Contract negotiations and upcoming important dates.

 


Dear Colleagues:


Thank you once again for showing up to negotiations this afternoon.  Your presence was valuable and continues to hold the district bargaining team accountable. Our union starts with you! 

Our main focus at this session was to emphasize the importance of providing the benefit of  paid family and medical leave for members as many private sector employees and other public school educators are already receiving. Thank you to Lauren Dennett for sharing her personal story to help us fight for our collective benefits regarding this proposal. If you have a story or testimonial related to the proposals that you'd like to share, please send it along to Kevin Tierney (ktierney@massteacher.org) and members of the GEA negotiating team. 

As Corey mentioned near the end of the session, the GEA has tentatively accepted 44% of the district's proposals, while they have tentatively accepted just 18% of our proposals. 

Please mark the following upcoming negotiation meetings in your calendars so that you can attend (4:30 - 6:30, locations TBD):

5/14
5/28
6/5
6/12

Please also make every effort to attend this Thursday's Parent-Educator Forum from 5:30 - 7:00 at the Penn Brook cafeteria. Encourage community members to attend, and let a GCAT member know if you are able to attend! We want to work with parents and community members to do what's best for students. Keep the following goals in mind as you speak with community members:

1. Collect feedback from parents about what they are thinking and hearing about GPS
2. Let community members know that GEA members are in favor of the Override Vote - we are here to support the students and the community.


The GEA Bargaining Team

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