A handful of statewide officers and Executive Board members were all in at the AFT Joint PSRP and Higher Education Conference, and were motivated to unite, inspire and lead at the annual NEA Higher Education Conference.
The conferences took place April 1-3 in Las Vegas and San Diego, respectively.
UUP Secretary Eileen Landy, below, left, was a panelist in separate NEA workshops on moving from membership to activism, and on the privatization and corporatization of public higher education. VP for Professionals Philippe Abraham flew 330 miles from the NEA conference to lead an AFT workshop on strengthening the link between teachers and professional employees.
AFT is “All In”
The joint conference—which brought together higher ed academic and professional faculty, and K-12 paraprofessionals and school-related personnel—included programs and strategies to activate and motivate members working in public schools, colleges, universities and hospitals around the country.
“We are together in the values we share, in our fight for fair and just workplaces, and a living wage; and we fight together for racial equity and justice,” noted UUP President Fred Kowal in a welcome letter to conference-goers. “A strong union is the only way we can build our power to achieve our shared goals.”
Unionists—including UUP Membership Development Officer Tom Hoey and Executive Board member Jeri O’Bryan-Losee, shown at top with Abraham, center—honed their skills and shared success stories in workshops ranging from campus safety and sexual assault, to student debt and school discipline, to multicultural and multiethnic education, and the contingent labor force.
“This was my first AFT conference and first nationally attended union event,” said O’Bryan-Losee of SUNY Cobleskill. “It was interesting to know what’s going on politically in other states, especially those classified as ‘right-to-work.’ Hearing real stories about what (public employees) are going through was truly eye opening and gave me a renewed dedication to do everything I can to not let that happen in New York.”
NEA: “Unite. Inspire. Lead.”
Executive Board member Anne Wiegard of SUNY Cortland came back from the NEA conference with the same renewed commitment to work for a stronger, more activated UUP.
“My experience lived up to the conference theme: Unite. Inspire. Lead,” she said. “It was a time to ‘Unite’ with sisters and brothers from colleges and universities all over the country, by understanding our common problems and aligning our goals and strategies. … I was ‘Inspired’ by the dedication and innovations of embattled leaders in states like Florida, where the law allows workers to entirely opt out of unions (and) the conference renewed my commitment to help ‘Lead’ our union through the challenging months ahead, as we seek to build 100 percent membership and activism.”
Watch for the online issue of The Echo later this month for more conference coverage, including remarks from AFT President Randi Weingarten and NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia.