Activism

SPRING 13

Dear Colleagues:

Welcome to the 8th issue of Union News.  We’re covering some interesting and important stories: the Governor’s higher education budget and the recent Advocacy Day at the statehouse, the new 2:2 teaching schedule, proposed changes to retiree health insurance, the importance of the family leave policy for both tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty, a teachers strike in Haiti, and more.

By Lorenzo Nencioli, Membership Coordinator, UMass Faculty Staff Union

SPRING 13

On Tuesday, March 5th, hundreds of students, faculty, and staff from around the state, including a large contingent from UMass Boston, gathered at the State House for the Public Higher Education Advocacy Day. Their goal was simple: tell their legislators to support Governor Patrick’s proposal to increase public higher education spending by $152 million in 2014.

By Al Leisinger, Mathematics, NTT Grievance Officer

SPRING 13

In November, more than 25,000 people demonstrated across Haiti as part of a national teachers strike. Demands of the strike included:

• A minimum salary for teachers and the payment of all back salary due to teachers

• An increase in the number of public schools throughout the country so that all Haitian children can go to school free of charge

• A vaccination campaign against cholera to be conducted in every school and university in order to eradicate cholera from Haiti

By John Hess, English

SPRING 13

The Campaign for the Future of Higher Education, which held its second national meeting at UMass Boston in November 2011, will be holding its fifth national meeting in Columbus, Ohio, May 15-17.   The CFHE has been very active since the 2011 meeting here and continues to grow. 

By Jennifer Berkshire, union news editor

FALL 12

The protestors stretched from the Chancellor’s office down to the plaza, hundreds of students, faculty and staff lined up to deliver petitions with more than 5,000 signatures, all decrying a plan to hike the cost of parking up to $10 in 2013. The protest was a visible symbol of how the proposal by UMass administrators has united campus groups in opposition to a plan that they say falls most heavily on students and the lowest paid employees.