Inside AFT?Week of April 2, 2007

• Survey Shows Teacher Pay Often Insufficient To Meet Housing Costs
• AFT Looks Forward to Senate Passage of Employee Free Choice Act
• Strike Leads to Contract Settlement at Philadelphia College
• Legislation Introduced To Overturn Anti-Worker Decision
• AFT Vice President Pens Children's Books
• QuEST Program Focuses on Unions and School Reform
• AFT NCLBlog Post of the Week
• Where and When

SURVEY SHOWS TEACHER PAY OFTEN INSUFFICIENT TO MEET HOUSING COSTS
Anemic growth in teacher salaries is making it increasingly difficult for teachers, especially new ones, to find affordable housing in their communities and to pay off student loan debts, according to the new AFT teacher salary survey, released March 29. These and other factors place the teaching profession?already plagued by high turnover and recruiting challenges?in further peril. The AFT report asserts that, to make teacher pay competitive with pay in other comparable professions by the end of the decade, teachers need a 30 percent raise?an additional investment in our children's future of almost $15 billion per year. "Given the difficulty many districts have attracting and keeping educators, the financial penalty for deciding to become a teacher is unacceptable," says AFT president Edward J. McElroy. "If we're serious about placing the most qualified professionals in the classroom and keeping them there, we simply need to make a significant investment in teacher salaries." The AFT survey for the 2004-05 school year found that the average teacher salary was $47,602, a 2.2 percent increase from the previous year. This falls short of the rate of inflation for that year, which was 3.4 percent. The survey also examines the impact of rising housing costs and student loan debt on teachers in the nation's 50 largest cities, and it concludes that the incomes of mid-career teachers in these cities will limit them to purchasing lower-priced homes. And for the first time since 1982, teacher salaries are less than the average earnings of government workers, making them among the lowest-paid public employees. When adjusted for inflation, real teacher pay is decreasing as private sector salaries are on the rise. Click here for the AFT press release; the full report, including state-by-state teacher salary information, can be found here.

AFT LOOKS FORWARD TO SENATE PASSAGE OF EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) introduced the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) in the U.S. Senate on March 29. It is a bill that moves "millions of working Americans a step closer to achieving fair wages, fair treatment and a voice on the job," AFT president Edward J. McElroy says. The bill, which passed the House on March 1 by a 241-185 vote, would amend national labor laws for private sector employees in three main ways: strengthening penalties against companies that break the law when employees try to form unions, establishing mediation and arbitration when a first contract can't be reached, and enabling employees to form unions when a majority signs union authorization cards. "Many AFT members in the private sector, including nurses and other healthcare professionals, have faced massive employer resistance and multimillion-dollar, union-busting campaigns when they try to form a union and reach a first contract," McElroy says. "EFCA would put an end to this kind of abuse and ensure that employees are able to exercise their right to form a union free from employer coercion and retaliation." Because powerful interests are working against the bill, he adds, senators need to hear "the real facts" from their constituents. "A vote for EFCA is a vote for a fair deal for working people, and its passage should be an immediate priority in the Senate." McElroy's complete statement is available here.

STRIKE LEADS TO CONTRACT SETTLEMENT AT PHILADELPHIA COLLEGE
Faculty and staff at the Community College of Philadelphia ended a nine-day strike March 26 after securing raises averaging almost 4 percent annually over the next five years. Their contract also maintains healthcare benefits with premiums paid by the employer?another priority of the 400 full-time faculty, 700 part-time faculty and 200 staff represented by the Faculty and Staff Federation/AFT. The three units voted overwhelmingly to pass the contract. But reflecting just how acrimonious bargaining was, the full-time faculty unanimously passed a motion to hold a referendum on a vote of no-confidence in the CCP president, Stephen Curtis. The strike was based on issues of equity. The union was seeking varied percentage increases to address unit inequities that had occurred in the past when higher-paid faculty had sacrificed on their raises in order to increase the pay of lower-paid faculty?some of whom still make only $35,800 a year. A break in negotiations occurred when U.S. Rep. Bob Brady (D-Pa.) offered to facilitate. Eventually, he and Gov. Edward Rendell came up with a promise to find money in the state's budget to fund adequate increases for all. Thanks to a mayoral candidates' forum sponsored by the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers in March, all of the candidates are on videotape in support of full city funding for the college. PFT president and AFT vice president Ted Kirsch helped in the contract settlement. An added plus is that the FSF has been "revitalized" by the strike, says FSF co-chair John Braxton. "We had a spirit of solidarity on the picket line that spread to our younger members."

LEGISLATION INTRODUCED TO OVERTURN ANTI-WORKER DECISION
Lawmakers in both the U.S. House and Senate have introduced legislation to reverse a decision that would cost millions of workers?especially nurses?their union rights. The Re-Empowerment of Skilled and Professional Employees and Construction Tradeworkers (RESPECT) Act, introduced March 22, would amend the National Labor Relations Act to clarify the difference between supervisors and employees. Under current law, supervisors cannot organize a union or collectively bargain. "This bill will overturn the ill-advised National Labor Relations Board decision stripping thousands of nurses of their right to a union by classifying them as supervisors," AFT president Edward J. McElroy says. "It will ultimately help avoid generating bedlam in our workplaces and unsafe conditions for patients." In October 2006, the NLRB issued a broad interpretation of the term "supervisor" in a group of cases known as Kentucky River. The decision says employers can label workers as supervisors if they assign another employee to a particular location, to work at a certain time or to perform a significant task. They also may be called supervisors if they're held accountable for the tasks they assign. The bill would amend the definition of supervisor under the NLRA by deleting the terms "assign" and "responsibly to direct" because these are the terms the labor board used to justify its rulings. The bill also would require that to be classified as a supervisor, an employee would have to spend the majority of his or her day in a supervisory capacity. The measure is co-sponsored by Sens. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.). It was introduced in the House by Reps. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.) and George Miller (D-Calif.). The AFT is asking members to go to the union's online legislative action center to send letters to their representatives urging them to co-sponsor this new legislation.

AFT VICE PRESIDENT PENS CHILDREN'S BOOKS
As if being a teacher, a United Federation of Teachers officer and an AFT vice president weren't enough, Michelle Bodden also is the author of two children's books--and plans to start on a third this summer. Her most recent book, Obara the Gatekeeper, was published at the end of last year. Like her 2004 debut, Obara and the Merchants, the second work is based on Yoruban stories from Nigeria that Bodden has told to her own children. Her books clearly are a labor of love, but Bodden also sees a connection to her duties as the UFT's elementary school vice president. "My work at UFT is very focused on creating better school environments and working conditions for educators," she says. "Writing is a great way for me to stay connected with children, so I think my two passions complement each other." Bodden published the books through her own company, Water Daughter Publishing. Obara and the Merchants won honorable mention at the 13th Annual Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards. Both books are available at amazon.com, and more information about them is available at www.waterdaughter.com.

QuEST PROGRAM FOCUSES ON UNIONS AND SCHOOL REFORM
This year's AFT QuEST (Quality Educational Standards in Teaching) conference promises to be rich with sessions and speakers on a variety of important education issues. Workshops on topics ranging from literary instruction and testing to maintaining safe and orderly classrooms are being planned. Set for July 12-15 at the Hilton Washington Hotel in Washington, D.C., this year's conference will center on the theme: "Strengthening Public Schools: Our Union's Work." The conference will include mini-institutes, which are held prior to QuEST and require a separate registration. There will be mini-institutes on organizing and engaging new members around professional issues, the building representative's role in school reform, and other topics. Check the AFT Web site regularly for QuEST updates. Online registration will be available soon.

AFT NCLBlog POST OF THE WEEK
Kennedy on NCLB

WHERE AND WHEN AFT President Edward J. McElroy will be in Boston on April 11 to address the AFT Lawyers Conference. He then will travel to Lynn, Mass., for an AFT town hall meeting on No Child Left Behind with members from AFT locals in Lynn, Salem and Peabody, leaders from AFT Massachusetts and U.S. Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.), who sits on the House Committee on Education and Labor. On April 13, the AFT president will be in Nashville at the Southern AFL-CIO Regional Conference, where he will have a discussion with AFL-CIO central labor council leaders on "The State of Central Labor Councils, 2007." On April 12 and 13, AFT executive vice president Antonia Cortese will be in Oklahoma City visiting preschool classrooms to learn more about Oklahoma's well-regarded universal pre-kindergarten program and to meet with preschool teachers and paraprofessionals.