The importance of appropriate tactics and credibility / L'importance des tactiques et de la crédibilité

Dear readers,

I received this anonymous comment today regarding my previous post: The importance of experience and building unity

"the big question mark here is not 'what experience has Rob in confronting school administration and EMSB management regarding collective issues faced in his school,' but why has Rob's school not needed to 'confront' the administration and EMSB mgmt to solve school issues needing attention and action. 

This looks like a need to share information between schools about how to foster positive relationships between teachers, administrators and management, rather than spinning this accomplishment as some gap in Mr Green's experience or character."

Thought I'd share my response with all of you. 

To Anonymous,

I certainly have no issue with fostering positive relationships between teachers, administrators and management. In many instances, this is the case, and it's a good thing as long as teachers' concerns are being addressed in a meaningful way. The reality, however, is that when poor decisions are made by management, someone needs to be in a position to advocate on behalf of teachers. When I talk about confronting school administration and management, I am talking about having the credibility to sit down with them, have a discussion, and come to a solution that satisfies teachers, without having to go through a legal grievance, or the media, until other options have been exhausted. When a union leader has the credibility to do this, it frees teachers from having to worry and stress about problems they need resolved, resolves the problems more quickly, and also costs members less money in legal fees.

In this sense, Mr. Green has very little experience directly confronting management. His advocacy consists of writing a blog and newspaper articles, and appearing on talk radio, all public forums. Right now, he has used his blog mostly to criticize the MTA and QPAT. If he were elected President, would he go to the media or write a blog post every time there was an issue that had to be dealt with in relation to school board? At MTA reps assemblies, he has advocated that the MTA use the media more frequently in its dealings with the school board.

I don't think that would be advisable, in the way that he would do it, for two reasons: First, it would cease to be effective in a very short time and second, it would certainly not help foster positive relationships between teachers, administrators and management. Using the media is a last step when all other options have been exhausted, not the first step in trying to resolve an issue.

I am certainly not spinning any accomplishments of mine as any gap in Mr. Green's character. I am merely pointing out that I've had experiences in dealing with and resolving difficult situations, and as I far as I know, he has not. If anything, that's what the job of MTA President is about. In the countless time I along with JFK teachers and the MTA confronted the school board to get the JFK building open, not once was there any negative press in regard to the school board about the situation. That fact gives me, and teachers in general, credibility. I am doubtful Mr. Green would have handled it in the same way.

Finally, I'd like to point out that both articles that Mr. Green has written and those written by others that he has posted on his blog make numerous separate untrue allegations about our current MTA President, QPAT, the school board and me. This certainly doesn't do much to foster positive relationships. Here's what he insinuates about me in relation to what he incorrectly believes is my position in relation to the recall/seniority process:

"It would be interesting to know if MTA Presidential hopeful Peter Sutherland also feels that the delicate sensitivities of the employer are of greater concern than the needs of the membership to have a seniority and recall process that is fair, transparent and impervious to undue manipulation by the employer." 

I will address this in my next post.

The importance of experience and building unity/L'importance de l'expérience et de l'unité

Un message à nos membres francophones: Comme vous, je travaille actuellement à temps plein comme enseignant. Il m’est donc difficile de traduire correctement, en temps opportun, tous les messages que je publie sur ce blogue. J’apprécierais grandement toute aide de votre part en ce sens. Par ailleurs, soyez assurés que si je suis élu dans deux semaines, toutes les communications provenant du bureau de l’AEEM continueront d'être complètement bilingues.

It's important that you the members make an informed choice. With Ruth retiring this year, this election is too important not to. If elected, it will not matter to me whether you've supported Ruth in the past or not. I've supported her because I think she does a great job. What matters is this: I will be there to support you, all of you, in your dealings with your school administration, and our dealings with EMSB management. I've always spent as much time and energy as possible directly confronting school administrators and the school board to uphold your rights, and make your teaching less stressful and more fulfilling. Unfortunately my opponent does not share my experience. He has no experience confronting his school administration. I suppose he's never had to. Instead of trying to work with the MTA leadership, he's spent the last few years fighting the MTA executive and MTA reps, both of whom are elected by you the members of the MTA.

A union leader must always think about keeping teachers united. A divided leadership and membership, just like a divided school staff, can never be very effective in its dealings with management. Unlike my opponent, I have real experience in uniting teachers at my school, with all their diverse opinions, towards our common goal of improving working conditions. If you work in a school that is managed well, as I believe Rob Green does, then it is easy to focus one's energy on accusing our current leadership (of which I am a member) of all sorts of half-truths and non-truths. Unfortunately for Rob, that's not at all what the position of President is about.

In a little more than two weeks, we will have a new President-elect of the MTA. On July 1, one of us will begin the huge task of uniting and mobilizing you the members, advocating on your behalf in your schools, to EMSB management, and QPAT, our provincial association. I think that I am better equipped to do this, here are some of the reasons why:

	Peter	Rob
Support from current election candidates and acclaimed executive members	3 acclaimed executive members and 5 candidates	4 candidates
Number of schools represented among the 20 teachers on the Presidential candidate nomination form	19	10
Number of schools represented among the candidates and acclaimed members (including the Presidential candidate)	4 High Schools 4 Elementary Schools 1 Adult Ed Centre	3 High Schools (including 3 candidates from the same school)
Experience in advocating for you at QPAT	Two years on the Board of Directors, including helping to successfully convince QPAT Board of Directors (and the other 9 QPAT local unions) to re-open our collective agreement as regards to changing the absence system that counts minutes.	None.
Experience in listening to concerns brought up by MTA reps (who are elected by you the members) and educating reps on members rights	Attended every reps workshop for the last seven years, including this past year when I ran a session on how to be an effective rep.	Has never attended the MTA reps workshop, despite the fact that we have one every year that is approved by members at our AGM.
Experience in confronting school administration and EMSB management regarding collective issues faced in his school	In the last year...    Overturned our mini-day because it was not working for my teachers    Removed after-school detention supervision by using the current (unloved, and soon to be changed) system of counting minutes to our advantage.    Ensured class sizes are equitable for teachers by successfully demanding, if need be, scheduling changes.    Ensured that value-added provisions of our contract are respected. I don’t wait until after the fact to raise concerns at a Reps assembly     Sucessfully reduced the number of classrooms teachers were placed in at JFK (@Rosemount High) and, made the school board give us adequate office space in the building. Also, forced the school board to find/purchase replacement textbooks and technology, helping teachers and students.     Presented, and spoke to, a letter signed by every teacher (and others) at my school at last June’s Council of Commissioners meeting regarding the JFK building. Made subsequent representations to EMSB management to resolve an approximately  $500,000 dispute between the EMSB and the contractor cleaning the building, ensuring the cleaning was not delayed indefinitely.	?

Over the last few years, Mr. Green has made numerous unproductive accusations and insinuations on his website, at reps assemblies and at our Annual General Meetings. In the next couple of weeks, I plan to address these issues. I realize that some of you may agree with some of his positions, or disagree with some of mine, but remember that there are only two of us in this race. This is as much an interview process as an election. You are electing an individual to help you deal with your day-to-day struggles in your school, to confront EMSB management on issues of collective concern (and as you know there are plenty) and to advocate for you at QPAT on matters relating to our provincial contract. You are also being asked to elect someone who can work to find common ground among our diverse membership, to achieve unity on the common issues, and thus be able to tackle these issues effectively. I have the skills and experience to do this, and my team and I ask you for your support.

Peter

Un message à nos membres francophones

Comme vous, je travaille actuellement à temps plein comme enseignant. Il m’est donc difficile de traduire correctement, en temps opportun, tous les messages que je publie sur ce blogue. J’apprécierais grandement toute aide de votre part en ce sens. Par ailleurs, soyez assurés que si je suis élu dans deux semaines, toutes les communications provenant du bureau de l’AEEM continueront d'être complètement bilingues.

My electoral statement/Ma déclaration électorale

La version française suit ci-dessous

Over the last seven years, I’ve worked resolutely both as a rep at JFK High School and as Member-at-Large on the MTA Executive Committee. I have come to know many of you and learned extensively how to solve a wide range of issues.

To be President of the MTA requires a variety of attributes, notably: determination, integrity, strategic thinking and an ability to build relationships with MTA reps, MTA staff, QPAT Board of Directors and staff, EMSB representatives and most importantly you, the MTA members. It requires the ability not just to identify problems, but to solve them. I put sustained political pressure on the school board to force them to resolve a financial dispute with the contractor cleaning JFK, ensuring a more timely return to the building. At my school, I have used the mechanisms in place in our collective agreement to deal with contentious issues, always respecting what the majority of teachers want.  I forced the administration to remove our mini-day because it was not working for us, and I got our after-school detention supervision removed, to name a few of the changes that benefited teachers.

Concerns regarding class size, professional autonomy, increased evaluation demands and data collection; these are some of the big issues we face. Addressing them by writing a blog or appearing on talk radio is not going to change anything.  To be effective we have to build a solid reputation and confront school board management directly. I've done it, and will continue to do it should I have the privilege to be elected. I will not make empty promises. Here are my Top Ten priorities for the upcoming year:

Modernize MTA Communication

Enforce Department Head Release Time

Maintain Sound Financial Management

Make our School Councils More Effective

Solve GPI and Internet Access Issues

Finalize Student Teaching Money As Cash

Work on Class Sizes in Adult Education and

on Preserving the Full-Week March Break

Fix our Absence System-get rid of counting minutes

Improve Provisional Assessment of Scholarity

-new teachers should be paid properly

Regulate Workloads in Vocational Training in accordance with the needs of Voc. Ed. Teachers

I am committed to fighting for you, regardless of the sector in which you teach. My goal is to make your job easier, eliminating unnecessary impediments to your teaching. Unity is crucial amongst the MTA staff, the Executive, MTA reps and you, MTA members. A divided leadership is one that ceases to be very effective. This election is important in terms of the future direction of your union. In addition to the members acclaimed to the Executive Committee, I ask you to support me and my experienced team: Andrew Adams for High School VP, Jennifer Lacroix for Treasurer, Gail Bernstein for General Chairperson, and Nadia Greco and Alexander Kulczyk for the two Member-at-Large positions. We will continue to advocate tirelessly for you on the issues that matter.

Au cours des sept dernières années, j’ai rempli avec détermination mes fonctions de délégué à l’école secondaire JFK et de membre sans titre du Comité exécutif de l’AEEM. J’en suis venu à connaître bon nombre d’entre vous et j’ai appris en détail comment régler toutes sortes de questions.

être président de l’AEEM exige diverses qualités, dont la ténacité, l’intégrité, la réflexion stratégique et la capacité de bâtir des liens avec les délégués et le personnel de l’AEEM, le personnel et le Conseil d’administration de l’APEQ, les représentants de la CSEM et surtout, vous, les membres de l’AEEM. Ce poste exige d’être capable de cibler les problèmes, mais aussi de les régler. J’ai exercé une pression politique constante sur la CSEM pour la forcer à régler un différend financier avec l’entrepreneur chargé du nettoyage de JFK, permettant de réintégrer plus rapidement l’établissement. À mon école, je me suis servi des mécanismes de notre convention collective pour traiter des questions litigieuses, en respectant toujours la volonté de la majorité du personnel enseignant. J’ai forcé la direction à abandonner la mini-journée parce qu’elle ne nous convenait pas, et j’ai fait retirer la surveillance des retenues après l’école, pour ne nommer que quelques changements dont mes collègues ont bénéficié.

Le nombre d’élèves par classe, l’autonomie professionnelle, l’augmentation des demandes d’évaluation et la collecte de données : voilà certaines des grandes questions qui nous touchent. Les traiter en écrivant un blogue ou en faisant des interventions à la radio ne changera rien. Pour être efficaces, nous devons bâtir une solide réputation et confronter directement la direction de la CSEM. Je l’ai déjà fait, et je continuerai de la faire si j’ai le privilège d’être élu. Je ne ferai pas de promesses vides. Voici mes dix priorités principales pour l’année prochaine :

Moderniser les communications de l’AEEM

Veiller à ce que les chefs de groupe soient libérés d’une partie de leur tâche

Conserver une saine gestion financière

Accroître l’efficacité de nos conseils d’école

Régler les problèmes de GPI et d’accès à Internet

Finaliser l’entente sur les fonds de stage en argent

Travailler sur la taille des groupes à l’éducation des adultes et au maintien de la relâche    complète

Régler le système d’absence – se débarrasser du système de calcul en minutes

Améliorer l’évaluation provisoire de la scolarité – les recrues devraient être rémunérées adéquatement

Régulariser les charges de travail du secteur professionnel en fonction des besoins du personnel

Je m’engage à me battre en votre nom, peu importe votre secteur d’enseignement. Mon objectif est de vous faciliter la tâche en éliminant ce qui fait obstacle à votre enseignement. L’unité entre le personnel, le Comité exécutif, les délégués et vous, les membres de l’AEEM, est cruciale. Un leadership divisé perd de son efficacité. Cette élection revêt une importance capitale pour l’orientation future de notre syndicat. Outre les membres du Comité exécutif élus par acclamation, je vous demande de voter pour moi et pour mon équipe expérimentée : Andrew Adams comme vice‑président au secondaire, Jennifer Lacroix comme trésorière, Gail Bernstein comme présidente des assemblées, ainsi que Nadia Greco et Alexander Kulczyk comme membres sans titre. Nous continuerons de défendre sans relâche vos intérêts sur les questions d’importance.