Hope you are enjoying the summer! While summer is an important time for much needed R&R for our members, we wanted to send a summer eBulletin to update you on important announcements and information. While many of you are balancing your downtime with summer teaching and professional learning opportunities, our staff and leadership are also working hard through the summer to continue our fight for a fair contract and to prepare for the fall. Here are some highlights:
Our negotiating team and staff met for all-day mediation on June 26. We have two more sessions scheduled for July and August. We are continuously working to negotiate a fair contract for our members and students. In July, NEA members, in town for their bi-annual convention, participated in a social media campaign as a show of solidarity for our union. You can check out the support at #BTUContractNow
Our Organizing Team led our fifth annual Summer Organizing Institute, and members heard from Amy Mizialko, Vice President of the Milwaukee Teachers Union, learned from a number of workshops, and created action plans to strengthen our union. The feedback as overwhelmingly positive! If you missed the opportunity, a second Summer Organizing Institute will be held in August from the 29-31. Learn more at btu.org/summer
Our members have continued to be active and engaged in community actions and political work. We are ready to get out the vote for BTU-endorsed candidates Paul Feeney and Lydia Edwards and are setting up additional interviews soon for the a second round of endorsements in non-primary, incumbent races. If you are available to get involved with our grassroots political efforts, please click on the links above or email Johnny McInnis, our new Political Director. Reach him at jmcinnis@btu.org.
Lastly, please join me in welcoming Farah Assiraj, our new Director of Organizing. Reach her at fassiraj@btu.org. Farah will be starting in her new role at the BTU next week! As usual, please see details of all updates and opportunities in this issue of the ebulletin.