Inside AFT—Week of April 23, 2007

 McELROY OFFERS AFT CONDOLENCES TO VIRGINIA TECH COMMUNITY
AFT president Edward J. McElroy offered this statement April 16 on the tragic killings at Virginia Tech: "From those of us in the education community, our hearts, thoughts and prayers go out to the Virginia Tech victims, their families and the community at large. Academic campuses—from preschool to higher education—must be havens for peaceful learning. Today, we see the painful evidence that this is not always so."

SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS FOR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES
As part of the process of deciding which candidate to support in the 2008 presidential election, the AFT has been reaching out to members to get your opinions. We recently asked you to tell us the three top issues that the candidates should address. Among those mentioned most often: healthcare coverage, the Iraq war, education funding, No Child Left Behind, and jobs and the economy. The leading Democratic and Republican candidates have been invited to address the AFT executive council at meetings in May and July, and now we want to know what questions you would ask the candidates if you had the chance. In fact, some members whose questions best represent the general membership's will get the chance to pose them to the candidates in person at the upcoming council meetings. Visit the AFT's You Decide 2008 site to complete our online survey about the questions you want to ask and to read members' comments, view videos and read profiles of the candidates.

WORKERS MEMORIAL DAY HIGHLIGHTS NEED TO PROMOTE SAFETY
Even though it's been more than 30 years since Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OHSA)—the nation's first comprehensive workplace health and safety law—thousands of workers are still killed on the job each year and millions more are injured or become ill. Workers Memorial Day, set for April 28 this year, is designed to honor those killed and injured and also to focus attention on the need to do much more to ensure worker safety. As weak as OSHA protections can be, they are better than no protection—which is the situation for almost 9 million public employees because they are not covered by OSHA in their states. (The AFT is pushing for passage of a bill in Congress, recently introduced by Rep. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.), that would extend OSHA coverage to these workers.) School employees in particular experience high rates of work-related assaults and work-related asthma. In addition, healthcare workers and transportation workers suffer strains and sprains at rates that rival those of construction workers. The AFL-CIO's theme for this year's day is "Good Jobs, Safe Jobs, It's Time." The AFT has adopted its own unofficial motto: "A moment of silence is not enough." Stickers with that slogan were distributed at the AFT's PSRP conference in Las Vegas, and the union's health and safety program also hosted a Workers Memorial Day luncheon during the conference. The AFL-CIO has more information on Workers Memorial Day, including downloadable fliers, fact sheets, posters and other material. The AFT's Web site offers additional resources, including a section titled "Work Shouldn't Hurt."

OHIOANS MOBILIZE BEHIND GOVERNOR'S EDUCATION PROPOSALS
The Ohio Federation of Teachers is urging its members to contact their state lawmakers and voice support for Gov. Ted Strickland's two-year budget proposal, which includes the elimination of the statewide EdChoice voucher program, a moratorium on the state's charter school program and a prohibition on for-profit charter school operators. The OFT lauded Strickland's proposals as critically needed at a time when 55 percent of Ohio's charter schools are rated by the state as failing, compared with 12 percent of all schools in the state, and the state is on course to pay $500 million dollars to charter school operators this year alone. The EdChoice voucher program has been mired in controversy, much of it centering on a large number of voucher applicants who were not previously enrolled in public schools but who enrolled in the final days of the last school year just to take advantage of a system that does not allow vouchers to go to students already enrolled in private schools. Strickland's budget also increases the per-pupil basic aid amount by 3 percent each year and includes a "hold harmless" guarantee, meaning no district will receive less money than it did in fiscal year 2007. A $20 million increase in early childhood education also is featured in the governor's budget plan.

HELP GET OUT THE MESSAGE ON IMPROVING SCHOOL BUILDINGS
The AFT's national campaign to improve public school buildings, "Building Minds, Minding Buildings," stresses the need to improve public school facilities in order to provide staff and students a better environment for educating and learning. According to recent data, the cost to repair existing public schools or build new buildings exceeds $400 billion. To address this problem, the AFT is working to enact legislation called the America's Better Classroom Act of 2007, which would provide federal support for the renovation, repair and construction of schools, while allowing local districts to identify their needs within these areas. We need your help in getting your members of Congress to join this effort. Go to the AFT's legislative action center to send a letter to your representatives in Congress asking them to co-sponsor the act.