HFCC-FT PAF COLLECTION
As of
With higher education becoming an increasingly big focus of both state and national legislators and policy-makers, the importance of our involvement in political action cannot be understated. This year’s elections are particularly important, as there is a substantial opportunity to return various arms of State government to Democratic control and to fight for blockage or reversal of legislation that has been damaging to education and to union and workers’ rights.
How will your contributions be used? Local 1650 operates two PAF funds. The first, a “restricted” fund, is used only for local millage/bond elections, Board of Trustees’ campaigns, and the campaigns of municipal and/or State legislative candidates whose decisions impact directly on HFCC revenues. The Local uses the “unrestricted” fund to engage in political activity and to support candidates not so directly involved with the revenues of HFCC but whose decisions definitely affect Local 1650’s ability to represent the interests of its members. Gubernatorial, State Supreme Court, out-state legislative races, and State ballot referenda fall into this category.
Below is a record of contributions received so far.
The Executive Board thanks those who have already contributed and thus supported Local 1650’s political efforts to protect their bargaining rights and secure the local and State funding necessary to operate HFCC, maintain instructional quality, and compensate its employees. Additional checks should be made out to HFCC-FT PAF and forwarded to your Area Representative as soon as possible.
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ELECTION WORK
The urgency of increasing our PAF contributions is clear when we consider the fast-approaching elections and ballot issues that will greatly impact us, our institution, and our students. Local 1650’s Political Action Committee has been working hard on compiling information to help members make educated choices on election day, and it has begun to disseminate that information; additional materials and member-to-member outreach will continue over the next several weeks. Below is a brief recap of the issues and important races.
Proposal 2, titled the “Michigan Civil Rights Initiative,” would
eliminate State affirmative action and other outreach programs aimed at
women, minorities , and other underrepresented populations. Given that
gender-based and racial discrimination remains prevalent in the
Proposal 5 is an education initiative that strives to protect
education by requiring the State of
In addition to the above ballot initiatives, Local 1650 is paying
close attention to and helping to support the races of various candidates
who have been friendly toward education and collective bargaining. It hopes
not only to help elect those individuals but also to see the State House
and/or Senate return to Democratic control. Given legislation passed by the
Republican-controlled House and Senate in the past several years, retaining
Jennifer Granholm, as Governor seems essential as well.
Local 1650’s Political Action Committee will soon be distributing
information on various key State and House races as well as the
gubernatorial race. Additionally,
background and voting recommendations for Attorney General, Supreme Court,
and the University Boards of Regents will be shared with the membership.
Finally, hitting very close to home is the race for the open seat on
our Board of Trustees. Local 1650 heartily endorses Jim Schoolmaster in his
bid for reelection.
SPELLINGS
COMMISSION REPORT
The Commission on the Future of Higher
Education, established by Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, has issued
its report. The response to the
report has been mixed, but the AFT believes the report is “likely to be an
overall minus for advocates of quality higher education.”
What follows are excerpts from the American Federation of Teacher’s
analysis of the report.
“The final report of the Spellings Commission is a grab bag of
recommendations, some positive and some negative.
Overall, the Commission wanted to send a message that American higher
education, while good in may respects, is slipping in regard to student
achievement. The Commission’s
diagnosis of why this happened is fairly muddled because the harsh, earlier
drafts, having attracted so much criticism, were watered down greatly.
The final verdict on the report?
Despite improvements in tone and a welcome, ringing declaration in
favor of funding more need-based student aid, the
Commission report is likely to be an overall minus of advocates of quality
higher education. The
report’s focus on shortcomings in student achievement will undoubtedly be
cited by opponents of public funding as an argument to impose stringent
controls over colleges and universities.
While the tone of the report is fairly soft, it provides ammunition
to those who maintain colleges and universities are inefficient and
ineffective stewards of public monies.
Another important problem is the report’s call for institutions and
accrediting agencies to explore standardized student testing as a way to
measure the “value added” of higher education.
Again, we expect this to be cited constantly by advocates of
standardized testing in the states.
In our view however, the biggest problem is not the Commission’s
recommendations, but in the fact that the Commission virtually ignored the
two most important reasons for today’s troubles in higher education.
First, the Commission gives short shrift to the negative consequences
of shrinking state and federal funding experienced by public institutions
– in an earlier draft, the issue was not mentioned at all.
Second, the Commission report does not even acknowledge the negative
impact on public colleges and universities of the decline in full-time
tenured faculty jobs and the overuse and exploitation of contingent faculty.
These issues are not addressed – instead, higher education is asked
to “control costs, improve productivity and increase the supply of higher
education,” as though providing education on the cheap and increasing
workload is the route to educational quality.
AFT, by contrast, will be advocating in every possible forum for more
public funding as well as programs that concentrate government resources on
financial aid for the neediest students and support services to help such
students persevere in their studies.”
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ENDORSEMENT OF STATEMENT OF OPPOSITION TO
AFT
RESOLUTION ON STATE-SPONSORED TERRORISM
As you will recall, at the AFT National Convention in July 2006, as a
special order of business, delegates passed a “Resolution on
State-Sponsored Terrorism.” Disturbed by its lack of balance, a group of
concerned HFCC faculty drafted a statement of opposition to this resolution
that strived to correct factual inaccuracies, provide missing perspectives
on the complex issues surrounding the Israel-Lebanon conflict, and address
the resolution’s lack of alignment with the AFT’s mission statement.
After the faculty-produced statement of opposition was debated in both a
meeting of the Executive Board and a General Membership meeting, a motion to
conduct a paper ballot on whether Local 1650 supports the statement was
passed. Local 1650’s endorsement of the statement of opposition passed
overwhelmingly. (94 Yes, 35 No,
5 Abstentions)
In a letter dated October 12 to Ed McIlroy, AFT President, John
McDonald summarized the Local’s debates over the AFT resolution and the
statement of opposition, and he described the circumstances and outcome of
the vote, while also attaching the statement of opposition itself. John
stated, “The polling of members produced an overwhelming endorsement of
the enclosed Statement of Opposition to the AFT Resolution.”
Furthermore, on behalf of the HFCC Federation, John asked Mr. McIlroy
to seriously consider and respond to the concerns raised.
SCHOLARSHIP
Since 1992, the Union Plus Scholarship
has awarded more than $2 million to students of working families who want to
begin or continue their higher education. All AFT members (as well as their
spouses and dependent children) are eligible to apply for scholarships, and
can take advantage of the wide variety of AFT + benefits. (You are not
required to have the AFT credit card to apply for the scholarship.)
The Union Plus scholarship awards are presented annually. The
children of ten AFT families were selected to receive the 2006 scholarship
awards. Scholarship awards range from $500 to $3,000.
Applications for the 2007 Union Plus Scholarship program are now
available. The deadline for the 2007 awards is