Brothers and Sisters,

I am excited to announce our newly formed Action Committee will officially begin meeting this month. Many of you have volunteered to serve, but anyone who is still interested, please email me. 1272 is a large local representing three councils, and many voices are needed to represent the membership and prepare for our next contract.

To kick off the new action committee and the new year, the union is hosting a February social. Please Note: We will be handing out new union shirts for every member. I would like to invite all union members to attend this Mardi Gras themed happy hour on Wednesday, February 21st at Triple Lakes Tavern. A BIG thank you to VP Erin Reeb for arranging the social and the shirts! The flyer with more details is attached to the newsletter. Hope you can make it.

In January, about a dozen of our reps and officers attended three "Worksite Leader Training" sessions provided by the Illinois Federation of Teachers. Cahokia's Field Service Director, Ray Roskos, tailored the training for our local and our three contracts. Our council members are awesome and dedicate many hours for the good of our union. #1272 Strong!

The union officers are bargaining the TSL grant with the district as I write this message. I do not have a lot of new information to share at this time. We met with management December 4th and then sent follow up questions after that initial meeting. Last Thursday, the district scheduled a Monday meeting with us where additional information was shared. The union officers will review this with Ray. I anticipate the district will present something to teachers soon. The grant is optional for teachers.

We have been getting a lot of questions about the district's FMLA policy. Human Resources sent out information to staff recently to explain how the process works, but council members and I are still clarifying parts of the policy. Please share any questions related to this that you may have with your building rep. I will report back in the next newsletter.

Grievances:

UPDATE: A settlement was reached for two coaching grievances. Both coaches were paid a year of lost wages to resolve the claim.

UPDATE: A due process/discipline grievance is resolved. The district withdrew the discipline.

PENDING: We now have one outstanding grievance related to discipline at the arbitration phase.

As I conclude, I would like to proudly announce that I was recently elected to the IFT Executive Board. Other CFT Presidents have held this office, and I consider it a privilege. I will do my best to serve you and Local #1272.

In Solidarity,

Wendy

Every payday is WEAR YOUR UNION SHIRT day. Send us pictures of you with your co-workers showing union pride to put in our newsletter. If you know a union member who doesn't get this newsletter, they need to give a personal email address to their union rep. Be sure to follow Cahokia Federation of Teachers 1272 on Facebook.

Cahokia Federation of Teachers Local #1272 represents:

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/