From the President
No letter from Karen this month – we’re hard at work on prepping for the legislative session, getting our resolution work well underway, and digging into our coalition work! Look for a new letter next month.
Local Highlights & News
Our 2024 Legislative Agenda Is Set!
By Cortney Marabetta, Communications Specialist
The AFT Washington Executive Board passed the proposed legislative agenda at the November board meeting. You can review a draft of this document here.
This year’s legislative session is a short, non-budget year, so much of our work will be building momentum for the 2025 session. We are also in several coalitions, notably Communities For our Colleges, who are working on removing obstacles to professional licensure for undocumented students, and an Education Support Professionals coalition. We are also involved with the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, and look forward to supporting their proposals in this session.
We have opportunities to make big gains this year, which means it will be an active session! We’ll be reaching out to local leaders with opportunities to support our legislative work, and we’ve got some dates to put on your calendar already.
- January 11th: Education Support Professionals Reception
- January 15th: Communities For our Colleges Lobby Day
- February 19th: AFT Washington Lobby Day/Joint Lobby Day for the Education Support Professionals coalition
Details to come! If you are interested in getting our Legisletter, sent weekly during the legislative session to share political updates and actions, you can sign up here.
Welcome Our New State Affiliate Political Organizer!
By AFT Washington Staff
Speaking of our legislative agenda, AFT Washington is pleased to announce that Richard Burton has been hired as our new State Affiliate Political Organizer, or SAPO. Richard has a long history with AFT Washington and with the AFT, and many of you already know him, or have been working with him in his capacity as our temporary Operations Manager. As of November 1st, he has transitioned into the SAPO role.
In Richard's own words: I’m honored and excited to be able to work with the many activists and leaders at AFT Washington! I was a dues-paying member of AFT Washington (then called Washington Federation of Teachers), starting in 1993 and served for 10 years on my local’s executive board, local 1789. I’ve worked for AFT Washington before, serving as our first SAPO (State Affiliate Political Organizer) starting in 2007 and have also worked for three other labor unions, the Washington State Nurses Association, the United University Professions (UUP) in New York, and the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA) in Maryland. I continue to believe in the power of workers joining together, and in the need to build and grow progressive movements for change.
We are excited to have him back!
Building Local Power Through Powerful Locals Tool
By Richard Burton, State Affiliate Political Organizer
This past Saturday, Nov. 4, over 20 leaders from a variety of AFT Washington local unions participated in our afternoon “Powerful Locals Assessment Tool” training.
This Assessment Tool is a multi-page thorough inventory of characteristics and functions that, as they are achieved, make a given local union more powerful. Examples of these are things like having a strong worksite representative structure, democracy and transparency regarding budgeting and decision-making procedures, frequent and varied communications with members, and strong ties with community organizations.
The Assessment Tool has been in use for several years; we discussed it extensively at August's Powerful Locals training, and encourage locals to work through the assessment to identify areas they can strengthen themselves. This year, we opted to do the August training first, and the tool training second, to give local leaders time for assessment and planning.
Becoming a “Powerful Local” is best understood as an ongoing aspiration. There are always areas on which we can improve. Toward that end, AFT Washington’s leaders and staff are committed to helping our affiliated locals become more Powerful Locals, and we plan to continue refining these trainings and offering them in the future. We invite all locals to get involved with them!
The AFT Washington Retiree Chapter Needs YOU
By Cortney Marabetta, Communications Specialist
At the 2023 AFT Washington convention, delegates unanimously adopted Resolution 2023-04, “Organized Retirees For Action”. The AFT Washington Retiree Chapter, local 8045R, has been working on developing a strategic plan and establishing an organizing team to carry out the goals established in the resolution. This is where you come in!
The Retiree Chapter is calling on local leaders to do two things to support this resolution.
- Appoint a retiree from your local to serve as a representative and advisor to the Retiree Chapter.
- Work with AFT Washington and AFT National to grant authorization to move identified retired members in your local’s Connect database account to the Retiree Chapter’s Connect account.
A flyer was included in the Executive Board packet, and is also available here for those of you who have not yet seen it. An organized retiree chapter is a powerful force, but it’s too easy to lose track of our retired members. Help us grow the chapter and build our retiree power!
If you have questions about the project, please contact Richard Burton at rburton@aftwa.org or at 206-225-0621.
Union Tips & Reminders
Contract Enforcement And Grievance Training
November 14, 2023, 5:00 - 7:00 PM
Our Collective Bargaining Agreements are one of the cornerstones of having a powerful local. A contract that is enforced makes a big difference in how our union and our members are treated in the workplace. This training will cover the ins and outs of filing grievances, identifying unfair labor practices, duties of union leaders, and how we make sure that management does what the contract says they will do. Please plan on attending the entirety of the training and have your local’s contract available for reference.
Register here.
Adjuncts Building Community Conference
November 17, 2023, 1:00 - 3:00 PM and a Happy Hour from 4:00 - 5:00 PM
There are two paths to contingent faculty job security and pay equity: local bargaining and state legislation. Both paths require engagement of your local union's contingent faculty membership! We’ll hear from Keynote Speakers Emilie Vrbancic and Reed Garber-Pearson from the UW Libraries Union on Member-Driven Mobilizing.
Connect with your colleagues across the state and learn more about efforts to improve your working conditions. We’re also featuring a professionalization workshop on preparing for tenure-track interviews.
Register here.
Adjunct Unemployment Workshop
Two dates available! Thursday, November 30, 2023 OR Friday, December 8, 2023
AFT Washington has helped hundreds of adjuncts successfully apply for unemployment benefits over more than a decade.
This workshop is intended for seasoned and new applicants alike. The aim is to increase your chances of getting your unemployment claim 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.
For Thursday, November 30, 2:00 - 3:00 PM, register here.
For Friday, December 8, 12:00 - 1:00 PM, register here.
Human Rights Committee Seeks Members
The AFT Washington Human Rights Committee is sincerely committed to our mission statement of advocating for human rights in our workplaces and our community. We are continuing to work with our locals and allies to combat racism, foster community, and educate our members and communities on the importance of Human Rights. The AFT Washington Human Rights Committee needs your expertise, experience, and investment in upholding Human Rights to do this! We want to have a representative committee that includes all the constituencies within AFT Washington, but to do that we need your participation. You are invited to join the Human Rights Committee as an advocate for the Human Rights issues that are important to our members. To join the Human Rights Committee, contact Ray Carrillo, 206-369-4001, rcarrillo@aftwa.org.
AFT Connect: Better Data For A Stronger Union
Connect is AFT’s web-based, secure local data management system. It provides a great way to record individual member data, and so much more!
- Capture detailed employment and employer information about members, prospective members, and retired members of your local.
- Make sure your members can access their union-provided benefits (discounted insurance, home mortgages, travel, goods and personal services).
- Keep track of changes in member earnings to ensure proper payment of your local’s per capita obligations.
- Manage your local executive board as well as COPE and other local committees.
- Plan outreach to your members and prospects. Have the information you need to conduct mailings, email, phone and text message outreach via local efforts or using AFT’s communications tools. Record member event attendance and outreach responses.
- Create forms and surveys.
- Track your local’s engagement with and support from Community Allies.
Readily use these features and more through AFT Connect’s dashboard, upload bulk spreadsheet updates of your membership, or let Connect help your local turn data into a powerful outreach and management tool through easy, customizable reports.
Maintaining your local’s membership and leadership information in Connect meets AFT and AFT Washington requirements for your local to remain in good standing.
To get started with AFT Connect, or to request training and other member data support, contact Briseida Sanchez at bsanchez@aftwa.org.
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.