The Local 212
internet and email system has been
down since 2:30 p.m. on Thursday,
July 31st and will hopefully be
restored by end of day on Monday,
Aug. 4th. If you sent an email to
one of the staff members or officers
at their Local212.org address during
this time period, your message was
most likely returned to you or has
been lost. For the time being, please
send all email messages to the matc.edu
addresses listed below:
Michael Rosen, President - RosenM@matc.edu
Charlie Dee, Exec. V.P. - DeeC@matc.edu
Frank Shansky, Dir. of Labor Relations
- ShanskyF@matc.edu
Pam Bautch, Office Manager - BautchP@matc.edu
CiCi Garcia, Admin. Asst. - Garciaau@matc.edu
We apologize for the inconvenience
and hope to have this issue resolved
soon. Thank you for you patience
and understanding.
Health Care Reform: Call to Action
BadgerCarePlus offers health care
to low and middle income working
families including many of our students.
The State of Wisconsin would like
to expand the program and make health
care available to childless adults
who make less than $20,800 or $28,000
for a family of two. This would
enable many of our uninsured students
to obtain healthcare.
In order to do this, Wisconsin
needs a waiver from the federal
Department of Health and Human Services
Center for Medicaid and Medicare
Services.
Please contact Senators Kohl and
Feingold and Congresswoman Gwen
Moore to ask that they contact the
Center for Medicaid and Medicare
Services and approve this waiver.
This waiver is needed now so that
Wisconsin can begin enrolling participants
this fall for the January 2009 start
date.
Senator Herb Kohl
Washington Office
(2nd and C St., NE)
330 Hart Senate Office Building
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 224-5653
Fax: (202) 224-9787 http://kohl.senate.gov/gen_contact.html
Senator Russ Feingold
Washington Office
506 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-4904
(202) 224-5323
TDD (202) 224-1280
Fax (202) 224-2725 http://feingold.senate.gov/contact_opinion.html
Local 212 Executive Board Election
Results
Click
Here to see Certified
Election Results from April 30th.
Technical college graduates making
financial gains in Wisconsin
April 17, 2008
The growth in earnings by Wisconsin’s
Technical College graduates was
nearly twice the rate of inflation
over the past five years. According
to the Wisconsin Technical College
System (WTCS) Longitudinal Follow-Up
Study, more than three-quarters
of the 2001-02 graduates are working
in their fields of training. These
graduates experienced median salary
growth of 33 percent over a five-year
period (5.9 percent annually) to
nearly $36,000. The change in the
Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 16
percent for the same period. Read
Entire Story Here...
212 Agrees to Form OPED Trust
April 21, 2008
During our last
negotiations, the administration
raised concern over the cost of
retiree health benefits. Their proposed
solution, of course, was to cut
our current and future members rights
to retiree medical care.
While their “solution”
was unacceptable, we agreed to examine
the issue outside the pressure-filled
context of negotiations. Since our
contracts were settled, I, along
with other Local 212 representatives,
have met with the administration’s
representatives and discussed their
concerns.
We have now agreed
to one proposal that we believe
will be a win for both our members
and the college. At today’s
Finance Personal and Operations
Committee meeting of the MATC Board,
the committee agreed to form a trust
that will be created for the benefit
of our future retirees.
We have agreed
to this for several reasons:
1) New federally
mandated accounting standards
require the recognition of not
only present, but future retiree
health costs.
2) By funding
this trust, the college will generate
additional state aid revenue.
3) The Trust
funds can be invested in safe
instruments and earn income that
will help pay future benefits.
The creation of
this trust was agreed to by Local
212 representatives including myself,
Local 212 President, Michael Rosen,
accounting instructor, Roger Sands,
and outside legal advisors.
This action by
the Board will not negatively affect
your benefits in any way, but will
address some of the concerns raised
by the college and meet federal
guidelines. A special thanks to
Roger Sands, who has agreed to serve
on the newly created trust board
that will be formed as a result
of this action.
Frank
Shansky
Director of Labor Relations
AFT, Local 212
AFT Local 212
Endorses
Barack Obama for President
February 7, 2008
American Federation
of Teachers Local 212 broke with
its parent union today to endorse
Senator Barack Obama for President
of the United States.
Local 212 President
and Economics Professor Dr. Michael
Rosen described the decision as
"a very democratic process."
"Last fall we
asked our members, and there was
no clear favorite," explained
Rosen. "But over the past week
we polled the 428 members who voluntarily
contribute to our Committee on Political
Education, and they voted by more
than 2-1 to endorse Barack Obama
over Hillary Clinton." Read
entire Local 212 press release here...
Senator Barack Obama
won the Local 212 COPE poll by a
landslide, more than doubling the
vote of second-place finisher Senator
Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Obama was the choice
of almost 2/3 of the 140 Local 212
COPE members who participated in
the secure, on-line poll.
Fully 428 Local 212
members voluntarily contribute to
the COPE fund, making us one of
the most politically involved unions
in Wisconsin.
Local 212 President
Michael Rosen praised 212 members
for participating on such short
notice: “In a poll like this,
25% participation is considered
excellent, and we had 33% of our
COPE members vote, proving again
that our union’s strength
is the involvement of our members.”
Here are the poll
numbers:
AFT Local 212's Statement on
AFT's Presidential Endorsement
February 3, 2008
Dear Local 212
member,
You may have received
a phone call from the American Federation
of Teachers recently informing you
that AFT had endorsed Senator Hilliary
Clinton for president and asking
who you supported.
AFT Local
212 and our Committee on Political
Education (COPE) have NOT endorsed
any candidate for president of the
United States.
We informed AFT
that we did not agree with their
decision or the decision-making
process. We even asked that they
not campaign among our members during
the Wisconsin primary since we had
not endorsed anyone. We were told
that a non-partisan poll would be
conducted. Those of you who received
the call know that it was not non-partisan,
but designed to support Senator
Clinton.
This election
is critically important to MATC,
our students and our members. The
president of the United States is
in a unique position to support
technical education through increasing
Carl D. Perkins funding, Pell, Adult
Basic Education and Dislocated Worker
Training grants. Or, as the current
President has proposed, undermine
technical education by cutting federal
funding.
Local 212 is now
conducting a password protected
poll among our COPE members in preparation
for our special, Feb 6th COPE meeting
where we will decide whom to support,
if anyone, in the Wisconsin presidential
primary.
We will communicate
that decision and the reasons for
it after we make it. The meeting
is open to all 212 members and all
members of COPE have voting rights.
We apologize for
any confusion the phone call you
received may have caused.
Local 212 and
its leadership are committed to
using democratic processes in making
informed political endorsements
on behalf of our membership, students
and college.
I hope to see
you at the COPE meeting.
In Solidarity, Michael Rosen
In Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr.
January 22, 2008
Yesterday the
nation celebrated the national holiday
commemorating the life, activism
and death of Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr.
It has been said
that Dr. King was the moral conscious
of America who sacrificed his life
because he loved his imperfect country
so fiercely.
Dr. King was an
activist who fought against racial
discrimination, poverty and inequality.
He was a fierce advocate for the
poor, disenfranchised, workers and
unions!
He was assassinated
while marching with striking unionized
garbage workers in Memphis , Tennessee.
On April 30, 1967,
Dr. Martin Luther King eloquently
broke his silence about the war
in Vietnam in a sermon, "Why
I am opposed to the War in Vietnam,"
that is as relevant today as it
was forty years ago.
King spoke to
the entire nation as he called for
a "revolution in values"
while asserting that he "opposed
the war because he loved America
:" Audio of that sermon is
reproduced below in honor of his
birthday, life of “speaking
truth to power,” and sacrifice.
Milwaukee Public Television
and Editorial Integrity
Milwaukee Magazine published an
interesting article in its December
issue that discussed MATC’s
administration, Milwaukee Public
Television and editorial integrity.
It is linked here.
