Member Action 2016

nd local-by-local to grow member leadership and collective action
● Strengthen solidarity across locals--from Prek-12 through higher education--with ESPs, teachers,
faculty and professional staff working together
● Recognize and act from the understanding that our power is in our collective voice and shared vision, and not in appealing or conceding to power brokers and deal cutters
● Demand that politicians act in the interests of public education and our union before we support them and invest our union dues and/or MTA staff resources into their campaigns
● Strengthen statewide accountability by listening to members, reporting out on actions and debates,
and insisting on roll call votes on the Board

For public schools and students, we will...

● Demand the very best--fully qualified teachers; art, music, field trips, physical education, and professionally staffed libraries; rich, varied, and developmentally-appropriate curricula, schools and colleges as spaces of joy and hope, intellectual and social development--for every student in Massachusetts
● Fight to end high stakes testing, stop charters, restore and increase funding prek-12- higher education, and stop the privatization of public education at every level
● Name and fight the broad-based corporate assault on public education and educators by mega-foundations, key members of both political parties, and the media
● Ally with parents, students, other unions and the community to create the schools and communities we deserve
● Expand our struggle to include economic, social, and racial justice for our members, students and communities

For our workplaces and communities, we will...

● Assert and protect the rights of all MTA members to control our working conditions and to make democratic decisions about how we do our jobs
● Organize for just wages, respectful and just evaluation processes, for an end to the mandates that distract us from our work, for control over how we use our time, and a voice in our own professional development
● Take on the gender pay gap that continues to exist in our historically female-dominated profession
● Mobilize to put an end to bullying, intimidation, and harassment in the workplace, and for the right to a safe work environment
● End the exploitation of adjuncts and ESPs, and demand benefits and protections for all members
● Demand and protect a secure and comfortable retirement for all
● Stand with our allies as we reignite a unified labor movement that envisions and fights for greater justice, democracy, and equality in our communities and schools

Vote Member Action 2016 for MTA