A Summer Union Message from CCAFT President Ray McMurrey Dear CCAFT Members, I hope this letter finds you in good spirits and fully enjoying the summer months. This is always a good time to reflect, recalibrate and prepare for the coming year. I want to stop and thank you for a very successful 2013-14 school year for CCAFT. When school started in 2013, the CCAFT led consultation team was sealing the deal on a 4.5% salary package increase for employees. This was one of the highest pay raises in the state which included a one-time payment during the holiday season. Not only did wages and salaries increase, but the increase was not eaten up by a corresponding increase in health care cost. CCAFT was steadfast in working the new self-funded health insurance plan. Not only was the plan better in 2013-14, but the increased health care costs were held to a minimum. In 2013-14, the pay raise was larger than the health insurance increase. Employees saw salaries outpace insurance costs. Plus, we again won the right for employees to visit their own doctor while qualifying for the health insurance “discount” CCISD offers for the wellness program. Leading into the fall of 2013, we were laser focused on regaining the majority of seats on the Consultation Committee in the December Consultation election. Thanks to your hard work and the mobilization of hundreds of CCAFT members, turning into thousands of votes-- we won 10 of 12 seats! Most of these seats we won by large majorities. Once again, we demonstrated that CCAFT is serious about representing employees, and employees trust CCAFT. The Consultation Committee is devoted to improving wages, benefits and working conditions for workers, and the committee continues to prove that devotion by reaching out to employees. Before breaking for the Christmas holidays, CCAFT partnered with CITGO and First Book to organize a free book give-away to early learners. CCAFT’s effort led to a free book into the hands of every student in the Nueces County Head Start program. We appreciate all of the volunteers who helped distribute the books. A special thanks also to CITGO for the gracious gift to help us reach so many pre-K learners in a great community project. In the spring of 2014, CCAFT took the lead by organizing a pro-education event for gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis. CCAFT worked with community partners and hosted the largest public, pro-education event for an endorsed political candidate for Texas governor in Corpus Christi’s modern history. With nearly 400 people attending the event at Del Mar College, educators demonstrated tremendous enthusiasm for the November, 2014 election. As the spring of 2014 rolled on, CCAFT made a valiant push to become the first major district in Texas to restore a respectful, continuing contract to teachers. Our leaders, members and community friends flooded the board room with over 100 people to show support for CCAFT’s effort to restore continuing contracts. Although, continuing contracts were really taken away three years ago, for procedural reasons, no teachers had actually been given a term contract yet. CCAFT took the lead by submitting a 2013 consultation proposal to restore contracts followed by a “Rally for Respect” before the school board this spring. The effort failed in a narrow 4-3 vote, but it was very close and our efforts demonstrated again that it is CCAFT willing and able to stand strong for employees when it counts the most. We might have lost that slim vote, but we won the people and the movement to earn a respectful contract for educators will continue. A special thanks to John Marez for putting this issue on the agenda—I can assure you that CCAFT/CCISD was unique in the entire state of Texas to get a vote on continuing contracts. John Marez is to be commended, and it is now our job to elect other school board members to serve with him that understand and respect public educators. CCAFT finished the year with an outstanding Professional Development program. Our Professional Development program is union led and taught by real teachers – it is the best in the Coastal Bend. At the time of this writing, CCAFT is about to send 9 more teachers to Baltimore, Maryland to become national and state professional development trainers. The CCAFT led PD program is a strong component of the union. We cherish the opportunity to work collaboratively with all local school districts for the betterment of education and children, and our program has the capacity to offer the finest, best researched and educator delivered professional development in the county. I am extremely proud of our PD commitment and the work done by teachers to train other teachers. It is the stuff that makes the profession better, and rarely does the union get credit it deserves for this outstanding work. I am deeply grateful to Linda White and the team of teachers who devote to this program in solidarity with the teaching profession and unionism. CCAFT had a good year and I want to thank the many who believe in and trust the good work done by so many in our organization. The work is unfinished and the challenges ahead are daunting. This year, (Jan, 2015) the Texas legislature reconvenes, and we have a real fight to beat back the harmful effects of high stakes testing undermining the integrity of teaching and learning. Moreover, right here at home we have three CCISD school board seats on the ballot in November. I know we can win the fight for the soul of public education, but we can only do it if we are all on the same page. I respect all other employee organizations, but if we are to save public education, we need to be on the same team. I invite educators to join the AFT, and I ask every member to bring a new member into the union in 2014-15. As a former coach lucky enough to play for multiple state championships, I can tell you having a strong team matters and being unified matters even more. Enjoy the rest of the summer that you so much deserve! Let’s be grateful for the things we have and let’s organize like never before to defend our profession. In Unity, Ray McMurrey
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 01:10:52 +0000
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