Good Morning Council. Before I get into my speech today, I just want to take a moment to recognize your new leadership team. I’ve had the honor of working with Dean, Eric and Mikki since I became your Executive Director in 1995. I’ve had the privilege of watching them grow and become the leaders they are today. As Dean said yesterday, we are at a critical crossroads in CTA, California and America. And there is no better team to lead us through it. I look forward to working with you and this Council over the next two years.
Today, I want to talk with you about the drastically divergent agendas that are playing out in our country, what’s at stake for us nationally in the 2012 election, and how it all impacts us – and really must re-energize us – as labor unions and middle class workers. There is a battle going on in this country. And it’s not just a battle between Wall Street and Main Street. It is a battle for the very heart and soul of the America we believe in. It’s a battle for an organized democracy that values economic opportunity, equality and social justice for every American. And it’s a battle for the belief in EVERY child – not just a select few. It’s about reclaiming the American Dream.
Now let’s face it, folks like Grover Norquist, Karl Rove, the Koch brothers, and Eli Broad…those folks who want to reduce government and expand corporate power and wealth, have been around for quite some time. But what’s happened in the last few years, is that they have capitalized on the economic downturn and anger of Americans to push their agenda. They are using their resources to bankroll the movement to demonize and blame the usual suspects: labor unions, public employees, educators, ethnic minorities, immigrants, gays and lesbians, environmentalists and the poor.
CTA is bipartisan and I have many Republican friends who support public education in this room, but there are some Republicans who don't. Since the 2010 election the tenor and the tone of the political debate has changed drastically. In this year alone, more than 700 bills, initiatives and other measures aimed at abolishing or limiting the rights of public employees have been introduced in states and cities across the country. There have been attacks on collective bargaining, union organizing, retirement, health care, jobs and voting rights.
Listen to this quote from Mr. Norquist: “Every person in every town in America will know the reason their library is closing early is that public employees have defined-benefit pensions.” As if a teacher’s modest $40,000 dollars a year with no Social Security is what caused the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. This year, 11 states passed anti-collective bargaining and dues reduction bills. Educators and public employees in six states lost full bargaining rights.
There are collective bargaining threats going on in 20 other states. The biggest fight right now is in Ohio where educators and others are trying to repeal SB 5. The Ohio Education Association called and asked for our help and I’m proud to say we offered it immediately.
CTA/ABC members are going to be organizing calls to Ohio educators – telling them that we’re with them and reminding them to get out and vote. We are sending 12 CTA staff to help during the final two weeks of the campaign. When asked, our staff didn’t hesitate. They stepped up and volunteered right away. And honestly, OEA asked for CTA staff because they know we have some of the best staff in the world who are very good at what they do.
For educators, these attacks have also manifested in efforts to eliminate or undermine our due process rights. Twelve states have passed laws to repeal or substantially modify career status for a teacher.Four states abolished laws completely. Six states have tied permanent status to teacher evaluations. And four states have enacted longer probationary periods.
There’s one other attack I want to talk about today. It doesn’t get a lot of attention in mainstream media, but it is well orchestrated and is a key part of the small government-big corporate agenda - and that’s the assault on our voting rights and the deliberate disenfranchisement of some voters. Organized by the Legislative Exchange Council, funded by the Koch Foundation and using the scare tactic of voter fraud, 38 states introduced legislation this year to impede voters at every step of the electoral process.
Kansas and Alabama now require would-be voters to provide proof of citizenship before registering. Florida and Texas made it harder for groups like the League of Women Voters to register new voters. Maine repealed its Election Day voter registration law. Five states cuts short their early voting periods. And six states – controlled by Republican governors and legislatures – will now require voters to produce a government-issued I-D before casting ballots.
These photo I-D proposals, which have been introduced in another 27 states, stand to create second-class citizenship for people of color, senior citizens, young voters, people with disabilities, immigrants, the working poor and students. Studies show that 11 percent of Americans – about 21 million people – don’t have a government I-D, including: 25 percent of African Americans, 15 percent of those earning less than $35,000 a year, 18 percent of those over 65, and 20 percent of voters between the ages of 18 and 29.
The goal with these laws is to have a voting electorate in 2012 that looks a lot more like those who voted last year – and not those who voted in 2008. Bottom line: These Jim Crow laws are racist and discriminatory! Yes, this battle is about values! It’s about maintaining the establishment of the democratic union that we hold true and dear. It’s why it is so important to have engaged members and strong local chapters. It’s why it is important to have a strong CTA and a strong NEA. And it’s why the 2012 Presidential Election and the re-election of President Barak Obama are so important.
At the NEA Representative Assembly in Chicago, delegates approved the early endorsement of President Obama. The California Delegation supported that recommendation and it was the right decision for NEA and CTA to make. It was the right decision for all the reasons that I just talked about. It doesn’t mean that we agree with him on every issue. It doesn’t mean that we agree with all the education reform ideas of Arne Duncan. We don’t. This endorsement is about fighting for the future of our country, the middle class and our rights as union members.
Look at Obama’s American Jobs Act: $30 billion to save education and public safety jobs, including 37,000 education jobs here in California; $25 billion to repair K-12 schools; $5 billion to repair college facilities, and the first ever federal program to help struggling families refinance their loans and stay in their homes. Help for homeowners – not banks. Because after all, who really are the job creators in the country?
It’s today’s quiz. The senate has defeated portions of the Jobs Bill twice on procedural votes, but that doesn’t mean they’re completely dead. We have to keep pushing. If you haven’t visited the online lobby station outside the hall to email your member of Congress, please take a few minutes to do so. The computers will be set up until noon. As the Congressional Super Committee gets ready to debate deficit reduction, President Obama is calling for $1.5 trillion dollars in tax increases on the wealthy and big corporations, including the elimination of the Bush tax cuts for those making over $250,000. He gets another trillion from ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He makes NO changes to Social Security…and he protects Medicare.
The Tea Party plan: protect all corporate and wealthy tax breaks – even for companies that are shipping jobs overseas, draconian cuts to education, children and the poor, and dismantling Social Security and Medicare. Just as we are pushing California in the right direction, we have a responsibility to speak clearly and forcefully about the two very different paths playing out for America.
And finally today, I want to talk about CTA, NEA and building organizational capacity. Now, you heard Dean and the Workgroup representatives talk about long-term strategic planning. Building organizational capacity is certainly a function and outcome in that process. Organizational capacity is the manifestation of an organization’s power to achieve its mission or purpose. An organization’s capacity is always changing. It ebbs and flows. CTA is no exception.
NEA’s new Executive Director John Stocks has outlined ten elements of organizational capacity that are essential to building organizational power. I’d like to share those with you today as we embark on the journey of strategic planning. These elements are: membership, leadership, staff, message, finances, reputation, relationships, programs, technology and planning.
Members are the fundamental building block of our organization. Membership development plans must address the recruitment, retention and engagement of members…and it must be data driven. The ongoing development of leaders at all levels of our organization is critical to building and sustaining organizational capacity.
As a graduate of the NEA Women's Leadership program, Emerging Leaders is my favorite Strand at Summer Institute. Staff plays an essential role in developing the systems for building, sustaining and renewing an organization’s capacity. Complex organizations can’t exist without money and detailed financial accounting systems to monitor and track their overall fiscal health. Every organization needs to have a message and deliver it with discipline to its intended audiences. An organization’s message should promote its desired image and articulate its vision for change.
Whether we like it or not, every organization has a reputation. That reputation may be different for different audiences. Members are likely to perceive their union differently than the public at large. For example, as educators, we are feeling demoralized and under-valued from the attacks on our profession and public education. But we forget, while these attacks are well-funded and well-planned, they are really coming from a very small segment of the population.
The general public loves educators. You are ranked among the most trusted messengers. A CTA public opinion poll done just last month, showed that 70 percent of California voters had a favorable opinion of teachers and CTA’s ratings were at an all-time high – with nearly 60 percent of voters holding a favorable opinion of CTA. I’ll be honest, other labor unions – except for maybe the firefighters, don’t come close to that. We must cultivate our reputation and protect it. The value of building relationships both internally and externally and working in coalition with others is critical to building an effective organization.
As Dean said yesterday, going it alone doesn’t work. CTA offers a variety of programs and services to local chapters and members. We must keep evaluating those programs to ensure we are meeting member needs and sustaining our organizational capacity. The development, application and use of modern technology are critical to the productivity and performance of any membership-based, advocacy organization. We must be able to use technology to gather and analyze data, share information and communicate efficiently and effectively. This summer, my great nephews hooked me up, and I look forward to being your Facebook friend. Although right now I admit I have hundreds of friends and I'm not sure what to do with them. And finally, planning. Short and long-term planning are essential elements of organizational capacity.
An organization must be able to articulate its goals, strategies, tactics and activities. It must align resources to those goals, strategies, tactics and activities. The goals we set as an organization determine the direction and responsibilities of staff. That’s why the strategic planning process initiated by this Council and approved by your Board of Directors is critical to all that we do moving forward.
And as your Executive Director, I am thrilled that we are embarking down this road and look forward to leading it with you. In closing, I want show a slide that I stole from Dr. Elaine Bernard, who directs the Harvard Trade Union Program. Our future really is up to all of us…and the best way to predict the future is to create it!