Calling all teachers! September 19th is our first night of phone banking for Campaign 2012. Meet at the RRC (building next to the District Office) from 4 to 7:00 PM.
Can't make it on the 19th? Save the date for September 26th for our second night of phone banking. Same place and time.
Remember, we will be contacting our fellow CTA members to make sure they understand what's at stake if Proposition 30 doesn't pass and if Proposition 32 does pass. We all have something to lose here. If we all pitch in just a little we can do great things.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Vote NO on Proposition 32!
As we become bombarded with election commercials and flyers in our mailboxes I want to talk to you about an extremely important proposition that would greatly affect all union workers in California. You might wonder what unions have actually done for you. Let me assure you, unions have done plenty. Not only have we been able to define what is a work week, we have maternity leave, family leave, retirement, sick leave, competitive salaries, job security, due process, seniority, and plenty of other rights that were once non-existent until negotiated. Well proposition 32 is a deceptive plan to silence unions for good. Take a look at what has happened in Wisconsin if you don't believe me. Here is a link to a short video called Voices of WEAC on the aftermath of union workers in Wisconsin. http://youtu.be/9hMM16w9vhs Teachers there are given guidelines of how to dress and behave in and outside of the workplace or suffer the consequence of getting fired. There is no longer seniority. Anyone can be fired without just cause. To cut corners our administrators could just fire the highest paid member, no questions asked. Can you imagine how awful that would be? If proposition 32 passes we will no longer be allowed to even talk about political action or have a say in protecting our students, schools, and profession. All unions would suffer the same consequence. That's nurses, firefighters, police officers and even farm worker union members. All unions would be silenced.
So why is this happening? Who is behind this? Large corporations would like you to believe that they are protecting people against "special interest" groups. We are all special interest groups. Ours is education. Theirs seems to be filling their pockets and not paying their fair share in taxes. They would like you to believe this proposition would stop corporations and unions from collecting political funds through payroll deductions. Well here's the loophole. Corporations rarely use payroll deduction to collect money for political action. They have deep pockets and historically pull money from their profits or they can create a SuperPac. So they would be able to continue supporting any political cause they want while we would not. Yes our union uses payroll deduction but it is voluntary. Any one of our members can choose to not have a part of their union dues taken out for political purposes. While unions would be silenced, corporations would be able to continue to put their money toward any cause they want. Corporations already outspend us 15 to 1. There has been a growing urge from the right side to silence unions for years now. They know we might not have the money but we have people. We have more voting power than they have money to fight us. Please please please educate yourself on prop 32 and tell 5 people about it. We need to work harder than ever in the next few months. You might not have gone into teaching to be an activist but unfortunately we must. This is our profession. We must fight to protect it and the students we serve. Your governing council rep will be getting you information and letting you know how you can help. You can also learn more from cta.org/campaign2012.
So why is this happening? Who is behind this? Large corporations would like you to believe that they are protecting people against "special interest" groups. We are all special interest groups. Ours is education. Theirs seems to be filling their pockets and not paying their fair share in taxes. They would like you to believe this proposition would stop corporations and unions from collecting political funds through payroll deductions. Well here's the loophole. Corporations rarely use payroll deduction to collect money for political action. They have deep pockets and historically pull money from their profits or they can create a SuperPac. So they would be able to continue supporting any political cause they want while we would not. Yes our union uses payroll deduction but it is voluntary. Any one of our members can choose to not have a part of their union dues taken out for political purposes. While unions would be silenced, corporations would be able to continue to put their money toward any cause they want. Corporations already outspend us 15 to 1. There has been a growing urge from the right side to silence unions for years now. They know we might not have the money but we have people. We have more voting power than they have money to fight us. Please please please educate yourself on prop 32 and tell 5 people about it. We need to work harder than ever in the next few months. You might not have gone into teaching to be an activist but unfortunately we must. This is our profession. We must fight to protect it and the students we serve. Your governing council rep will be getting you information and letting you know how you can help. You can also learn more from cta.org/campaign2012.
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