February 2022

Respect Students and Educators to Build a Better Future

By Anna-Marie Magdalena, State Affiliate Political Organizer

With over 100 union members signed up for Lobby Day on Monday, Feb 21^st, we will send legislators a unified message for a robust cost of living increase, better student support, and accountability on college equity and diversity plans. We won’t stop there! We have written a petition to the legislature outlining our goals for state investment in education, and in 2023 we will be organizing for pay equity for all our faculty. This petition is the first step on the road to the 2023 legislative session.

Having a large number of petition signatures sends the message to the legislature, as they craft their 2022-2023 supplemental budget, that they must prioritize investing in our students and education workers. Join us in supporting the true [Re]Investment in Our Colleges by signing the petition

AFT Renton, Local 6367, Needs Your Help – Send A Letter!

By AFT Washington Staff

Our bus drivers, nutrition service workers, district mechanics, maintenance workers, and warehouse workers, all members of AFT Renton Local 6367, are being treated with a total lack of respect by Renton School District. The workers are trying to bargain in good faith a contract that will ensure their jobs are doable and that they receive a living wage.

During the pandemic closure of Renton Schools, AFT members in local 6367 were the only group to be furloughed and have their hours slashed, which resulted in many of these employees being unable to stay in these positions; we lost many essential service providers in the midst of a shortage.

Now, at a time where there has been no relief from this shortage, the Renton School District is ignoring these workers’ efforts to get a pay raise even close to what they have given others, which would simply keep the local’s members at a livable wage.

This refusal to bargain genuinely fair pay means that there is no relief for the shortages in these positions, and we are liable to lose even more people from these jobs. The Renton School District is putting students and staff at risk by refusing to earnestly bargain for fair pay.

These are the workers who feed your children and take them to school. They are the people who ensure our buildings are warm, and our classrooms have desks. Shortages in these positions means children who cannot get to school. It means schools that cannot meet students’ basic needs.

Renton School District is not treating these staff members with a fraction of the respect they deserve, and we cannot stand idly by while this happens.

Stand up for our bus drivers, nutrition services providers, maintenance, and warehouse workers by adding your voice to the demand that the Renton School District settle a fair contract and treat the AFT classified workers who serve our students and community with respect.

Supporting Relief Efforts for Super Typhoon Odette

By Cortney Marabetta, Communications Specialist

AFT Washington received a request from Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) and the Solidarity Center to make a donation for relief efforts for those affected by Super Typhoon Odette. Super Typhoon Odette slammed into the Philippines on December 12^th of last year, killing over 400 people and affecting 7.8 million Filipinos as it traveled over 11 regions. Communities were leveled by torrential rains, landslides, and storm surges, and shortages of water, food, and electricity are extreme.

APALA and A Legacy of Equality Leadership and Organizing (LELO) are working directly with the Philippine labor organization SENTRO to raise funds to assist with relief efforts in the Philippines. AFT Washington’s board has donated $500. APALA and the Solidarity Center invite contributions; your local can make electronic donations through Seattle APALA’s PayPal, and checks may be made out to APALA, with “typhoon relief” in the memo and mailed to APALA, P.O. Box 84269, Seattle, WA 98124. All funds will be wired directly to SENTRO. You can also contact APALA at apalawa@gmail.com if you need more information about this effort.

From the AFT: Public Schools, Teachers Are Crucial To Help Children Recover and Thrive, Parents Say

A supermajority of parents give their public schools and teachers top marks for their herculean efforts to respond to the challenges of COVID-19, fresh polling shows, with perceptions of teachers unions soaring to record highs. Overall, 72 percent of parents say their school provides excellent or good-quality education, and 78 percent endorse the quality and performance of their teachers, according to a new national survey by Hart Research Associates and Lake Research Partners.

AFT President Randi Weingarten says the survey confirms what she has seen in her months of school visits throughout the country. “Parents value educators’ heroic actions to help their kids through COVID and view them as partners to keep schools open safely and deliver the social, emotional and academic support kids need.”

Parents say their children’s teachers communicate with parents and keep them informed (80 percent), an important reason for these positive views of teachers. Similarly, 79 percent are satisfied with the job their school does communicating with parents about academics. Four in five say they are satisfied with their children’s public schools when it comes to helping their children achieve their full potential, while only 21 percent report feeling dissatisfied.

And, by a remarkable 31-point margin, parents feel that teachers unions have a positive (48 percent), rather than negative (17 percent), effect on the quality of education provided by public schools, a 23-point jump since 2013. Urban parents (62 percent to 9 percent) and Black parents (57 percent to 4 percent) feel that teachers unions are playing a positive role.

The full memo can be viewed here.

From the AFT: New AFT partnership will help members educate students about misinformation

Our union is partnering with NewsGuard, a service that rates news and information sites, in an effort to help members combat misinformation in their schools. In this era of “fake news” and disinformation, students—who use the internet for research, homework and projects—need the tools and resources to determine the quality of their news sources. AFT President Randi Weingarten says, "We are constantly trying to help our students, particularly our middle school, high school and postsecondary students, separate fact from fiction, as we help them develop their critical-thinking and analytical skills."

Founded in 2018 by leading entrepreneur and award-winning journalist Steven Brill and former Wall Street Journal publisher Gordon Crovitz, NewsGuard rates the more than 7,500 news and information websites that account for 95 percent of online engagement with news in the United States, Canada, the U.K., France, Germany and Italy. Each site is evaluated by NewsGuard’s team of trained journalists, who evaluate the site using nine basic, apolitical criteria of journalistic practice.

“The hallmark of good journalism is fair, richly sourced reporting that gives citizens an insight into how the world works,” Weingarten said. “Sadly, the foundational role of the fourth estate is in danger of being poisoned by torrents of trash. NewsGuard reminds us of the importance of an independent press that students can rely on to form their own views and opinions so they can participate as active citizens in our democracy.”

Through this partnership, all AFT members will be able to request access codes to enable their students, colleagues and families to use NewsGuard’s tool at no cost. AFT members looking to start using NewsGuard today  can fill out the form at this page.

Union Tips & Reminders

Student Debt Clinic

Multiple Thursdays in February at 4:00 PM

If you've got student debt and you'd like to learn about ways to help you handle it, this clinic is for you!

You'll get information about the student debt crisis, income-driven repayment plans, Public Service Loan Forgiveness, and resources available to help our members navigate these programs. AFT National is presenting the clinic. The clinics will be held on Thursday, February 10th, 17th, and 24th, 4:00 PM Pacific Time. Each clinic is 2 hours long, and this is three separate clinics, not a linked series.

Register here.

Telling Your Story to Legislators

Thursday, February 17^th, 5:00 PM

As frontline education workers, we have important stories to tell about how our working conditions affect our student’s learning conditions. This workshop is designed to prepare you for lobbying legislators and testifying at committee hearings in relationship to creating a just, equitable and properly funded public education system.

At this workshop you will leave with tools to effectively tell your story:

• How to find out who is your legislator
• The committee(s) legislators serve on and how this affects legislation we support
• How to tell an impactful story and practice storytelling

Register here.

Join Us For Virtual Lobby Day 2022!

Lobby Day is February 21^st! Last year’s passage of the landmark bill SB 5194 shows that when we fight alongside our community, we win! Let’s build on this work by making sure we are expanding access to wraparound services for our students, benefits for our early childhood educators, student loan forgiveness for our contingent and part-time faculty, and other key legislation.

We are RSVPing early this year to make sure we have appointments set up with key legislators or their staff. You will receive more information as the date for Lobby Day gets closer.

If you have any questions about Lobby Day, please contact Anna-Marie Magdalena, State Affiliate Political Organizer, at amagdalena@aftwa.org or 206-475-8775.

Register here.

Adjuncts Building Community Virtual Conference 2022

The Contingent Faculty Issues Committee is excited to announce this annual conference, hosted by AFT Washington and co-sponsored by Washington Education Association (WEA). Day one will feature Joe Berry and Helena Worthen, co-authors of Power Despite Precarity: Strategies for the Contingent Faculty Movement in Higher Education and a workshop on how to tell the story of your precarity, with a view toward meeting with elected leaders. Day two is professional development focused: SB 5194 has resulted in 200 adjunct-to-full-time faculty position conversions. Workshops will discuss teaching philosophies, diversity statements, and preparing for the interview. There is no cost to members to register.

Join us Friday and Saturday, February 25^th and 26^th! Register here.

Save The Date! Classified Conference 2022 Goes Virtual!

Saturday, March 12th, 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Make sure that your calendar is marked for this coming year’s Classified Conference! Likely workshops include the neurodiverse classroom, nutrition and food cost increases, planning for retirement, facing student loan debt, equity in preK-12 learning, resilience in early learning, know your rights, and more.

Presenters include Christina Wong of Northwest Harvest, Dr. Hector Saez-Nunez, PhD from AFT Yakima Local 1485, The Labor Education and Research Center, and the AFT Washington Retiree Chapter.

More information very soon!

Adjunct Unemployment Workshop

Friday, March 18, 3:00 - 4:30 PM

AFT Washington has helped hundreds of adjuncts successfully apply for unemployment benefits over more than a decade. With the new, more complicated unemployment process due to COVID-19, this workshop is intended for seasoned and new applicants alike. The aim is to increase your chances of getting your unemployment claims as adjuncts resolved quickly, decreasing the potential of accidentally triggering delays that could delay payments by months.

Attending a workshop in person is important, so we can answer questions live! We do not record sessions, but we can provide additional accommodations as needed.

Register here.

Communications Help Is Available

Is your local not sure how to best use your website? Did you know you can have a free website? Would you like help with figuring out strategies for better communications outreach? Got something for the whole union to hear about? We can help with all of these, and more!

On top of helping your local, we can provide outreach to the union as a whole, through the Pulse and the Union Spotlight. We are actively interested in anything your members are doing, such as workshops  or innovative problem solving.

If you have questions about them, want guidance, or are interested in learning more, please contact Cortney Marabetta at cmarabetta@aftwa.org.

AFT Connect: Better Data For A Stronger Union