MTA and AFT Investing in Organizing Early Childhood Educators-Can We Make ABE the Next?

As you may have heard, two unions (the MTA and AFT) are putting resources into organizing early childhood educators (see Globe article, 10/10/11).

While there are ways these workers are different from us (they usually work full time, work on state contracts rather than state grants, etc.), there are probably more ways that we are alike (marginalized, small numbers at each site, pay is pitted against numbers served, etc.).

MCAE is planning to connect with an organizer from the campaign to create a statewide union for early childhood care workers.

We’d like to get some questions answered, including:

Do you have other questions that you’d like asked?

Post your comments below!

Read more:

The Advocate, the newspaper of the Mass AFT, featured a terrific article about the MECEU on the front page.

Visit the website of the Massachusetts Early Childhood Educators Union to learn more about the campaign to organize workers and improve program quality.

A Western Massachusetts program chooses to organize.

Part of our series of articles about unionized adult education programs in Massachusetts.

The Literacy Project, a community-based organization comprised of about 20 staff working at nine sites in Western Mass., has been a unionized program for the past decade. Workers organized there after a newly-hired director transformed their democratically run, supportive workplace into a strict hierarchy, where information was not shared and long-term staff were written up for asking questions.

After a series of unsuccessful efforts to meet with the director, staff began talking to various unions about organizing and also went to their Board of Directors to express both their concerns and their interest in unionizing. The Board supported their efforts to unionize and eventually the director left.

The Literacy Project staff chose the United Electrical Workers (UE) to represent them because they liked UE’s approach, which is to offer the support that’s needed but not impose a structure or process that every workplace has to follow. With UE’s help, the staff negotiated a contract that secured their pay and benefits and won them the right to lay-off over the summer (which previously had gone unpaid).

The relationship between staff, management, and the Board has been amicable and  cooperative under this system. The Board works hard to fundraise so that employees can maintain a living wage, benefits, and job security. Labor-management teams resolve issues that arise and problem-solve fair ways to apportion scarce resources during contract negotiations.

For more information about the U.E.,
visit uenortheast.org or contact:
United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE), Northeast Region
5 Hill Street
Taunton, MA 02780
(774) 264-0110

The Literacy Project offers classes in Amherst, North Quabbin, Ware, Northampton, and Greenfield.
(413) 774-3934
info@literacyproject.org

How can we get more respect for ABE?

by Wendy Mongeau*

During my sixth year of elementary school teaching, I took a part-time evening job teaching adult ESL. …The ESL job opened my eyes to a realm of the education world that I had never known.

It seems to me … that ABE teachers are viewed in a different light from K-12 teachers. … Perhaps some think that once through the American K-12 public educational system should be enough. In some people’s minds it boils down to spending more tax dollars on people that they feel should be adequately educated by the time they reach the age of 18. Without having a teacher’s perspective on the situation, it’s easy to see how people could feel this way. ABE teachers work with adults on a daily basis who had life circumstances that forced them to drop out of school before their time, adult immigrants who are trying to build successful, productive lives for themselves and their families, and/or adults with learning disabilities who were not well- served by the K-12 system and “fell through the cracks.” But without this perspective, and without any personal contact with an adult in such a situation, who could perceive the vital importance of ABE?

Educating the Public

Perhaps the solution lies in educating the public about the importance of ABE and the changed lives that have resulted in communities all over Massachusetts. A recent example of such (unintended) publicity was the battle waged against the proposed ABE budget cuts. Higher visibility for the field and its contributions to society would certainly turn the tide of popular opinion regarding ABE. But this, again, takes money. Furthermore, we are too occupied with the business of doing our jobs to take the time to toot our own horns.

Nonetheless, educating the public can be accomplished one person at a time. If you are confronted with criticism for your profession, here are some facts that you can mention:

1. I teach people who have been failed, in some cases, by the traditional K-12 system. Before the widespread attention to learning disabilities, students were often labeled as “slow,” “stupid,” or “lazy,” and no one understood or accommodated their needs.
2. Adult education has ramifications for children. It is a research-based fact that a child’s educational success is directly related to the educational attainment and involvement of his/her mother.
3. Crime levels decrease in communities when educational levels increase. I am providing a service that benefits society at large.
4. I am helping to build a more productive workforce. It benefits the economy when adults are taught the literacy, computer, and job-related skills they need in order to reach their full potential. This way, all of society benefits, not just the students themselves.

Wendy Mongeau teaches ABE, ESOL, and computer classes at the New Bedford Adult Learning Center. She can be reached at: wmongeau@msn.com

*Originally published in: Field Notes, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Summer 2002)

by Cathy Coleman

Have you heard about the Accuplacer and the GED? Recent research indicates there is a rather large gap between GED math and what’s tested on the Accuplacer (the test used by colleges to place students in college level or developmental level math). Students can pass the GED and still get stuck in developmental courses, taking and failing them over and over, using up precious financial aid, getting increasingly discouraged, and eventually giving up on their college dreams. This presents a problem for many of our college bound students, and our field is wisely beginning to talk about the issue.

So. how is this related to working conditions in ABE? For me, the recent buzz about this issue illustrates important issues about us as a field – about the questions we ask… and the questions we don’t. Read the rest of this entry »

A graphic representation.*

Who says working conditions and program performance are two separate things?

Working and Learning Conditions in ABE (Click to see the full-sized image)

Thanks to Marylis Carillo, Ann Cleaves, Hilda Johnston, Janet Kaplan-Bucciarelli, Silja Kallenbach, Ami Magisos, and Addie Rose Mayer for collaborating on this piece.

*Reprinted with permission from The Change Agent, Issue 25, Taking Action to Stay in School, September 2007

How many hours of prep do you get for each hour of class you teach? Is that enough? Have your prep time responsibilities changed during the time you’ve been teaching? Post a comment below!

Final results from last week’s survey. The survey is now closed (as of 11/22) but you can read the original post here.