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NYSUT Retiree Council 45
Serving NYSUT Retirees across souther portions of Central New York State.
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Pink car rallies, gardens and virtual events mark this year’s Making Strides
The leaves are changing colors and the pandemic has changed everyone’s lives, but the pink rallying cry to stop breast cancer remains.
Fundraising events have changed from throngs of walkers to decorated car drive-thrus, step challenges, a virtual mosaic, city scavenger hunts, and many more creative outings.
Pink waves of NYSUT members will again be taking part, riding in cars tricked out in pink and combing city streets for clues.
The American Cancer Society’s annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walks this year will feature novel fundraising events as NYSUT continues its flagship sponsorship.
The key to keeping the pink-powered program thriving is to sign up at nysut.org/joinmakingstrides to stay informed about what is being planned in each region.
Get your pink on!
Join or start a NYSUT team at nysut.org/joinmakingstrides.
For NYSUT Making Strides gear, order a union-made, American-made T-shirt at strides2020.weebly.com. Proceeds go to ACS.
For more ideas to host a virtual Making Strides fundraiser, download the ACS Virtual Fundraising A-Z brochure (PDF).
The union’s 2020 effort is dedicated to the memory of Sheila
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Voter Guide
We are pleased to provide the complete Voter Guide and special Retiree Edition so YOU and your VOTE can help move the state and the nation away from regressive corporatism and toward progressive solutions.
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Justice Ginsburg left indelible mark on equity, education
In vigils around the country, mourners honored Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — her life, her 27 years of service on the Supreme Court and the gains she helped achieve for education, women’s rights, and desegregation, among many other achievements.
Teachers and students were among those who spoke out sorrowfully and hopefully at some of the New York State vigils, talking about Ginsburg’s role as a stalwart vote for sex equity in schools, desegregation, and separation of church and state.
In the North Country, an online candlelit vigil for the Brooklyn-born Supreme Court justice drew educators, students, local and state judges, and U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, who has spoken of her legacy of justice.
Prior to her appointment to the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton, Ginsburg had worked as a professor at Columbia University and Rutgers University at a time when no firm in New York City would hire a female lawyer.
National Education Association President Becky Pringle called out Ginsburg’s role as an educator.
“As educators, we know that she is now considered, and always will be, a teacher and champion of racial and social justice. Her loss is more than a seat on the nine-justice Supreme Court; her loss is devastating and will be felt for generations. NEA members will honor her legacy by redoubling our efforts to fight for justice,” said Pringle.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said Justice Ginsburg is an icon, calling her loss
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NYSUT files lawsuits over remote work denials
Picture this. You’re a teacher and you’ve got chronic, stage IV kidney disease and an autoimmune disease that requires you to take regular doses of immunosuppressants. A worldwide viral pandemic hits. Your school closes. Businesses shutter their doors. From Buffalo, to Long Island, to the North Country, to all points in between, New York State comes to a standstill and it stays that way for months on end.
But you learn to adapt. You teach your classes remotely, and you find ways to reach your students and to make things work. Your hard work pays off and you successfully evaluate, and provide grades for your students during that disrupted semester, despite the interruptions, despite the hardships.
Flash forward six months. The pandemic continues and the death count reaches nearly 200,000. Your health conditions put you at high risk. But despite proving over the last semester that you can effectively do your job remotely, your district demands that you return, in-person, to the classroom. Knowing that it puts you at significant risk for contracting the virus, and knowing that contracting the virus could very well endanger your life.
Sarahjane Harrigan, an elementary music teacher at Watkins Glen Elementary School for over two decades, doesn’t have to imagine this scenario. She’s living it. After submitting an accommodation request to her district’s business manager in early August to provide remote music instruction to elementary students, her request was denied. A modified request to live stream instruction
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NYSUT statement on the death of Eadie Shanker
ALBANY, N.Y. Sept. 19, 2020 — New York State United Teachers President Andy Pallotta released the following statement today regarding the passing of Eadie Shanker:
“The NYSUT family is saddened to hear of the passing of Eadie Shanker. Eadie’s commitment to labor and education served as an inspiration to scores of unionists. She helped lay the foundation for our union and her work has touched the lives of so many. Eadie will be missed, but her legacy will live on.”
New York State United Teachers is a statewide union with more than 600,000 members in education, human services and health care. NYSUT is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association and the AFL-CIO.
Eadie Shanker was the 2012 honoree for NYSUT's "Not for Ourselves Alone" award.