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“It was pretty simple,” Spremulli said. Norton
has a ratio of one building representative to every
15 to 17 members and has made an effort to pair
members with the building reps they see most often.
“It worked well because we asked the building
reps to talk to each of the members in person,”
Spremulli said. “Face-to-face contact gets a much
better response than just sending out an e-mail.
In East Bridgewater, taking the census was
a group effort. First, Treasurer Nick Davis cross-referenced town, district, local and MTA lists to come
up with the cleanest list available. Members were
asked to check their information against that list and
Continued from Page 13 include any updates, such as new e-mail addresses. “It
took a bit of coordination involving information from
many places, but it got done,” said East Bridgewater
Education Association President Kathi Nickandros.
“What made the difference was that we had a
ratification meeting and almost everyone came to
vote, so that’s where we explained the process and got
members to update their information.”
“Good member information is the lifeblood of
an organization such as ours,” said MTA President
Barbara Madeloni. “We felt a lot of urgency to
get the best possible information about members
this year when the Friedrichs agency fee case was
looming. Even though that case has been resolved in
our favor for the time being, the urgency remains.
“With good information we can communicate
with members more effectively — both hearing from
them and having them communicate with each other
so they can develop shared understandings and plans
of action,” Madeloni added. “This is where it starts,
but it grows from there.”
Membership update forms can be found at
massteacher.org/treasurers. The forms are available
as printable PDFs and in an Excel format. They
can be completed electronically and transmitted via
e-mail to membership@massteacher.org. Members
can also e-mail membership@massteacher.org or
call 617.878.8118 to reach members of the MTA staff
for assistance with membership and dues processing.
Information update effort helps strengthen MTA locals
More than 300 students, faculty and staff members
from public colleges and universities gathered on March
7 to meet with legislators at the State House to push
for greater investment in public higher education. The
annual Public Higher Education Advocacy Day touched
on issues of quality and accessibility, as well as the
problem of student debt.
Photo by Scott McLennan
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