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Notes from the latest board meeting 4-16-2018

April 23, 2018 - Bow, NH

The legislative session is drawing to its inexorable conclusion, with May 3 the final date for either the House or Senate to act on bills and either pass, kill, or amend legislation.  If a bill is amended, the other chamber must either accept the amendment, reject it and kill the bill, or ask for a committee of conference to resolve differences.  All action, including committees of conference, must be concluded by May 24, so there is not much time remaining.  Enough time, though, to still do significant damage.

HB 1415- Line of Duty Death Benefit for School Employees  This past week, we were very disappointed to see the Senate Finance Committee vote 4-2, along party lines (Republican majority) to recommend that the entire Senate defeat HB 1415, providing for a death benefit to the survivors of education personnel killed in the line of duty.  On Friday, there was another school shooting in Ocala, FL, but here in New Hampshire, there are senators who still see no reason to provide any sort of benefit to the grieving survivors of school-related violence.  We have been fortunate in not having such incidents so far in New Hampshire, but provision of a $100,000 death benefit would be, in the words of one House member, “a means by which the State could express sympathy and support” for the devastated family.  We hope the Senate as a whole will reverse this recommendation, pass the bill and administer the rebuke the four senators justly deserve.  If Governor Sununu then vetoes the bill, let him take ownership and bear any consequences.  Truly sad.

Take Action on HB 1415. To find out who is your senator, click this link Who's My Senator?

Once you determine who your Senator is, click here Senate Roster to find out how to contact them via email. Please ask them to overturn the Senate Finance Committee recommendation and pass HB 1415.

Four WFNHP RN’s—Libby Gabriel, Kitty Schroeder, Jorja Doherty and Pat Geiger--were among more than two dozen AFT nurses and health professional members who traveled to the Virgin Islands last week on a humanitarian mission to perform vision and hearing screenings for all the public school students on the islands.

The effort was part of AFT's comprehensive recovery assistance that it has been providing since hurricanes Irma and Maria struck the islands last September. The volunteer nurses were hosted by members of the St. Thomas-St. John Federation of Teachers and the St. Croix Federation of Teachers.

Kitty Schroeder, a registered nurse at the VA Medical Center in Milwaukee, pictured performing a hearing test, shared her experience stating,

On April 11^th we notified our members of our Union’s great concern regarding Ascension’s proposal to eliminate medical and surgical inpatient units at St. Joe’s Hospital and, more broadly, rumors of other cuts. Because of our concerns, we held meetings with Mayor Barrett and other elected officials, and also joined in the creation of a broad based coalition led by some amazing northside community organizations along with Citizen Action of Wisconsin. Nate Gilliam, our organizer, was also part of a meeting with St. Joe’s administration where the planned changes were aggressively challenged. 

We knew that by joining together with the community to stand up and preserve quality jobs and health services we would be stronger and have a greater chance to fight back against negative changes from Ascension. Our coalition--Save St. Joe’s--immediately put up an online petition, and now has a dedicated website. There is no question we got their attention.

Mary Below ~ Aspirus Langlade Hospital Chapter

Meet our featured member, Mary Below. Mary is a Speech Pathologist at Aspirus Langlade Hospital (ALH) in Antigo, Wisconsin. She has worked at the hospital for 23 years. Mary was born and raised in Antigo and has always felt pride in her job and her ability to help her friends, neighbors, and their families. Mary says, "I was a non-traditional student, as I quit college at 20 to get married. I went back to school and finished to become a Speech Patologist."

Speaking honestly, Mary said she never thought she would need a union to protect her job; but, many years ago, seeing the challenges she and her co-workers faced in the workplace quickly changed her mind. She immediately became a staunch supporter and has been a union member for most of her career at ALH. Mary said, "Corporate healthcare does not truly care about their employees, and having a union to protect our rights is vital."

OESPA Statement on Guns in Schools

Click here for PDF Version of this update

Colleagues,

Four NTU members have been nominated and approved for Member Recognition Awards at the NTU’s 2018-2019 Hall of Fame Dinner!  We are working on notifying the awardees, and we will release their names next week.  We have awardees from:

The lack of aid and response to the needs of the Puerto Rican people after Hurricane Maria has been inexcusable and shameful.  Yet, the response by U.S. Secretary of Education DeVos and the PR Education Secretary Julia Keleher, to shutter one third of the island’s public schools appears to be calculated and swift.  Both secretaries are proponents of charter schools and the closings appear politically motivated as an attempt to privatize public schools.

Madison, WI – Members of several AFT higher education locals and students filled the Capitol on Wednesday to call on lawmakers to recommit themselves to the Wisconsin Idea by working with faculty, staff, and students to strengthen the quality of our UW-System.  Students from UW-Stevens Point have largely led the organizing efforts after their campus announced in March that it would be cutting 13 majors in the humanities, arts, and social sciences.