atfUnion: Agreement Ratified on 6/16

Agreement Ratified on 6/16

The Negotiated Agreement was ratified by the Albuquerque Teachers Federation on June 16th. Of those who voted, 86% voted YES, while 14% voted NO. The contract language and salary schedules are available to download later in this article - scroll through the pages to access them.

Agreement Ratified on 6/16 {continued}

A message from the President: "Give back"-two words that no union president ever wants to utter, two words that no union member wants to hear. Unfortunately, due to the repetitive budget cuts from the legislature, not to mention the issues with the APS Finance Department, that is what we were faced with this year.

"Downsizing"-another word I have never had to say before. In all my years in APS, I have never experienced our workforce-and thus the services we offer students-shrinking. Yet, APS plans to downsize the teaching force by at least 350 people.

Agreement Ratified on 6/16 {continued}

As I read about various states enacting draconian education cuts, intolerable class size increases and teacher lay-offs in the thousands, it is clear that we are at one of the most important crossroads in the history of our union and in our state's public education system. We can allow these state budget cuts to continue, and we, like many of our colleagues across the nation, will be forced to work in a crumbling system that offers no relief to overcrowding and no resources for programs and materials. Or, we can act-like we have never acted before. I have said before and it bears repeating-without your activism at rallies and your efforts as citizen lobbyists, these cuts would be much worse.

Agreement Ratified on 6/16 {continued}

We have our chance between now and November 2nd to elect candidates who have pledged their support. Then after the election, we must hold every politician accountable for supporting our schools. The choice is ours. I, for one, will be working to ensure no more cuts in state funding are ever passed again.

Please read the 2010 Ratification Information Flyer and download contract language changes on the next pages. I think we were able to get a few important pieces of contract language this year; of course, what we achieve in new language is all the more important when faced with such a dismal financial reality.

In tough times and in solidarity, Ellen