Month: October 2020

Colleagues,

I encourage you to join educators across the nation and sign the Shaker Institute Democracy Declaration that states: “We, the undersigned educators in pre-K-12 schools, colleges and universities, representatives of schools across the United States, endorse democracy as a means of giving voice to each one of us, of expressing the dignity of each individual, of representing the values of our society, and of ensuring the lawful transition of authority. Every freedom depends upon the freedom to vote. Each vote counts; count each vote.”

Our democracy is under attack daily by the current administration. We must continue our fight to elect candidates that will fight to protect democracy for all. Please join us in this fight by signing the declaration here and then sharing it with your colleagues and encouraging them to sign as well.

In solidarity,
Fred

Colleagues,

I’m excited to announce UUP is joining forces with New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) to host a virtual rally to pressure the legislature to return to Albany and reinstate the New York Stock Transfer Tax.

New York’s Stock Transfer Tax had been levied on stock trades since 1905, but since 1981, the tax has been rebated back to Wall Street. If fully collected, the Stock Transfer Tax is estimated to raise between $14-$19 billion annually. NYS Assemblymember Phil Steck and Senator James Sanders have introduced legislation to require the state to keep the proceeds from this tax (see: A.7791-B/S.6203-A). UUP has been advocating for this important piece of legislation, and it’s time to ramp up our efforts.

To do so, UUP and NYSNA will host a virtual rally on Nov. 10 at 12 pm with unions, social justice advocates, good government groups and elected officials to push the state legislature to reconvene and take up revenue raising proposals, primarily the Stock Transfer Tax, to address the economic crisis facing New York. You can register here.

 After you register to join the rally, invite a friend, colleague, or member of the community. You can add a selfie to the Reinstate the NY Stock Transfer Tax campaign webpage and let everyone know why this rally is important to you. Our concerns and demands must be heard. You can add a selfie here.

To learn more about the various revenue raising proposals and the need for public higher education and health care funding, visit the campaign page here: https://uupinfo.org/resources/raisingrevenue/. Revisit this page often, as a social media toolkit and postcard campaign will be coming soon.

Attached is a graphic that can be used to advertise the event to your members and via social media.

Please share this information widely.

In solidarity,
Fred

Colleagues,

We continue to prepare for the November 3 election on all fronts. One important piece is sharing important information with our colleagues, friends and family via social media. Attached is a social media toolkit with sample graphics, posts and important links that can be used on personal and chapter social media pages. With important deadlines quicky approaching, it is important to share these graphics and posts widely on social media to help spread the word.

Election 2020- UUP Social Media Resources

Please reach out to Amy Sheldon, asheldon@uupmail.org, with any questions or concerns.

In solidarity,
Fred

Colleagues,

I hope that this email finds you well. I know that it is easy to feel disconnected and alone in our fights during this very difficult time. It is more important than ever that we find ways to stay connected. With that said, there is a great opportunity quickly approaching that will allow us to connect and share best practices on fighting for social justice issues, and against austerity budgets and the threats on collective bargaining. Let’s connect on the October 16 and 17 UUP Committee Training. Thank you for those who have already registered. I hope that you will be able to join us and invite others to join as well. It is more important than ever to find ways to build deeper connections and power amongst our members and our coalitions to help us succeed in these critical fights.

I wanted to share a few more details as the event gets closer. The tentative outline for the two days is as follows:

Day One—Friday, October 16 (1PM – 4PM): Committee training to enhance advocacy on issues of concerns for UUP statewide committees. Advancing the goals and agendas of our committees through coalition work.

 Friday will include the coalition partners panel, which will be led by chapter leaders and local coalition partners to share their experiences building strong community partnerships and discuss their issue-base campaigns, strategies and actions they have found to be most successful. If you would like to be considered for the issue-based coalition partner panel, please submit your names here no later than tomorrow, October 9 (this date has been extended). All panel decisions will be made by October 10. If you and your coalition partner are selected, you will be provided with additional information to share with your coalition partner on how to join as a panelist for this workshop.

Day Two—Saturday, October 17 (9AM to Noon): Election 2020 and activism

·         NYS Biden Campaign Director Presentation

·         AFT Election Update: Polling, State of the Race, What are we doing to make a difference and Virtual Phone Bank Training

·         Virtual phone banking or texting

 You can register for the two-day virtual event here. Space is limited and registration for this two-day event will close October 13 or when we reach capacity. Login information will be sent to registrants the week of the event.

Please feel free to share this invitation broadly. However, Employee Organizational Leave (EOL) is only available for statewide committee members. Due to the political nature of the day two activities planned, EOL is available for Friday only and again is available only for statewide committee members.

I look forward to connecting with all of you on October 16 and October 17.

In solidarity,
Fred

Dear Chapter Leadership and Members,

One of our most popular workshops has been the Pre-Retirement Workshop and with the use of online tools we are now capable of doing them statewide.  We are trying a new format of splitting the 1 ½ – 2 hour workshop into two 1 hour sessions, which will give many of our members the chance to attend at lunchtime.  Campus workshops will still be available if needed and chapter leadership can still set them up with Walter Apple.  We are encouraging all new and long time members to attend these workshops as the retirement benefits that we negotiated over the years are excellent and we need our members to realize that in order to maintain them we need a strong organized union. We plan on doing these workshops every month if the response is good and if you miss one or have questions that you didn’t ask, you will have another chance to do so.  Please distribute as widely as possible,  the link to sign up for the workshops is below and feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

In Solidarity,

Tom Hoey
UUP Statewide Membership Development Officer