Our Voice. Our Values. Our Union.
CFT Union Members,
As we conclude the 2023-2024 school year, I want to thank you for your commitment to our union and continued support for our shared vision. It was a busy and productive year. To see a list of some of our activities and initiatives, please scroll to the end of the newsletter.
Scholarship:
In recent weeks, we awarded the CFT Daisy Kennedy/Charles Prindable scholarship to five seniors: Armani Lewis, Dontay Lampkins, Jordan Brooks, Jerieea Williams, and CaiLynn Sheard. The recipients are great humans, and it makes me proud that our union will help them further their educations.
Appointments:
We appointed two new members to our Executive Council: Yolanda Harris (Wirth Middle School Rep) and Kevin Shrum (Communications VP). We are happy to have them on the team.
Action Committee:
This month, I am excited to talk about our first action. Action committee members held one-on-one conversations with members to get input and involvement from everyone. We asked each of you to wear your new union shirt, attend the retirement social, and check out the new webpage. We had great participation and turnout. Thank you, CFT! As a member of the committee, I enjoyed listening and sharing ideas with so many people. In addition, a huge congratulations to all our retirees for their service, dedication, and friendship. Our union family will miss you all.
Job Abandonment:
A group of union members recently supported another union sibling charged with job abandonment at a board meeting. Wearing their school shirts, they brought letters signed by other staff to share with our board, and they spoke in support of their colleague. Honestly, I was very moved by the show of solidarity. Unfortunately, the board voted to terminate the member anyway. The job abandonment language is being used more frequently to terminate non-certified staff. The union is trying to make sure non-certified members understand how serious it is to go into dock status with this contract language in place. In the past, job abandonment was used mainly to address people who chronically missed work without available days or a valid reason. Please be mindful of how many days you have available on ERMA. We also need to push back on these decisions and bargain new language.
New Webpage:
The CFT launched our own webpage where members can access contract copies, union news and history, and other useful information. Our Communications VP worked very hard and the site looks great. Our analytics tell us people are using the page, but if you haven't already done so, please visit the site (link located at bottom of my message).
GRANTS/Agreements:
The Teacher Vacancy Grant is awarded to districts with the most serious staffing problems in Illinois. Cahokia received the grant and initially planned to use the funding for recruitment strategies. The union asked the district to reconsider this decision, and we brought examples of other district using the funds for retention in the form of bonuses. We were successful in our efforts, and the district agreed to give bonuses. The grant allows certified people to get retention money, and we have asked the district to include all certified people including social workers and counselors. Unfortunately, at this time, other jobs in our unit don't qualify.
The union is also finalizing three new agreements with the district. The first is a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the federal TSL grant. The signed copy will be available on the new website under 'for members' along with contract copies and other MOUs. This is only for the summer and will need to be bargained again for next year.
To address some of the questions brought to us, we recognized that using STAR reading for all teachers wasn't perfect. We raised a lot of questions about equity. We ultimately agreed because the proposal allowed all classroom teachers to earn a summer bonus for completing professional development even for teachers who didn't earn the growth bonus. This seems like a good opportunity for teachers to earn extra money this summer if they choose to participate.
To protect our members, the union secured language in the MOU so the grant can't be used as part of teacher evaluations, and we bargained provisions that allow members to opt out of the grant at any time. We will send a survey at the end of the summer to get detailed feedback so we have a better understanding of impact and your individual thoughts before bargaining the next phase of the grant.
During the bargaining process, the union asked for a formal agreement for PLCs. We felt PLC time was an area of overlap between our normal work expectations and the TSL grant. Since teachers can't opt out of PLCs, we felt this had to be addressed. I am pleased to report the MOU protects teachers from being asked to complete PLC tasks outside of PLC time and from being assigned work from grant vendors. We will also post the MOU on the website so members understand their rights and can refer to the document.
The union is also finalizing a third agreement that we have been working on since last summer involving non-union job creations. We argued that some of the jobs recently created were covered under our recognition clauses and are performing our work; therefore, these jobs should be union jobs. Coming back into the bargaining unit are: Special Education Admin Assistant, AC/DC Admin Assistant, Assistant to Fine Arts Director, Assistant to Director of Technology, Assistant to Curriculum Director, Secretary to Director of CTE, Health Records Supervisor Registration Nurse, Lead Security Officer/Utility Tech, CTE Coordinator, and Peace Warrior Specialist. The people in the positions will not lose pay in this agreement.
The three agreements represent hours of work and collaborative efforts. I am grateful for the continued support and guidance from our IFT Field Service Director, Ray Roskos, the CFT Executive Council, and the membership. These are important gains for Local 1272.
Congratulations to all our retirees, and I hope everyone has an amazing summer.
Wendy
About Us
teachers, certified and non-certified staff, service workers, maintenance, custodial staff, secretarial, Technology Department staff, social workers, and nurses.
Email: lochmannwendy@gmail.com
Location: Cahokia, IL, USA
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cahokia-Federation-of-Teachers-1272-114385281983868/