Happy New Year UESF members! You still have a couple more days left in your well deserved break and I hope you took the time to reconnect with your friends and loved ones as well as recenter yourself as we start the year 2025. I am very hopeful about the work our union is embarking on in 2025. Together, we have the opportunity to win the schools our students deserve throughout California. To kick off the new year, join me and the rest of the UESF staff and officers next Friday, January 10th at our welcome back event at Teeth Bar in the Mission District. You can find details in this email.
This month we start gearing up for bargaining. Your big bargaining team, made of and led by over 100 of your coworkers and colleagues, have been preparing for months now to demand what is just from the District. Along with our local campaign, we are also coordinating with unions across the state to demand that the 5th largest economy in the world act like it and fund our public schools accordingly. This will not be an easy fight. At the federal level we will face many obstacles, but this is an opportunity to organize an offensive fight that demands real alternatives that prioritize people over profits, our students over austerity.
We cannot wait another year to win the fully funding our students deserve! Each and everyone of you, UESF members, must commit to supporting this campaign. Your UBCs will be reaching out to you to review the demands and sign the commitment card. Our goal is 70% of our over 6,000 members. Reaching this goal will show the District we are united from the start and serious about winning. Please make sure to be in contact with your UBC, field organizer, Executive Board member and Officer assigned to your region.
Finally, your union is closely following the budget discussions and advocating that cuts are kept as far away from the classroom if made. We are requesting lists of budgets per site and analyzing them to identify if there are any problematic patterns. We are also communicating with Board of Education commissioners to inform them of our observations over the past few years, so they too are prepared to hold District management, particularly Central Office unrepresented management, accountable for fully funding schools.
All of this requires our collective effort and I am hopeful we will be successful because of you. Your commitment to families, students and each other is our greatest strength. United, we can fight and win the schools our students deserve. Enjoy your weekend and good luck on your first day back to school!