Fall Outreach By the Numbers
Throughout the fall, we’ve been conducting an email outreach campaign to local educator union leaders across the state. Our subsequent conversations are heartening! I am proud to share the following stats from our efforts:
25 conversations with local union leaders (some in person and some on the phone), and 6 more are scheduled.
Updated contact information for over 70 local union leaders.
8 new members (representing 7 different locals) of the organizing committee.
What Comes Next?
I really hope you sang that in your head as King George III. Regardless, as we wrap up our first phase of our outreach, the organizing committee will:
Evaluate our data, based on our 1-5 power-mapping metric,
Strategize our next outreach phase,
Clarify our vision for coordinated actions on May Day 2026.
All are welcome to be part of these conversations! To join our organizing committee for our next meeting on Thursday, December 18th at 7pm on zoom, scroll down.
Bridging Higher Ed & PreK-12 Workplaces
Last month, we had conversations with officers and member-organizers from the Massachusetts State Colleges Association and the Massachusetts Community College Council, and even presented at an MSCA board meeting. We learned a lot about from them, and many of their fights resonate with the fights in the PreK-12 space:
Pay and benefits equity: Part-time and adjuncts are not eligible for health or retirement benefits. As institutions hire more adjuncts to reduce costs, the workload and expectations of full-time faculty increase.
Unhealthy school buildings: Maintenance and new constructions are funded by student tuition. As such, many buildings are in disrepair and unsafe.
Restrictions on bargaining rights: The governor sets salary parameters in advance of collective bargaining, greatly reducing educators’ power to negotiate for fair wages.
Academic freedom and curricular autonomy: Recent changes from NECHE (the higher ed accreditation system) including eliminating references to civics, libraries, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Separately, new proposed Bachelor’s degree programs would no longer require general curriculum classes.
Class sizes: After the state legislature established debt-free community colleges in 2024, enrollments increased! However, faculty hiring has not increased proportionally, leading to ever-growing workload without commensurate pay.
A major takeaway for me is that while the verbiage, job titles, management structures, and funding sources differ between PreK-12 and higher ed, the two systems operate similarly. Our fights really are the same!
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Notes From the Organizing Committee
The Organizing Committee builds out our communication structures, increases rank-and-file membership engagement, coordinates legislative advocacy, and so much more.
We meet virtually for 30 minutes per month. Our next meeting is Thursday, December 18th at 7pm.
All are welcome to join the Organizing Committee! Use the button below to sign up. Meeting links are emailed out the week of each meeting.
One Easy Way To Help
Ask your local president if they received an email from an organizer at Massachusetts Educators for May 1, 2028! We’ve sent 520 emails to 422 local leaders, out of a possible 478 locals. So, odds are good.
If your local president confirms they’ve gotten an email, encourage them to reply. If your local presidents says they didn’t get an email, let us know so we can either correct or grow our contact list. Either way helps us immensely.
We can do this.
I am in awe of what we’ve accomplished in the last six months. We’re ahead of schedule, we have the framework for a state-wide action team, we’re connected to the national May Day Strong movement, and we’re building relationships with multiple state legislators. Not to mention that a documentarian and I are exploring a collaboration project—one more reason to come to our December 18th organizing committee meeting! 😁
I am so grateful to be in this fight with you, and I believe we can win a better world.
In solidarity,
Megan Brady (an 8th grade civics teacher in Somerville)