Dear CCAFT Members and Friends,
Today, I write with an urgent request that all individuals, who support a robust and improved public school system, sign our petition calling upon local school boards to provide their workers with a 10-percent pay raise that fairly values their contribution to our communities both year-round and during this extraordinary health crisis. Sign the appropriate petition below.
Petition to Corpus Christi ISD Board Trustees & Superintendent
This moment has demonstrated one important fact that we must not forget. When faced with an extraordinary disruption to their jobs and livelihoods, the teachers and support professionals in every school district throughout the Coastal Bend stood fast, kept working, and delivered the best education possible—often at significant personal and financial cost to themselves and their families.
Since school closures began in early March, the Corpus Christi American Federation of Teachers has been in daily contact with our members. We hear them when teachers describe the challenge of instructing their students in the morning before finally teaching their own children at night. We hear them when they talk about adding to consumer debt in order to afford a new laptop because their district has pulled its loaned computer. We hear them when they talk about the continuous rounds of phone calls, endless Zoom meetings, and non-stop assignment of new tasks. This is why CCAFT is standing up for our members and making a demand that our school districts provide fair compensation through a 10-percent pay raise.
Even still, the challenges keep mounting. Last week, over 100 CCAFT members wrote to us on Facebook listing the added costs that working from home has created. The just-released results from our Compensation & School Closure Survey tell us that over 55 percent of our CCISD members believe that last year’s pay raise was not sufficient and that over 68 percent believe their workload has increased significantly because of school closures. We hear similar feedback from members working at surrounding school districts. All the while, central administrations across the region have piled more work, tried to ignore social distancing guidelines to return employees back to work, and failed to provide appropriate compensation for out-of-pocket expenses that are personally paid for by their employees.
Now is the time to make our position known, and to accomplish this task, we require the support of every teacher and support professional. We must communicate the reality of our everyday working conditions with the larger community and ask the voting public to hold our school boards accountable for the working conditions of its employees. We need to hear your voice! Come to the CCAFT Facebook page (www.facebook.com/corpuschristiaft) to share your stories today!
We need our teachers and support professionals to join the Corpus Christi American Federation of Teachers — the only actual labor union of its kind in the Coastal Bend. Right now, for a limited time, you can join our Union for free so that you see the kind of work that we do and understand the important labor rights we defend. Please visit our CCAFT Website (www.texasaft.org/local/ccaft) and click “Join Today” to be a part of this movement.
Most importantly, we need you to sign the petition and share it with every friend, family member, coworker, or person you know. We need to show that the Coastal Bend community stands behind its educators and will show up to defend them come election time.
Sign now! Join us today!
Petition to Corpus Christi ISD Board Trustees & Superintendent
Sincerely,
Dr. Nancy Vera
President
Corpus Christi American Federation of Teachers
