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WeRoc Public Community Meeting Sunday

The local faith, labor, and community organizations of WeROC (Washtenaw Regional Organizing Coalition) invite you to attend a special event Sunday, November 15, from 3:00 to 5:00 pm, in Ypsilanti at Emmanuel Lutheran Church ELCA (210 N River St.) 

A broad range of people, united around the basic shared value that “we’re all in this together,” are working to make real changes that improve the lives of everyone in our area. Please come to participate in this effort.

With a commitment of less than 2 hours that day, hundreds of us will be able to signal by our actual presence that we expect our public officials and other decision-makers to take concrete actions on several meaningful issues that the WeROC Action Teams have been busy working on:

  • Reducing school suspensions and breaking the school-to prison pipeline.
  • Broadening the number of businesses in our area that offer employees earned sick time for themselves or to care for a family member, instead of losing a paycheck or their job.
  • Expanding public transit options, locally and between Washtenaw and Detroit.
  • Building on the very real public health consequences of our unacceptable level of incarceration, especially as communities of color have been affected.

EMUFT Wins Political Science Grievance

Congrats to PTLs in Political Science who have won their grievance about scheduling current lecturers for upcoming semesters instead of hiring new lecturers from outside the bargaining unit. You can read the arbitrator's decision here: Political Science Arbitration Decision

Protest Part-Time Lecturer Pay Schedule

Tuesday! Please come to the EMU Regent's meeting Tue.Oct 13 in Welch Hall (public meeting starts at 1:30) to support EMUFT Part-time Lecturers who no longer get paid on the first pay-date of each semester. We need as many members as we can get to show up, wear a red EMUFT t-shirt, and show solidarity. Our workplace is our students’ learning space. PTLs who can’t afford to pay bills or buy groceries for the month of September still go to work and teach their classes. Please help PTLs to be treated like every other employee group on campus and be paid on time by coming to show your support.

 

Are you a part-time lecturer who didn't get paid on Sept 15? Do you have bills of your own to pay? Have you struggled to make ends meet? Do you think PTLs should be treated like other faculty and be paid on time? Do you have a story to share? We'd like to share our stories with EMU. Write down your story (in a sentence, or a paragraph, or more) and send it to emuft9102@gmail.com with the subject: "part-time pay story." We'll compile them anonymously so no names will be attached to the stories and deliver them to the Board or president of EMU. Depending on how many we get we may bring them to the meeting on Tue., or deliver them later.

Welcome to Fall 2015!

Here's What's Happening...

Evaluation and Promotion Workshops for PTLs

EMUFT is offering Evaluation & Promotion Workshops for Part-Time Lecturers in mid-September. Sandy Becker will walk you through what to expect with your evaluation or promotion process as a part-timer, as well as other aspects of the PTL contract. There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion.

Workshop dates/times and locations for these one-hour workshops:

Monday, September 14 at 3:45 p.m. in 220 Pray-Harrold
Monday, September 14 at 7 p.m. in 545 Science Complex
Friday, September 18 at 3 p.m. in 220 Pray-Harrold

No Day Sept 15

Stop by the EMUFT table on the main floor of Pray-Harrold and play the Wheel of Misfortune and talk to our newest members, the Sock Puppets about how their semester is going so far.

Pay Day Social Thur Oct 1

Come celebrate the end of September pay day (finally for part-time lecturers!) and socialize with other EMU lecturers. Oct 1, 5-7pm at the Corner Brewery.

Regent’s Meeting Oct 13

Plan to attend the next Board of Regent’s meeting on Tue., Oct 13 in the Welch Hall BOR meeting room to support EMUFT Part-time Lecturers who no longer get paid on the first pay-date of each semester. This is not right, and we’re planning to have a larger voice than we have yet had at the BOR meeting. We need as many members as we can get to show up, wear a red EMUFT t-shirt, and show solidarity for lecturers calling for better working conditions. Our workplace is our students’ learning space. PTLs who can’t afford to pay bills or buy groceries for the month of September may not be feeling great while they’re in the classroom, and this can affect teaching and learning. Please help PTLs to be treated like every other employee group on campus and be paid on time.

Membership Meetings Sept 30 and Oct 1

The fall all-membership meetings are scheduled for Wed. 9/30 from 11am-12pm in Halle Library room 300 and Thur. 10/1 from 3-4pm in Halle Library room 302. You need only come to one meeting to participate. We’ll be discussing any current EMUFT issues, upcoming contract bargaining for the FT and PT contracts, and asking for input and discussion from all members in attendance. The more of us working together the stronger we can be. Please come be a part of your union as we move forward this year.

WeRoc November 15 Community Event

EMUFT is part of WeRoc (the Washtenaw Regional Organizing Coalition) which is working hard on behalf of local educational issues, economic issues for working families, opportunities for people with past jail-time, and the school to prison pipeline. WeRoc will be holding a large community meeting event on Nov. 15 from 3-5 pm at a local Ypsilanti venue (TBA). Anyone interested in race and economic issues in Washtenaw County is encouraged to attend and bring friends! More info to come.

EMUFT General News Brief:

*With support of AFT Michigan, as EMUFT moves toward upcoming contract bargaining for full-time and part-time contracts we will have a number of LEAD Organizing Fellows who willengage in a variety of activities such as one-to-one member organizing, planning and attending union member gatherings, participating in public actions, and helping to facilitate group decision-making, under the guidance of EMUFT and AFT leadership and staff. Look for the LEAD fellows around campus!

*We have a new full-time staff organizer, Tim Allen, who is already doing great things to help EMUFT become stronger and have a greater voice on campus. Please feel free to contact Tim to say hello, or come out to any of the scheduled events this fall.

*We recently, successfully settled grievances in Biology, Special Ed, and World Languages! Yay! But there are also more grievances still in process. The grievance team always needs extra help, from writing documents to simply sitting in at grievance meetings to show support. Please contact Tim Allen if you can be involved in helping us realize more successes in enforcing our bargaining agreements and continuously improving our working conditions.

*EMUFT has been working with the Faculty Development Center to run the new lecturer orientation and plan some events and activities for lecturers in the future. Stay tuned for more!

**There are so many ways that we all can be more involved with EMUFT. Please contact Tim Allen or stop by the office in 110 King to say hi (when he is there) and find out how you might become more involved. Our students’ learning space is our workplace… so in order to make EMU a great place for students and lecturers we have to work together and work stronger!

Please LIKE the EMUFT Facebook pages, and Twitter, and check the website for more updates, related posts, and general information on a more continuous basis:

http://emuft.mi.aft.org/

https://www.facebook.com/EMUFederationOfTeachers

https://www.facebook.com/groups/emuft/

Twitter [coming soon!]

To volunteer to help out with any event, or for more info, contact:

Tim Allen, EMUFT Staff Organizer

734-487-5448 or 313-633-4487

emuftorganizer@gmail.com

LEAD Fellows Call for Applications

EMUFT LEAD Organizing Fellows - Call for Applications:

EMU Federation of Teachers (AFT Local #9102) is announcing openings in our EMUFT LEAD Organizing Fellows Program. This ten week fellowship program is designed to develop fellows’ skills in organizing union members, as well as providing experience with developing and implementing union campaigns to achieve membership growth. Fellows will learn about the daily work of labor unions and will increase their own capacity to be active members and leaders in the labor community. Fellows may engage in a variety of activities, such as one-to-one member organizing, planning and attending union member gatherings, participating in public actions, and helping to facilitate group decision-making, under the guidance of EMUFT and AFT leadership and staff.

Fellows will work a minimum of 6-8 hours/week from mid-September through mid-November for approximately 70 total hours, plus training time, under the direction of EMUFT and AFT staff and leadership. Participation in some weekend and evening activities is required. The fellowship provides a stipend of $1000. Preference is given to current dues-paying members, but current and former EMU students as well as past EMUFT members will also be considered.

Strong candidates should possess excellent communication skills, an ability to initiate interactions with people from diverse backgrounds, and a willingness to engage in both one-on-one and small group conversations about the role of unions in our workplace. Candidates should also possess a willingness to be creative and flexible, and have an open mind to various approaches to organizing new union members. Past experience with union organizing, while helpful, is not required.

To apply, please send a letter of interest indicating your reasons for wanting to participate and your prior experience in union organizing (if any), as well as your resume or CV, to EMUFTorganizer@gmail.com by 5pm on Thursday, September 3, 2015.

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