Dear Colleagues,
Yesterday we sent a communication to members of the CHTU Executive Board with an emergency solidarity action request. We did not provide an explanation due to time restraints but did not want to leave for the weekend without communicating the reason.
The call to action was sent to show solidarity in this climate of excessive discipline. This week two of our members were placed on paid administrative leave. We have had eight members placed on paid administrative leave this year with six of them being disciplinary. Paid administrative leave used to be reserved for extreme circumstances in which a member possibly could be facing termination. It is currently being used while investigations take place, which is not an appropriate use of this process. Our profession is in crisis, and our members need to know that we stand united now more than ever. While wearing a union shirt and coming to and leaving from work on time do not seem like big actions, they speak volumes to those that are impacted by this district’s actions. Our solidarity gets noticed, not just by our own members, but by those that work in our buildings and enter our parking lots. Our actions, big and small, matter.
Last night we came to you with this action, and sometimes we need to contact you outside of work hours. Not all of our members are on Facebook, and we cannot always use district email to communicate. Yesterday was a good way to test our communication trees. If you did not receive the call to action last night from your building steward, please check in with your steward to make sure that you are on the communication tree for next time. If you are on Facebook but are not a member of our group, please consider joining our private Facebook group. You can find our group by searching for “Cleveland Heights Teachers Union, AFT Local 795.”
We have an Executive Board meeting at our office on Thursday, March 16. Executive Board meetings are open to all members of CHTU. Please join us if you are able to hear more about possible actions as we continue to work to improve our working conditions. We will send out committee reports next week.
In Union,
Karen Rego
CHTU President