Friedrichs v California Teachers Association -  Oral arguements were made last week in the US Supreme Court on this very impactful case.  The case centers around whether unions can collect a fee from public sector workers who opt out of joining the union.  All employees (even non-members) are covered by the union contract and the union is required by law to represent all employees covered by the contract, not just those who join as union members. This has been an accepted practice for 40 years.   There are some wealthy interest groups who wish to dismantle unionization and have propped up this case aimed at silencing workers' collective voice and the political power of these workers.  While the arguement isn't especially strong, court-watchers feel that the tendencies of the Supreme Court justices are such that the Court's decision is quite possibly going to overturn the fee collection process currently in existence.  Click to read the transcript of the oral arguments.

Rowland Settlement Update:  Emotional Distress and Punitive Damage awards are being applied this month.  Please review the your upcoming paystubs to verify that your award has been processed.  More info...

Step Increases & Top Step Payments:  Employees who recieved a Step Increase or a Top Step Payment on 12/25/15 should see this reflected in their paycheck on 1/21/16.  Top Step Payment chart and current pay scales

2016 A&R Convention and Elections:  The A&R Annual Convention will be held on Thursday April 28th at the A&R Office in Rocky Hill.  Any member interested in running for a seat on the Representative Assembly or running as a delegate to the AFT and/or AFTCT and/or CT AFL-CIO conventions needs to complete a candidacy form.  Candidacy forms and instructions can be found and downloaded under the Resources tab on our website.

The Comptroller's Office has released 2 recent items of interest:
      1) Comptroller Lembo has released his proposal to resolve the State Employee Pension funding policies.  Comptroller Lembo's proposal is in response to the Boston College study of our pension fund and the Governor's subsequent suggestion of splitting Tier 1 from the other Tiers and making Tier 1 "pay as you go". ..just an FYI: the Unions have not been asked to engage in any discussions related to any of the proposals.
     2) The Comptroller's Office released the most recent State budget projection which now appears to be a $200K surplus. 

You are invited to participate in a Community Conversation (CC) discussing our Next Generation Assessments and Accountability for Texas Public Schools from 6:00-8:00 pm on January 21st. This your chance to weigh in on how we're going to leave the "test and punish" system of accountability.

NYSUT Member Benefits Link

Join Gina Hinojosa to Kick Off Her Campaign For State Rep! on Thursday, January 14, 2016 at Scholz Beer Garten (1607 San Jacinto) 5:30 - 7:30 pm

On 12/23 A&R exchanged collective bargaining proposals with the State.  The Union was shocked to learn that the State Team was 40 Managers plus 1 Assistant Director of  OLR (who has already negotiated two A&R contracts) and the high-priced lawyer that the State contracted as its representative for talks with P-5 (apparently OLR does not believe that it can provide these services adequately...anymore).  

To be fair, it was just before Christmas, so only 28 managers showed up.  

+Oppose HB3 and SJ256

They grants constitutional authority to approve Charter Schools to the Virginia Board of Education, enlarging a bureaucracy, rather than granting that authority to  local school boards and the people who elect them. Research on charter schools suggest weakness in outcomes compared to traditional schools, governance problems, and high teacher turnover.

+Support legislation stipulating teacher performance evaluations are not  public records.

+Support increasing  access to the Virginia Preschool Initiative.

Making History

Return the Half Hour to County Teachers

                                                            by Bill Hosp

During the last local election one of the issues that received a good deal of attention in the campaign for the Potomac District seat on the Prince William County School Board was over a vote that had been taken in March 2012 that added half an hour to the teacher work day.

             PRINCE WILLIAM FEDERATION OF TEACHERS

                     PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VIRGINIA                                                              

Reclaiming the Promise of Fairness

            Some of the worst bullies in our school system wear suits and work in offices. But fortunately, help is on the way. Two of our incoming school board members have experienced this problem themselves and it’s one of the reasons why they got themselves elected. Now we can take your complaints and pass them on to someone who will take them seriously.