-3636, email members@btu.org or reach out to a member of the BTU staff to get a link to the survey. While as of today there is no date set that we know of for any additonal school reopenings beyond the 32 school buildings currently open, we are still working on getting a written agreement for the 28 schools lacking one and are preparing for the possibilty of such in the coming weeks and need your input on how to move forward.Please note that there was an unofficial and unsanctioned survey sent out by individual BTU members via a Google form.
That survey was NOT an official BTU survey – it was created and shared by a few BTU action team members independently, and we do not have access to that survey data. Again, please fill out the official reopening survey in the BTU member portal even if you filled out the unsanctioned one. We are sorry that there was confusion due to the other survey that we did not originally know was being created and was disseminated unofficially.Our next membership meeting will be on Wednesday, January 13 at 4:30 p.m. Please make sure to register in advance here. Quick reminders for registering:
- Please remember that you must register at least one hour in advance, or you will not receive a link.
- Each link is unique and cannot be shared.
- You only need to sign up once per meeting.
- Links are sent after your registration and membership status are verified – please do not register multiple times if you do not immediately receive a link.
- Remember to include your exact BPS ID# in order to expedite approvals. If you are retired or don’t have an ID# for another reason, please enter “000000.”
- Please make sure that you have updated your Zoom account with the latest update before the meeting in order to avoid complications with your link.
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act Extension leave options were extended through 3/31/21 by the City of Boston. We are very grateful to Mayor Marty Walsh and his administration for extending these important policies for working famliies. Please note that this is an extension of the act, and if an employee has already exhausted the entitlement under the FFCRA, they will not be able to reapply for it. Please refer to this FFCRA FAQ for more information.
We recently reached an agreement with BPS about conducting observations via Zoom or other remote platforms. The agreement is only for this school year, and ensures that the observation may not be recorded, and the observer must make their presence known to the educator.
Last call: The fight for the Senate continues and today is the big day! Make calls to voters in Georgia to help labor’s endorsed candidates, Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock, win the Georgia runoffs TODAY so the Democrats can take back the Senate! Email MA AFL-CIO Senior Organizer Brian Dunn to volunteer & receive instructions. You can make calls from home today from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. There are several more opportunties to volunteer on the AFT Mobilize homepage. Contact Political Director Johnny McInnis or Political Organizer Roberto Jimenez for any questions!