ASASP is the only union
that can represent Administrators &
Supervisors in the Prince George's County, MD
Public School System should
they need
assistance.
Dues to ASASP benefit
you -- Dues to any
other union are merely a
gift
The
Association of Supervisory and Administrative
School Personnel . . .
the
single, coordinated voice for administrators,
supervisors, and other professionals employed
by Prince George's County Public Schools who
are designated by the Board of Education as
members of Unit II and Unit III.
For our members, we are the exclusive
collective bargaining representative with
regard to all matters relating to salary,
wages, hours, and other working
conditions. ASASP takes great pride in
improving the educational process for students
by helping members become more effective in
their various roles as educational
leaders. Employees who are at peace with
their terms and conditions of
employment are better equipped to focus on the
needs of our future .
. .
. . . our childrenchildren
Metropolitan Washington
Council,
AFL-CIO
CSA
Mission
The Mission of the Community Services
Agency (CSA) is to improve the lives of workers
and their families by meeting their human and
social services needs; by building broad and
diverse coalitions to promote and protect
dignity and justice for workers; and by
empowering workers and their unions to make
their communities better, more responsive
places to live, work, raise a family and
retire.
School-Based Administrators -
If you
have questions regarding individuals entering
your building - causing a disruption and
refusing to leave when asked - see the
Annotated Code Section 26-102. The
Law is very clear - you may deny access
to the building to any
person who "Acts in a manner that disrupts or
disturbs the normal educational functions
of the institution." This means a Board
member, the Superintendent, parent, union
representative, politician -
anyone. If you
ask somone to leave and they do not, you
have the right to call the police and have them
arrested.
Protect your students,
staff and yourself.
LABOR
QUOTES
Nothing in all the world is
more dangerous than sincere ignorance and
conscientious stupidity.
-- Martin Luther King,
Jr.
About
half our problems would go away overnight if
everybody in this country who wanted to work
had a job.
-- Bill
Clinton
Why the Union-Buster
Sank
A minister, a priest and a
union-buster were fishing from a boat not far
from the shore of a lake. The minister needed
to go to the bathroom so he got out of the
boat, walked across the water, disappeared into
the woods by the shore, then walked back across
the water to the boat and climbed back in. The
priest was the next to make the trip, getting
out of the boat, walking across the water,
disappearing into the trees, then walking back
across the water and returning to the boat. The
union-buster was the last to go. He stepped out
of the boat and immediately sank. The minister
looked at the priest and said,
"We really should have told him where the rocks
are."
Why is the public perception of
the labor union movement so at odds with the
day-to-day reality? A large part of the
explanation is that the vast majority of
Americans are not represented by a labor union,
and many Americans have never had any direct
experience at all in a unionized
workplace. With little firsthand
knowledge to go on, some people easily
buy into the employers' twisted version of
things. To increase public support for
unions and the causes that we fight for inside
and out of the workplace, it's important for
people to have an accurate view of the role
that unions play. And this is where you
come in: if you make a point of letting
friends and neighbors know about your own
experiences as a unionized employee, this can
be the most effective way possible to correct
popular distortions about the labor
movement. To get an accurate picture of
what a real-life union is all about, people
need to hear firsthand from a real-life union
member.
Support the
Union: It’s the Fair
Thing
Think about the relationship
between a government and its citizens.
Each of us approves of many of the decisions
made on our behalf by our elected
representatives, but disapproves of
others. Imagine the foolishness of trying
to have a society where each person decided
things based only on what was best for him or
her individually. The fact is, we all
benefit from understanding that the only
practical way to live together is to have a
group of people with common interests making
group decisions. So each of us pays
taxes, with the understanding that our pooled
funds generally are used for the common
good. In most cases, it’s simply not
practical to allow individuals to “opt out” of
society’s decisions. You, for example,
may not have school-age children, but it would
hardly be realistic for you to pay a slightly
lower percentage of taxes because you don’t
directly benefit from (or even approve of)
spending on public education. Or you may
have a neighbor who doesn’t think that the stop
sign on the corner is really necessary, but you
sure want her to obey it if your kid is trying
to cross the street.
Be a Set of "Eyes and
Ears"
Union
stewards can't be everywhere at once, and they
can't see or hear personally everything that
goes on around the workplace. So part of
your job as an individual union member is to be
on the lookout for things that the union needs
to know about, and to pass along the necessary
information. If, for example, a change is
made in working conditions but too long a
period of time passes before a grievance is
filed, it may be too late to challenge the
employer's unilateral action. So it's
part of your responsibility as an individual
union member to be the union's "eyes and ears"
in your
workplace.
Protection From
Retaliation
If you think you're being
retaliated against for union activity,
be aware that there sometimes is a
difference between what you know actually
occurred and what you can prove as a matter of
law. You’d be kidding yourself if you
thought that there’s never been an instance in
which a worker was in fact retaliated against
for having engaged in behavior that is legally
protected but was unable to prove that the
retaliation took place. Still, don’t let
this prevent you from asserting your
rights. There have been plenty more
instances where the agency charged with
enforcing a law moved aggressively against an
employer trying to prevent an employee from
asserting rights under that law. After
all, if all employees are successfully
intimidated into not using the provisions of
the law, that agency becomes
useless.
Internal Union
Rights
Let’s take a look at the rights that
you have, as a union member, to participate in
the democratic workings of the collective
bargaining representative. The primary
law setting forth your legal rights to
participate in your union grows out of a
federal statute passed in 1959, known as the
Landrum-Griffin Act. Specifically, the
Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act
(LMRDA), administered by the US Department of
Labor, covers unions with members in the
private sector. (If your union represents
both public and private sector workers, this
law may apply to you, as it will if you are a
U.S. Postal Service employee.) The
LMRDA’s “Bill of Rights of Members of Labor
Organizations” contains an “equal rights”
provision, guaranteeing all union members the
right to nominate candidates for union office,
to vote in union elections, and to attend and
participate in union meetings. While the
federal law does not require labor
organizations to hold meetings, it does say
that when meetings are held you have the right
to participate fully. The labor “Bill of
Rights” also guarantees “freedom of speech and
assembly.” The law does say that unions
are allowed to have “reasonable rules”
regarding how they run their affairs. But
you, the union member, have a guaranteed right
to have and to express your viewpoints on the
union and those who lead and participate in it,
even if those viewpoints are critical or
negative
ones.
IF
YOU FEEL ONE OR MORE OF THESE HEART ATTACK
SYMPTOMS, CALL
911
Chest pain, discomfort,
pressure or squeezing, like theres a ton of
weight on
you
Unusual
fatigue
Unusual upper body pain, or
discomfort in one or both arms, back, shoulder,
neck, jaw or upper part of the
stomach
Nausea
Breaking out in a cold
sweat
Shortness of
breath
Light-headedness or sudden
dizziness
www.womenshealth.gov/heartattack
KUDOS
Rita M. Mack Woods, CIP,
Fiscal Analyst for Prince George's County
Public Schools, who has successfully met the
Association of Government Accountants (AGA)
certification requirements by examination and
has been granted the designation of Certified
Government Financial Manager (CGFM).
Labor Nights at
the Nats Tix Available: Night at
the Nats game between the Nationals and the
Dodgers. All tickets for the
July 19 game are $10 and the money raised goes
to the Community
Services Agency's Emergency Assistance Fund. Click here to download the
2013 flyer; to order tickets, email CSA
Executive Director Kathleen McKirchy at kmckirchy@dclabor.org.
See: Metropolitan Washington Council's
Union City NEWS
PROPOSED
CONTRACT
RENEWAL
The Contract Proposals voted on
at the January 7, 2012 ASASP General Membership
Meeting have been accepted by the ASASP
Membership.
UNIT II
A step increment retroactive to
July 1, 2012; those employees at the top of the
scale who would not get a step increment will
receive a one-time payment equivalent to
2% of their base salary for 2012 - 2013,
also retroactive to July 1,
2012.
UNIT III
A one-time payment equivalent to
2% of their salary for the 2012 - 2013 School
Year (retroactive to July 1,
2012).
School Administrators
Union
Endorse ‘Bully’
Documentary
Last week, the American
Federation of Teachers (AFT) invited the
American Federation of School Administrators
(AFSA) to watch the documentary “Bully” and
join with them as the only school
administrators union to endorse the
documentary. AFSA whole-heartedly
supported the effort.
In addition to their
efforts with AFT and the movie "Bully",
the AFSA GEB passed a resolution on
bullying.
Don’t make
the mistake of thinking that the existence of
rights on a page somewhere means that you’ll
always be able to count on those
protections. Rights that aren’t exercised
can in fact disappear over time; you can lose
what you don’t protect. So you need to
know where your rights come from, and how to
use your union to protect them. In
practical terms, this means that when your
employer breaks the rules, you need to make
sure that your union steward knows about
it. A steward’s job is to be the “eyes
and ears” of the union, but a steward can’t be
everywhere at once, and that’s why individual
members have the responsibility to alert the
steward if they see a problem. That way,
the union/employer structures that are in place
can be used to prevent changes for the worse in
the day-to-day conditions of the
workplace.
ASASP Members, your
Board of Directors are your
stewards. Call any of them or call
the ASASP office - keep the
Union apprised of what's going
on.
Remember, we don't know
and, therefore, can't jump into
action, until YOU let us know what's
happening!
"Why should we get
involved? Why should my child learn about
what happened to workers a hundred years
ago? If these children don’t understand
and appreciate the struggles of their parents,
grandparents and great-grandparents, they may
be doomed to fight the same battles over
again."
-- Fred Kaltenstein, Labor
Educator
Unit II and Unit
III
SENIORITY
ASASP WILL NOT ALLOW THE BOARD
OF EDUCATION TO IGNORE OUR NEGOTIATED
AGREEMENTS. WE WILL TAKE WHATEVER
ACTION IS NECESSARY TO DEAL WITH ANY
UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICE.
an injury to
one
is
an injury to
all!
Q
If I am RIFfed,
what then is the status of my
pension and any retirement
funds?
A
Per Human Resources, the pension
remains with the Maryland State
Retirement System (MSRS). If you have
less than 5 years, you may withdraw your
funds. However, you should
probably wait to withdraw your funds
until you secure another position.
If you accept another position with an employer
that participates with MSRS. you can
continue to contribute to the pension
system.
NOT
a Spectator
Sport
Unions are far more than a kind of
employment insurance policy for working
people. Plenty of union members and union
officials have learned the hard way that when
workers come to think of their union as a
business that provides service rather than a
group of people banding together to fight for
common interests, the union quickly loses the
clout and credibility needed to defend and
advance the members’ interests. When an
employer looks and sees only a small handful of
paid union staff or elected union leaders, and
no one standing behind them, pretty soon the
employer starts thinking that “the union” isn’t
really much to contend with. And the
truth is, that’s right.
Workers facing financial difficulty
due to strike or furlough may be eligible for
two new grants from Union Plus. The Union Plus
Job Loss Grant has also been expanded to help
even more members. Union Plus Credit Card
holders who are on strike or locked out for 30
or more consecutive days may apply for a $250
payment made directly to their credit card
accounts under the new Union Plus Strike Grant.
Union members or their spouses who have been
furloughed from their jobs for 15 days or more
within a six-month period can receive a
one-time $250 payment made directly to their
Union Plus Credit Card with the new Union Plus
Furlough Grant. Also, the time to apply for a
$250 Job Loss Grant has been expanded from six
months to 12 months to allow members more time
to learn of the grant and apply for it. “These
grants are part of the Union SAFE program from
Union Plus that has provided some $5 million to
assist eligible union members facing hardships
due to layoffs, hospital costs, disability,
mortgage payment problems and high college
costs,” says Union Plus. “Through these new and
expanded programs, Union Plus will help even
more union families.” Click here for more
information.
Internet Help for
Seniors
(and those caring for
them)
Click
here
for websites that can help seniors and
caregivers find health, housing and community
support
information.
The Big
Squeeze
The local bar was so sure that its
bartender was the strongest man around that
they offered a standing $1000 bet: The
bartender would squeeze a lemon until all the
juice ran into a glass, and hand the lemon to a
patron. Anyone who could squeeze one more drop
of juice out would win the money. Over the
years, many people had tried but nobody could
do it. One day a scrawny little man came
into the bar, wearing thick glasses and a
polyester suit, and said in a tiny squeaky
voice "I'd like to try the bet." After the
laughter had died down, the bartender said OK,
grabbed a lemon, and squeezed away. Then he
handed the wrinkled remains of the rind to the
little man. The crowd's laughter turned to
total silence as the man clenched his fist
around the lemon and six drops fell into the
glass. Stunned, the bartender paid the
$1000, and asked the little man "What do you do
for a living? Are you a lumberjack, a
weight-lifter, or what?" The man replied: “I
negotiate union contracts for
management.”
