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Jen Johnson, left,
of the Chicago
Teachers Union,
looks on as
Kourtney Senquiz
of the Chicopee
Education
Association
talks during
an organizing
workshop about
becoming an
activist.
Photo by Scott McLennan
T he Concord Teachers Association recently began negotiations for a new contract not with a customary list of proposals, but with
a platform of ideals developed through member-to-member outreach.
“My bargaining committee is on fire and is
excited about the possibilities,” said CTA President
Merrie Najimy.
The excitement began building on Feb. 7,
when Najimy and eight other CTA members on
the bargaining team attended the MTA Collective
Bargaining Summit in Waltham.
The summit featured activists from educators’
unions in Chicago, St. Paul, Minnesota, and Portland,
Oregon, who led wide-ranging discussions on how
organizing, bargaining and working to build stronger
unions are the pathways to creating better public
schools for students, their families and educators.
Nearly 200 MTA members from 44 locals, along
with Legislative and Political Action Team leaders,
attended workshops and discussion groups held over
the course of the day.
“We are taking our first steps in reclaiming
public education here in Massachusetts and
nationally,” said MTA President Barbara Madeloni.
Jen Johnson of the Chicago Teachers Union
discussed the renewal of her union through internal
organizing and elections that brought in new
leadership.
Nick Faber, vice president of the Saint Paul
Federation of Teachers, detailed his union’s
extensive community organizing efforts and
strategies to bargain about “big issues” such as
class sizes and reducing the amount of standardized
testing.
Gwen Sullivan, president of the Portland
Association of Teachers, discussed her union’s
success in threatening to strike over workload issues.
The threat garnered broad support from community
members and students. “You can do anything as long
as you are all together doing it,” Sullivan said.
MTA members and staff joined the activists in
workshops on strategies for bargaining and organizing
as well as building community alliances.
Kourtney Senquiz of the Chicopee Education
Association told others in her building site
organizing workshop that when she wanted to
challenge implementation of the new teacher
evaluation system, she asked herself one question:
“How can I be more active in my union?”
In Concord, the association circulated a poll
among all members that asked three questions:
n “What brings you joy in the work you do with
children?”
n “What sucks the joy and life out of the work
you do with children?”
Please turn to Bargaining/Page 16
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