Our negotiating team will be meeting with BPS this afternoon and are scheduled to also meet on the 11th and 28th. We need you to sign our petition to demand regularly scheduled bargaining sessions to get our contract done! We will be “delivering” our petition tomorrow via the virtual School Committee meeting. Come join us either virtually or in-person at the BTU from 6 to 8 p.m. for a Petition Delivery Watch Party. Please RSVP if you plan to join in person, as we will be providing a light dinner and need to plan in advance.
Congratulations to the BTU Equal Pay for Equal Work committee who successfully fought for equitable pay for the UP Dorchester and UP Boston schools.
The Boston School Committee approved of the change at the last meeting. We appreciate the partnership with Veronica Conforme of the UP Schools as well as BPS and DESE to ensure that our members at those schools be more equitably compensated for the extra hours they work. Now, we need to ensure that the educators at the UP Holland and the Dever schools – the two Boston schools under state receivership – get the same “Schedule A” compensation for their additional work hours as well.Our next membership meeting is Wednesday, April 13 at 4:30 p.m. It will be an in-person meeting with the option to view-only on Zoom. If you will be joining in-person, you do not need to register, though, as always, you should bring your BTU card for admittance. (We will have a problem-solving table for those who do not have their card, but you must bring a photo ID or BPS pay stub.)
If you will be joining via Zoom, registration in advance is required to verify BTU membership. We will not be accepting any registrations submitted after 3:30 p.m. as we are navigating this new hybrid model and will not have the bandwidth to support late registrations beyond that time. Additionally, tech support for those who are having trouble joining the meeting will only be available until 5:00 p.m. If you registered before the 3:30 p.m. cut off and are having issues joining the meeting, please email zoom@btu.org and we will assist you in joining.
Please note: ONLY THOSE IN PERSON WILL BE ABLE TO VOTE AND SPEAK and Building Reps must be in-person for the meeting to “count.” Those who are observing the meeting from home will not have access to the Q&A and the chat will not be monitored.
The Executive Board has approved of the attached protocols and rules of order for the April In-Person Membership. Upon entering the meeting hall, members will be asked to attest that they do not have COVID-19 symptoms by initialing an official BTU sign-in sheet. Masks are required and there will protocols in place to provide varying levels of comfort, including a masks-only area and mask-break/eating only area. Trespassing is prohibited and in the event that a member becomes unruly during the course of a meeting, Robert’s Rules Section 61 will govern.
Building Reps: If you have not done so already, please remember to submit your W-9to Nichole Staude in order to receive the 2021-2022 BR stipend.
Final Reminder: We are shifting to a new method of accepting submissions for the BTU Bulletin. If you would like to submit an announcement to be featured in our weekly bulletins, we are now accepting submissions via Google form at bit.ly/BTUbulletin. Thank you for your cooperation!
Finally, a huge congratulations to the Amazon workers at the Staten Island warehouse who voted to form company’s first U.S. union! Another amazing example of the power of collective organizing. #solidarityforever