Sunday, April 8, 2018

There IS a reason to vote in the upcoming Retired Teachers Chapter Election.



There IS a reason to vote in the upcoming Retired Teachers Chapter Election.

Retiree Advocate-MORE/NA/Independents - is running a slate and we need your participation.

RUN WITH US!

We hope to get as many retirees as we can.
Unity Caucus occupies the DA with 300 elected members. The more people we run, the better able we are to challenge them!

The positions to be filed include a Chapter Chair, 10 Officers, 15 Executive Board members and 300 retired Delegates to the UFT Delegate Assembly. The logistics for participation are not complicated; we will take care of getting all necessary signatures on the nominating forms. All we need you to do is agree to run on the Retiree Advocate slate.

Why run with us?

MORE (Movement of Rank & File Educators) and NAC (New Action Caucus) have joined with Retiree Advocate to carry our message of union solidarity and transparency to the retiree community. Many long-time members of these active UFT caucuses are now in the RTC and will continue to work to promote a greater degree of activism among members. Retiree Advocate is committed to increasing rank and file democracy in our union. Let’s be inspired by the recent victory of our brothers and sisters in West Virginia who went out on strike and showed what rank & file union members could accomplish with activism and solidarity! We need to be concerned not only with conditions affecting retirees but also with issues affecting classroom teachers as well as larger social justice issues because they are all related.

If you want to participate with us, please reply to retireeadvocate@gmail.com ASAP

When is the actual election?
Ballots will be mailed on Tuesday, May 15 and must be received by the American Arbitration Association by 8 a.m. Thursday, June 7. Ballots will be counted at the AAA at 120 Broadway.

What happens if we win?
Chances are slim but by running as full a slate as possible, we will be sending a message to UFT/Unity leadership: We do not accept the status quo and changes are necessary moving forward into the post Janus climate.

Seriously consider participating in this election.
Send an email to retireeadvocate@gmail.com and let us know that you will be on our slate. We will need your: File # or SS#, Address, Email, Phone #
please reply to retireeadvocate@gmail.com ASAP

RETIREE ACTION PROGRAM
We envision a union that actively promotes the creation of educated, organized, and mobilized school chapters. Our commitment is to vigorously work to:

● Preserve and improve our medical and prescription drug benefits
● Stop implementation of the “Cadillac Tax” on our health benefits
● Expand our Social Security benefits and ensure that they are not diminished or removed
● Win a (single payer) universal health program
● Improve our COLA and pension benefits

SAVE PUBLIC SCHOOLS WITH FULL FUNDING
● Stop the right-wing agenda (Janus, etc.) and insist that our union leadership take more concrete and active measures towards this goal
● Defend our public schools and take a more active role in preventing them from being privatized
● We say No to Charters, vouchers and any system that creates unequal worker tiers
● Work to cut the excesses in the military budget (and in the military budget) and redirect monies to expand social services and benefits in local communities.

PROTECT WORKING EDUCATORS
● We demand that the UFT take immediate steps to increase the degree of support for teachers working under abusive principals and administrators
● Work to eliminate pension “tiers” returning to a single pension level for all school employees
● Utilize our expertise and expand retiree involvement to inform, organize and mobilize school chapters

UNION DEMOCRACY
● In-service members should have greater voting weight when electing representation for union caucuses
● Change the current “winner take all” election system using proportional representation for union caucuses
● In-service members should vote for UFT district reps

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