On Wednesday, WBLTA's Joe Christensen, Paul Seeba, and President Michael McKenzie met with state legislators (Pictured below along with Stillwater and Forest Lake EdMN members).

WBLTA met with Senator Wiger, Majority Leader Hanson, Representative Fischer and Senator Chamberlain, among others.(Legislative briefing before heading to the capital)

In response to reports that some supervisors are denying employees proper representation, Baltimore County Federation of Public Employees (BCFPE) president John Ripley wants members to know that union representation is their right. President Ripley says that it is important that union members know it is their responsibility to request to have a representative present during an interview with a supervisor. Ripley reports that some supervisors are denying an employee representation, by saying that a meeting is a “Fact Finding," not an investigatory inquiry.

AFT-Maryland staff and affiliate members journeyed to Wichita, Kansas, March 9-14 for a week of intensive training in the AFT organizing model and to help the Kansas Organization of State Employees (KOSE) identify potential activists and recruit new union members. The AFT-Maryland volunteers joined union members from Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, and Kansas in the joint organizing effort, which was launched as a part of the “Reclaiming the Promise of High Quality Public Services for Strong Communities,” an AFT national initiative."

The bill that would increase Maryland’s minimum wage to $10.10 an hour has been stalled in the Senate Finance Committee. Senator Thomas Middleton (D-Charles), chair of that committee says that he will not move on the minimum wage proposal until an agreement to raise the wages of workers who care for the developmentally disabled has been reached. Middleton wants to raise the hourly wage for workers who care for the developmentally disabled to a level that is higher than the proposed minimum wage increase.

The nine-inch snow storm that hit the city of Annapolis Monday, March 17th, delayed the schedule to which legislators are expected to adhere. Monday, March 17th, officially was “Crossover Day,” the last day when bills passed in the House or Senate can be sent to the corresponding subcommittee in the opposite chamber for consideration. Bills that fail to “crossover” are sent to the Rules Committee for review and a decision. Generally, legislation sent to the Rules Committee is considered more difficult to get passed.

Dear PATFA members:

Members of the Part-time Faculty Association of Maine ratified the 2013-2015 contract with the University of Maine System by a vote 95-2 last month, and the board of trustees has approved it as well.

We concluded our negotiations with UMS on Friday, March 21.

The agreement is a miserable one, one I can barely find the energy to articulate.

-- A 2% increase in pay in 2013-14 (retroactive to Sept. 1, 2013) and 2014-15.

-- No retirement incentive, despite the hundreds of thousands of dollars set aside for AFUM retirement incentives.

While many of us were eagerly following the Sochi Winter Games, 21 Onteora High School students were excelling in a very different kind of ‘Olympic’ competition. Onteora’s Science Olympiad Team recently took home a third place trophy as well as 25 individual medals at the Mid-Hudson Region Science Olympiad Competition, which took place at SUNY Ulster on February 8. The third place finish qualified Onteora to compete in the State tournament, to be held March 14-15 in Long Island.

During the month of March, the Bennett staff donated much-needed items for the Ulster County SPCA.  The Ulster County SPCA is an independent, no-kill shelter which is a private nonprofit organization whose mission is to prevent cruelty to animals by providing temporary shelter and finding adoptive homes for homeless abused and neglected animals.  Since this organization doesn’t receive funding from Ulster County government, the donations were greatly appreciated.  For more information please access their website at http://www.ucspca.org, email

For the past two weeks the front entrance of our school has been adorned with boxes disguised as adorable little yellow school buses and pet houses waiting to be filled with food and supplies for our local food pantry in Woodstock and at the Saugerties Animal Shelter.  Each morning my first graders could be heard persuading faculty, staff, and students to: "Fill the buses, fill the buses, fill the buses...PLEASE!  These filled-to-the-rim gifts of kindness from all of us were very appreciated by their recipients.  ~ Carol Brower