Dear Colleagues,
It's hard to get a picture that shows just how many people showed up last night for our march and rally, so I took screen shots of a video and pasted them together above. There were at least 1,000 people! We showed our strength and unity and we had loads of fun doing it. What a great great event. Thank you to all who participated!
At the school committee meeting, our CAT leaders delivered our petition, signed by 1865 members. Kudos to all of you who signed, and to those many CAT captains and communicators who gathered all those signatures. And kudos to our CAT Co-Chairs Mike Schlegelmilch, Kelly Henderson, and Jayme Ellis for organizing a fabulous event. I guess people are still volunteering to do union actions!
Will this move the needle? Maybe. It's certainly interesting that the school committee was quick to respond with a community update on negotiations. They are feeling the pressure, and reacting to us. (I will analyze that update in a subsequent email--but for now, I just want to say to the school committee: Really? You are comparing Newton to Bedford, Needham, and Belmont in order to prove Newton educators are well-compensated? Who came up with that list of three? And exactly what criteria did you use to decide on it?)
I believe I speak for all of you when I say--stay tuned! We are just getting warmed up! We will continue to bring the fight to the school committee, and we will win.
In solidarity,
Mike Zilles, President
Newton Teachers Association
Comments