AFT Daily Communicator

Welcome to the inaugural edition of the AFT Daily Communicator, a short new daily digest for AFT communicators. It will highlight top news, action items and message points for the day, and will always include sample social media content for easy sharing.

We want this daily update to be a useful resource for you as you work to communicate with and mobilize members, so we'll be asking for your feedback to help make these emails as effective as possible. If you know anyone else who would like to receive the AFT Daily Communicator, let them know they can sign up here. Of course, if you don't want to receive these messages, you can opt out by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email.

So without further ado, here's the top news of the day:

The secret healthcare bill is out—and the GOP proposal to replace the Affordable Care Act is downright dangerous:

The AFT has launched a Hands Off Our Healthcare action to urge members of Congress to vote against the new, dangerous American Health Care Act.

• Click here to tweet our call to action.
• Click here to share on Facebook.

AFT celebrates International Women's Day

• Read about Women Workers Rising here, and then check out this video of Randi speaking at the rally.
• Click here to tweet about the AFT's work on International Women's Day.
• Click here to share on Facebook.

Share My Lesson's annual virtual conference kicks off Tuesday

• From immigration law to robots, community schools to media literacy, this webinar series will provide classroom content you can use. Browse the webinars and register today!
• Click here to tweet about the virtual conference.
• Click here to share on Facebook.

Randi Weingarten, President Lorretta Johnson, Secretary-Treasurer | Mary Cathryn Ricker, Executive Vice President

© American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. All rights reserved. Photographs and illustrations, as well as text, cannot be used without permission from the AFT.

Contact Us | 555 New Jersey Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20001

Contingent Faculty and the Unemployment Insurance Program

Dear Faculty,

On Dec. 22, 2016, the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor issued Unemployment Insurance Program Letter No. 5-17. This letter clarifies that contingent (TFT, TPT, and Adjunct) faculty are eligible for unemployment insurance if they meet certain guidelines. See attached Fact Sheet. Contingent faculty have always had this option, but may not have been informed that they could exercise it.

The attached Fact Sheet from MSCF and AFT provides a summary of the guidance from the Dept. of Labor. For more complete guidance from the Dept. of Labor, please follow this link:

https://wdr.doleta.gov/directives/attach/UIPL/UIPL_5-17_acc.pdf

The following is a link to a flow chart to determine eligibility also.

https://wdr.doleta.gov/directives/attach/UIPL/UPIL_5-17_Attachment_I.pdf

The Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), has their own policies and procedures and MSCF cannot guarantee you will be eligible; you will simply have to apply to find out. If you have any questions about the application process, I have attached the How to Apply for Unemployment Insurance .pdf file from the www.uimn.org.

To apply, click on the following link:

http://www.uimn.org/applicants/index.jsp#5

If you have any questions, please contact me at kent.quamme@edmn.org or by cell at 218-280-6754.

For the MSCF,

Kent Quamme, Treasurer

Minnesota State College Faculty

Please Note: To access the fact sheet attachments mentioned in the memo above, ask your chapter president to forward you the original email from MSCF or you can contact the state office at 651-767-1262.

'This Budget Takes a Meat Cleaver to Public Education'

For Immediate Release
March 16, 2017
Contact:

Janet Bass 202-879-4554 jbass@aft.org www.aft.org

 
AFT President Randi Weingarten:
‘This Budget Takes a Meat Cleaver to Public Education’

WASHINGTON—Statement of AFT President Randi Weingarten on President Donald Trump’s budget. “This budget takes a meat cleaver to public education. These are the biggest cuts to the education budget we can recall—even during times of great fiscal stress. Only someone who doesn’t know what public schools do and what kids need would contemplate or countenance these kinds of cuts.  “This budget also includes both backdoor and ‘front-door’ voucher programs that further the Trump administration’s ideological crusade against public education. The Title I ‘portability’ included is a backdoor voucher scheme that was expressly rejected in the recently enacted bipartisan federal education law. “These cuts, if enacted, will turn into real-life effects on kids. They do what we feared would happen when Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was nominated: defund public schools with the aim of destabilizing and destroying them. By slashing community schools, professional development and class-size funding, they are cutting what works to help students succeed: Community schools meet poverty head-on to level the playing field for kids. In places like Cincinnati and New York, community learning centers are increasing the confidence parents have in their kids’ schools, and we are seeing higher graduation rates, attendance and achievement. Lowering class size is vital to ensuring we meet the individual needs of every child. Professional development is critical for educators to be able to refine their craft and move new ideas and curriculum in the classroom—just like any corporation would need to train people when implementing a new product or strategy And cuts to the Labor Department budget for training will jeopardize ensuring workers have the skills they need for the jobs of today and tomorrow. “When DeVos was nominated, we warned that she would use her office to wage an ideological attack against public education, and this budget is the latest confirmation of her efforts to rob the future to push failed voucher strategies.”    Follow AFT President Randi Weingarten: http://twitter.com/rweingarten