MCALLEN, Texas - Texas AFT hosted its 31st biennial convention at the Embassy Suites Convention Center in McAllen on June 24-25.
AFT stands for the American Federation of Teachers.
The host committee comprised McAllen AFT, Edinburg AFT, La Joya AFT, and PSJA AFT.
The convention kicked off with a panel discussion on the history of Texas AFT. The moderator was Zeph Capo, president of Texas AFT. The three panelists were John Cole, past president of Texas AFT, Becky Moeller, past president of Texas AFL-CIO, and Dwight Harris, past president of Victoria AFT.
Here is an audio recording of the discussion:
In the foyer outside the ballroom were framed statements of the recent achievements of numerous Texas AFT locals. Here is what four of the Rio Grande Valley locals had to say:
Thanks to our union's advocacy campaigns to fight back on a proposal to close two elementary schools and reduce 130 teaching positions, we helped to keep Leo and Benavides elementary schools open. In addition, we also prevented the elimination of the nurse assistant position at all of our campuses. We are also proud of all the hard work and dedication that our members put forth to achieve real results in this campaign. Our work is powerful and we do definitely matters.
Mcallen AFT won a grievance against the school district where each affected member from one school received $3,000 in pay that was owed to them from last year. In addition, we won a grievance for our transportation department members where their special adjustments were granted.
Winning respect is imperative to our local as it means district leaders value our members perspective and show regards to our voice as the experts in the classroom and school environment. This consideration empowers our members to take an active role in advocating for themselves and students and has led to both victories district wide. Collectively, one of our most distinct victories this year has been our compensation package which included $4,500 for teachers and librarians, and nurses plus a three percent increase from midpoint for all other full-time employees. Additionally, we negotiated an increase in stipends for additional certifications such as special education and bilingual/ESL certification combined with most recently our trustees adding a commitment to a 45-minute duty-free lunch for all teachers.
Our union continues winning the respect for our union members, and this has earned us the district nickname of the “Employee Voice of Edinburg CISD. A major victory came before the start of this school year with Edinburg CISD’s compensation package. Our union members attended multiple budget workshops, board meetings, and addressed respect in pay, schedules, and work environment during school board public comments and campaigns. The results were as follows: 4.1 percent increase in midpoint for all teachers; $57,000 begin gin teacher pay, $57250 beginning nurse pay; four percent increase of midpoint for all non-teaching professionals; $1.00/hour increase for all hourly employees; $15.00/hour starting pay for all hourly employees; $500 mid-year stipend for all employees; increase to $30.00/month employer contribution towards employee insurance premium; continuation of ten Covid Leave days for all employees; 45 minute lunch for all elementary teachers; $1,000 increase to all after school stipends, and the school board director to the superintendent of schools that all after school programs were to be strictly voluntary, an non-participation will not affect employee evaluations.
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