THE BIG PICTURE - Robin Geiger
NYSUT’s Elmsford Regional Office held its annual Summer Leadership Conference this past August 16th – 18th at the Doubletree Hotel and Confer-ence Center in Somerset, New Jersey. The MTA sent four participants – Brenda Beato, Lois Samsel-Cronk, Denise Woolsey, and me. This was my first time attending the conference and it was an extremely positive experience. I arrived Wednesday morning (despite an accident that slowed traffic so much that a significant number of people arrived late, delaying the general session), early enough to register, partake of the generous refreshments (coffee, juice, baked goods) and get settled in the ballroom in time for the opening program.

Kathleen Donahue, NYSUT second Vice President started the events with a welcoming speech. She was followed by Thomas Hey (from the Special Olympics) and then Lillian Jones (American Cancer Society) who both gave presentations about their respective organizations. NYSUT has shown particular interest and support for these two causes. The last speaker was Larry Samuel, General Counsel of the United Teachers of New Orleans and the Louisiana Federation of Teachers. Unfortunately, because of a restricted time limit due to the delayed start, Mr. Samuels had to annotate his speech but his message was loud and clear – the New Orleans school system has been disassembled due to a corrupt and ruthless government. Of the original 128 schools that existed prior to Hurricane Katrina, only 23 have reopened. Of approximately 4,500 teachers employed by the Orleans Parish School Board before Hurricane Katrina, there are only approximately now 200. His message: be careful – it can happen to anyone; it can happen to us.

The rest of the day (after an incredible lunch) was spent at the first of my chosen workshops – Building Effective Locals. This was a 2 day workshop and was expertly presented by Daniel Esakoff (Organizer, NYC R.O.) and Barbara Johnson (LRS, Elmsford R.O.). This workshop focused on strategies, programs and ideas to implement that could help to build your local. As this is one of the MTA’s goals this year, I hoped to come away with many new ideas, and, although I did find a few strategies we could use, what I really discovered at this workshop is that we have an extremely well organized and well run local that already implements almost all of the ideas presented. I was very proud to be asked to explain some of our various endeavors (the MTA scholarship, our infrastructure [committees, constitution, etc.], meet the candidate’s night, etc.). I also enjoyed meeting with members from other districts and talking about our shared concerns and similar problems. I exchanged email addresses with 2 of the other participants and we plan to continue discussions.

Friday morning, after a brief presentation from John Hall (candidate for Congress) and Marc Laffer (regional Staff Director) at breakfast, it was off to my last workshop- Union Ethics presented by Pat Leonetti and Harry Wilson (LRS from the Elmsford R.O.). I truly enjoyed this exceptionally well prepared workshop and received some good ideas to bring back to our local. As this was only a morning workshop, we did not cover all of the material planned – too many interesting and passionate discussions! I am hoping this workshop will be an offering next year. And, once again, I was impressed and proud of the integrity of our local!

The conference was time well spent. I would be remiss if I did not mention what an outstanding job the Elmsford R.O. did in organizing and implementing this conference. In spite of the hotel being under construction (construction seems to follow me everywhere), the food, accommodations and service were exceptional! I highly recommend that all of our members consider attending this conference at some time in the future. Think about this for next summer – you will be reminded some time next spring. After all, we need to build our local (see, I learned something).

BETTER PREPARED - Brenda Beato
For the last two summers, I have attended the New York State United Teachers Leadership Conference. Each time, I have left the conference grateful to have been part of the gathering. It was amazing to meet, in one place, teachers from throughout our region congregating for one common objective: to better serve their members. Moreover, I realized that the Middletown Teachers Association is in the vanguard of protecting the rights of its teachers by providing the necessary training of its building representatives.

The workshops were intensive studies of union organization and representation facilitated by the legal unit of NYSUT. The information provided at the workshops empowers union representatives to make informed decisions according to the contract and law. The single most important lesson that I have learned is the importance of reading and understanding our contract. A teacher who has read the contract and understands it language is better prepared to function effectively within the workplace.

Finally, I left the conference knowing that I am better prepared to help my colleagues. Hopefully, next year many more of our members will attend the conference. It is worth the time and effort because the experiences are invaluable.

KEEP UP THE FIGHT - Denise Woolsey

“Unions are the folks who brought you the weekends”. How true is that? At the Summer Leadership Confer-ence I attended the Emerging Voices seminar. It was two days of union history, association structure, leadership styles, and external and internal organizing. This was a lot of information to squeeze into two days, but now I have a large binder as a resource.

The convention’s main message was a reminder that we have fought for a lot of privileges, and an encouragement to work hard to hold onto them. Did you know labor history started back in the 1640’s and it took until 1938 to establish a forty-hour week and a minimum wage? Did you know in the 1980’s elementary teachers in OUR district did NOT have a prep period? That was not too long ago — we need to continue to fight for all of our rights.

COMPARING CONTRACTS - Lois Samsel Cronk

I would like to thank the MTA for sending me to this year’s NYSUT Summer Leadership Conference. The workshop I attended for two days was “Advanced Grievance”. Both days were spent looking very closely at our contracts and examining how the sections are worded. I found ours to be very well written and not ambiguous, as were many others. The other districts that were represented at this workshop are those with which we often compare salaries. Although they may earn more money they are not protected by their contracts as well as we are at this time. Many asked to see how parts of our contract are written. There is a lot to be said about how hard our negotiation committees, past and present, have worked to get our members what they deserve.