Notes: MEA Opportunities

MEA AWARDS Would you like to honor a colleague who goes the extra mile for his/her students and fellow educators? Do you know someone that really helps support your NOTES school? Each year the Maine Education Association sponsors awards to recognize individuals, groups, and companies for their commitment to public education. We encourage each local association to participate fully in acknowledging those MEA members whose commitments to the ideals of our Association serve as models for each of us. Deadline for award nominations is March 1, 2017 . Awardees are recognized at an awards banquet at the MEA Representative Assembly in May. Award for Teaching Excellence Joan McGovern ESP Award Anne Sheehan Political Action Award Corporate Award Friend of Education Award Golden Apple Award Honor Medal Award Human and Civil Rights Award John H. Marvin Local Association Award “My Hero Works at School” All art teachers are encouraged to share this opportunity with students. Art submissions should display the theme “What I Love About Maine.” Submissions must be 8.5 " x 11 " in dimension to fit the cover or able to be photographed for the cover and may be any form of art, including electronic. Please advise students to leave 3" on the top of the artwork for the magazine title, as it appears on each issue. Three finalists from each of the following categories will be selected: K-4, 5-8, 9-12 and electronic art. One winner will be chosen from the above categories with his or her artwork featured on the magazine cover. Submit artwork to Giovanna Bechard via mail at 35 Community Drive, Augusta, ME 04330 or email at contest@maineea.org. Artwork will only be returned upon request, and if you provide a selfaddressed envelope. This could be your student’s artwork!

Essay Contest Submission Deadline: March 4, 2017

The MEA is pleased to join with the Portland Sea Dogs for its 3rd annual “My Hero Works at School” essay contest. Students are encouraged to write a short essay, no more than 300 words, about their school hero. Two winners will be selected and receive tickets to the June 11th, 2017 Sea Dogs game for themselves, their family and their school hero.

DEADLINE: April 28th

All entries should be submitted by email to: contest@maineea.org Due to the number of entries, you will not be notified upon entry receipt.

SKI DISCOUNTS! MEA DEALS AT SUNDAY RIVER & SUGARLOAF

Discounts are available to MEA Members at Maine & New England’s premier ski resorts. Pick up your discount voucher at any MEA office for either Sunday River or Sugarloaf Mountain and receive a $10 discount at the ticket window with your membership card. Each voucher will work for up to four discounted lift tickets for the MEA member and immediate family. If you can’t make it to an MEA office, call an office and we will email the voucher to you!

Around the State Bargaining & Organizing Updates

Bargaining Training Prepares Members for Negotiations

UniServ Directors Lee Libby and Joan Morin along with MEA Director of Collective Bargaining and Research, CJ Betit, offered negotiation team training for their local associations. More than 90% of the locals, whose contracts are expiring this year, attended the training with their negotiation teams.

The four evening sessions included presentations and discussions on topics such as bargaining law, types of bargaining, proposal preparation, salary scales, organization, communication and behavior at the bargaining table. Teams participated in role-playing scenarios where they negotiated contract language with a mock school board. The goal of these simulations was to increase negotiation teams confidence at the bargaining table and develop their skills as negotiators. The attendees also left the training with a binder full of resources to help them in their upcoming bargaining sessions. If you are interested in this type of training contact your UniServ Director to arrange something for your region.

After attending the training, members said:

“I value the idea of setting goals and becoming aware of the Board’s constraints so that we can address those creatively and create win-win situations.”

“I appreciated learning how to use the MEA’s Contract Database.”

“Understanding more about how salary scales work is going to make our team more confident.”

“My eyes have been opened in many areas of salary, benefits and the bargaining process.”

“This will be my first round of negotiations, so everything, all information, is beneficial. All resources, anecdotes and handouts are very valuable.”

Beating Back Merit Pay

After more than a year of working without a contract and fighting to eliminate a merit pay scale in RSU 22, Education Association 22 has a new contract. The negotiations ended with the local association signing a contract which included a 9.2% salary increase over the three years of the contract and the elimination of the proficiency requirement (merit pay). The win for the local came after a lot of support from the community. The local’s UniServ Director (MEA Representative) outlines how she helped the group accomplish their goal and explains the lessons you can learn from their fight and win.

Lessons to Learn from EA 22 Contract Win By: UniServ Director, Misty O’Leary

The topics of pay and benefits in EA 22 were tough issues, and we knew we would not be successful without community support. The local created a steering committee that was the moving vehicle for building community roots, organizing community events and mobilizing membership. The local started their organizing effort wearing buttons in their buildings, attending board meetings, and writing letters to the editor about their lack of a contract and what it meant for their students.

As time passed, actions progressed with one-on-one conversations with connected community members, who in turn created a Facebook page. Community members, teachers and students spoke at board meetings about the regressive proposals. I worked with the MEA Communications Director to get these issues on TV and in the newspaper. Support for the local moved quickly, and the members’ own students created their own shirts and buttons to support their teachers. Despite the visible actions, the Board refused to budge on the merit/ performance based pay system, and instead had intentions to get rid of the scale entirely over the next couple negotiations.

The negotiating team held monthly meetings to update membership on the status of negotiations and ensure their position at the table. After both impasse and mediation, both sides still did not reach an agreement. The membership knew we needed to mobilize and apply more pressure to the Board.

The Association filed a complaint with the Maine Labor Relations Board and began picketing outside of the Superintendent’s office. The MEA continued to publicize the events and protests, and generated more media attention, which further engaged the public. The Association held a forum to educate members of the community about the district’s evaluation system and why merit pay was not a good option for the teachers. The continued pressure made a difference.

The Board finally conceeded and agreed to remove any/all merit/ performance based pay, backed off of its insurance cap proposal, and even increased the pay scale. While these were all huge gains for the members, the biggest gains made are the relationships built in the community, a group of parents who will now support the educators going forward.

The Key to Success: Organizing Members & the Community

Whether it’s at the bargaining table, in front of the School Board or administration, in the community or in Augusta at the legislature, roadblocks occur, but proper preparation and using the Association’s strengths makes sure these roadblocks are surmountable so the focus can be on proactively pursuing our interests.

For too long organizing and collective action have been largely reserved for when a crisis situation is occurring. Unfortunately, this is often too late to do anything but minimize the damage.

In order to use the Association’s full strength and be as effective and efficient as possible, organizing and action needs to be ongoing within local Associations. By proactively engaging in this manner, more people will be involved and the Association will be more powerful making heavy lifts not only much easier to complete but accomplished more effectively and efficiently.

The infrastructure and culture of your local needs to be built between contract negotiations, when there isn’t a crisis. Communication is critical. Without communication, there can be no collaboration. An uninformed and uninvolved membership is a dead membership in terms of organizing. Without having the backing and the understanding of your membership, any positive goals will soon be snuffed out due to lack of interest. Open internal communication and conversations to build common goals are the starting point that then carries forward to actions held on an ongoing basis.

Some sample actions to engage membership and the community include:

Car signs in the school parking lot Wear buttons/same colored shirts on the same day Phone banking members to connect and explain issues Letters to the Editor (these are good in both contract and non-contract times, sharing stories from the classroom/workplace) Petitions on the issue Attending School Board meetings in the same shirts/buttons with signs Pickets

For further information about specific steps to take and how, contact your UniServ Director.

Did You Know

Maternity Leave

Maine does not have a maternity leave law. Under the Family Medical Leave Act, you are entitled to time off for qualifying conditions, including childbirth for up to 12 weeks.

In Maine, you are considered to have a short term disability if you give birth. While FMLA allows you to take up to 12 weeks off for maternity leave, your individual contract will determine if you can use your sick leave for FMLA release time.

It’s a common mistake to believe you automatically receive six weeks of “maternity leave;” because again there is no such thing as maternity leave in Maine. The typical medically necessary time off for childbirth is six weeks, however that is at the doctor’s discretion and determined on a case-by-case basis.

As for pay during short term disability, you may be able to take paid time off if you have enough sick leave available.

Paid Maternity Leave beyond medically necessary time can be negotiated at the local level.

You Can Negotiate Non-Members to Pay “Fair Share Fees”

The Easton Teachers Association in Aroostook County negotiated into their contract what’s called “Fair Share Fees.” Fair Share Fees require non-members to pay a certain percentage of dues to the Association for the work that is done on behalf of the local to negotiate a fair contract.

In Easton, non-members are currently paying 40% of all dues to the local, next year they’ll pay 60% of all dues, and in year three of the contract non-members will pay 80% of all dues to the local association. Fair Share fee payers do not receive any member benefits.

“Fair Share Fees” are deducted from non-member’s paychecks as allowed by law. Employees can either choose to become a full member and receive all the MEA benefits, or as in the case of Easton, they have to pay a fee regardless. “Fair Share Fees” can be negotiated into any public school contract.