Message from President Cordelia Anthony
Dear Members, I usually get my President's messages out closer to the middle of the month, but this month has truly been A LOT. I wanted to include some additional important local information, certification info, SED proposals, and member benefits in this message as well. Another reason I waited was that I wanted to send a message out closer to election day. This election day will be consequential for many reasons. I’m sure like me you are going to be glad when you can listen to the radio or watch TV and not hear so much political rhetoric. The fact is that people are going hard to Get Out The Vote this year because no matter where you stand in terms of policies, party or candidates you can feel the energy will shift after the elections. Although we can’t predict what comes next with any election, we all hope for what we think is the best outcome. Two messages I want to share with you are:
- You should exercise the right to vote. Don’t sit on the sidelines as a spectator, no matter how frustrated you are. Don’t let anything just ‘happen’ to you as you continue to complain but choose to do nothing.
- Nationally and locally, you should consider the candidates that align with you, your family, your profession, public education, and your union values. If a politician plans to harm any of those you should take a hard look as to what that vote means for you after November 5th.
Statewide, we need elected officials who will work with us to fix things like Tier 6 inequities. It is unconscionable that someone in Tier 4 can collect their pension penalty free with 30 years of service at 55 years old but a Tier 6 member trying to retire at that point would face severe penalties and would only receive 26% their final average salary. We need to support common sense legislators locally, statewide and nationally. As our office has previously shared with you there are many ways for you to vote. If you are opting to vote early by mail ballot please remember to request no later than ten days before the election. More details can be found here.
Early voting in person starts on this Saturday, October 26th and ends on November 3rd. To find your early voting location click here. If you plan to vote in person on election day, may the odds ever be in your favor. Click below to see the common ground over chaos voter guide to see which legislators have signed up for this commonsense pledge and which legislators have been endorsed in races locally around the state. If a legislator (no matter the party) did not answer basic questions about protecting public education and unions, are taking monies from privatization companies, are anti-union, and don’t align with union values or protecting all, then they were not endorsed.
