21 May 2019

• Rockland County employees work to stop spread of measles

  ---

  UPDATE 5/20/19: Union members continue push to contain measles crisis

  Rockland County provided another free public vaccination clinic in Suffern on Friday to push forward in combating the measles outbreak as the number of confirmed cases continues to rise.

  More than 20,500 measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccines have been administered since October. said John Fella, president of the Rockland Association of Management, a local union affiliated with NYSUT. “However, this has not abated the crisis.”

  A second state of emergency, declared by County Executive Ed Day, is still in effect until May 25. Health department officials have stressed that

  ...
• NYSUT launches ‘Support School Staff’ campaign as legislative session nears end

  ---

  ALBANY, N.Y. May 16, 2019 — New York State United Teachers today launched a campaign drawing attention to safety and other issues affecting School-Related Professionals and the students they serve.

  The “Support School Staff” campaign pushes bills to crack down on drivers who violate school bus stop sign laws, to address school violence issues and to provide new due-process protections for all permanent school employees.

  “From our bus drivers to our food service employees to our teaching assistants, School-Related Professionals are the backbone of New York’s public schools,” NYSUT President Andy

  ...
• Union membership can ease student debt

  Numbers can be numbing, especially for those who have to deduct hefty amounts from their checking account each month to repay college loans.

  For some, those payments are more than the cost of rent.

  Some 45 million people are estimated to have student debt. The average college graduate enters the workforce owing $37,000 in debt, according to the American Federation of Teachers. Since New York State requires teachers to have a Masters Degree, the challenges can be even greater for educators.

  But, there is more to the story of the student-debt crisis than just numbers.

  “Student debt has a disproportionate impact on women and people of color, which is why our Civil and Human Rights Committee is working on

  ...
• Nurses call for safe staffing: 'We need these things to succeed'

  Sitting down in his office with NYSUT Health Care Professionals earlier today, State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D–Bronx, was ready to listen. 

  His mom had been a registered nurse, he said, and he remembered the crucial contributions of the visiting nurse — a member of the Federation of Nurses UFT — as well as the physical therapist and occupational therapist, who came to care for her at home after a serious illness.

  NYSUT Board member Anne Goldman and MaryJo Ginese, both UFT vice presidents and health care professionals, visited Albany with scores of NYSUT nurses and nearly a thousand from several unions who came from all over the state for a grass roots advocacy day.

  Photo

  ...
• Mother’s Day celebrated year round in these teaching families

  Nothing against flowers, but for some women, the best Mother’s Day present is to share a career passion with their son or daughter.

  Seven mothers in the Troy school district get to experience that every day as educators working in the same district as their children.

  Some of the sons and daughters knew for as long as they could remember that they wanted to be teachers. Others resisted.

  Genevieve L. Stinson’s mom, Janice Strang, was an elementary teacher in Troy. Her grandmother, Betty Strang, was a middle school teaching assistant in the library until she was 78 years old. Genevieve had other plans — any other plans, just not teaching.

  “I was a pre-law major as a freshman,”

  ...