MTA Today Winter 2020

Education Support Professionals are badly underpaid in most Massachusetts school districts, and an increasing number are fighting back with the support of their unions.

In October of 2019, I was proud to accept the Fontera Award given by the UMass Dartmouth Labor Education Center to the MTA, the New Bedford Educators Association and the New Bedford Coalition to Save Our Schools.

The 2019 MTA Ethnic Minority Affairs Committee Conference focused both on the past and the years ahead as participants honored EMAC’s 40th anniversary and looked to a future in which love — of teaching and of public education — will play a central role in the fight for economic, racial and social justice.

"Now that we’ve won the bill," said MTA President Merrie Najimy, "we have to continue our activism at the local level to make sure the money goes where educators and parents know it is most needed."

Keeping up the momentum from a campaign that yielded a historic increase in state funding for preK-12 schools, MTA members and their Fund our Future coalition partners are now focusing on passage of the Cherish Act, which will address problems created by more than 20 years of underfunding public colleges and universities in Massachusetts.

Diversity in our school curricula equips our students with the means to navigate our most urgent societal problems, especially those that address race, cultural differences and identity.

MTA members across the state are learning that there is more to the adage about "power in numbers" than they thought. There is also knowledge in numbers, and locals are banding together by region to better understand — and address — common concerns.

Union leadership and professional development will be highlighted this year at the MTA Education Support Professionals Conference. The conference will be held on Friday, April 3, and Saturday, April 4, at the Sea Crest Beach Hotel in Falmouth.

The MTA provides opportunities every year for ESPs to acquire professional development and union leadership skills.

The MTA Chorus will perform at the 2020 MTA Annual Meeting of Delegates, which will be held May 1 and 2 at the MassMutual Center in Springfield.

Jacqueline Gorrie and Dennis Naughton, the two MTA-endorsed candidates for seats on the Massachusetts Teachers’ Retirement Board, have been re-elected to serve for four more years.

The MTA provides individual retirement consultations throughout the state to assist members. Proof of membership must be submitted when requesting retirement services.

The MTA is holding an election for two seats on the NEA Board of Directors. The Massachusetts seats will be filled by a vote of the active membership in March and April, in tandem with NEA Representative Assembly state and regional delegate elections.

MTA members recently joined allies on the Fore River Bridge for a protest against a natural gas compressor station proposed for a residential-industrial area of Weymouth.

MTA higher ed members were joined by allies from other unions, student groups and some preK-12 locals at the conference, which was held on Jan. 10 in Springfield.

Tax-related identity theft occurs when someone steals your Social Security number and uses it to procure a fraudulent tax refund. If you are a victim of tax-related identity theft, your tax refund will almost certainly be delayed.

"We were confident that this right-wing attack on workers and their unions was utterly baseless," said MTA President Merrie Najimy.

EXAM PROCTORS WANTED! Harvard Law School is looking for proctors for our winter and spring exam periods. Email us at registrar@law.harvard.edu for more details.

Make your voice heard! Join your colleagues, representatives of the MTA Retired Members Committee and guest speakers for the 2020 MTA Retired spring brunches.

Almost 400 education activists converged on Springfield in early January for the 2020 MTA Union Skills Winter Conference, an event focused on core priorities such as negotiations, employee rights and member organizing.

Our devices are smarter than they have ever been. No longer are we limited to using our phones strictly as communication devices.

If you used a combination of federal and private loans to fund your education, your repayment strategy needs to accommodate the crucial differences between those loan types.

All discounts listed in the Tip Sheet can be found at mtabenefits.com. The cold weather may have you wanting to stay in by the fire, but if you’re looking for activities both indoors and out, MTAB has lots of options for you to consider.

MTAB’s nationwide Access discount program has launched a travel booking engine offering members deep discounts on thousands of hotels, car rentals and recreation options.