From the Chair

Dear Colleagues,

Another school year has come and gone! They say time flies when you’re having fun. Are you having fun? Sounds like a silly question but it really is not. Fun, joy, satisfaction, pride, worth, respect — are you experiencing these feelings when you go to work each day? Let’s face it, no job is perfect but as school secretaries we deserve to work in an environment where we are respected and valued. As school secretaries we need to feel satisfaction and pride in the work that we do. After all, we are, in our own unique ways through the service we provide, helping to mold the future of our society. We work hard — very hard — and we deserve to work in an environment that is safe and healthy, free from harassment and where we are paid fairly.

And, fun is not out of the question. Schools are individual communities full of individual men, women and children with different personalities, talents and gifts that we bring with us to school each day. We should be able to enjoy the people we work with as well. So, how do we do our part to ensure that we are respected in our workplace?

Show respect. First, of course, we must show respect if we want respect. If we are truly a union of professionals then we must all, every one of us, act like professionals. While we can control only our own behavior we can model behavior to others. That is, treat others as we want to be treated.

If you are being harassed by a supervisor, please contact your school’s chapter leader or your UFT district representative and me. Always keep a log of the incidents of harassment and any witnesses to the behavior.

Protect your job title. In many instances, school staff members other than licensed school secretaries are performing secretarial duties, especially pupil accounting. When this occurs in a school, the secretaries in that school have a right to grieve. However, many secretaries won’t do that because they do not want to upset the principal or the school aide or para doing the work — or they do not want the extra work put on their desks if they win the grievance.

Our chapter is pursuing a union-initiated grievance to put a stop to out-of-license personnel doing our work. We need to obtain the name, school and nature of the work being done by the other titles. Please cooperate with your school’s chapter leader or secretary coordinator in obtaining this information. Your name will not appear on the grievance.

File workload disputes. If you are faced with an unmanageable workload due to excessing of a secretary from your school or because of additional work responsibilities given to you, or because you are in a one-secretary school, you have the right to file a workload dispute. We cannot stand by and watch the number of school secretaries dwindle down in order to balance school budgets. We must make the case that schools need and deserve the number of school secretaries commensurate with the amount of secretarial work to be done. Workload disputes can provide the official documentation we need to make that case.

Know your contract. It is up to you to protect the provisions of your contract. Every UFT member was mailed the current contract earlier this school year. If you do not have a copy, you can download one from the School Secretaries home page on this Web site. Take the time to read it. If you are being asked to do something that is a violation of your contract, speak to your school’s chapter leader as soon as you are given the directive. You may have to perform the duty in order to prevent being charged with insubordination, but you should file a grievance immediately. The only time that you do not have to perform such a duty is if it puts your health and safety in jeopardy.

Take part in union actions. One sure sign of the lack of respect shown to us and other members of our union is the fact that the city will not negotiate in good faith to provide us with a fair and decent contract. The UFT has held and will continue to hold rallies and protests and other union actions to show that we take the preservation of our contract seriously.

On May 19, secretaries across the city wore black and lime green stickers in a show of solidarity to protest two years without a contract. We called our action — “Secretaries Day of Respect.”

On June 2, secretaries and other UFT members filled Madison Square Garden to bring attention to our lack of a new contract. We don’t know what the summer weeks ahead will bring but, as school secretaries, we must continue to participate in any and all school- or city-based union actions — even if it is inconvenient and even if we have to rearrange our schedules. We cannot expect others to do it for us. Our professional lives depend on what we do now.

Keep in touch with me over the summer by checking this Web site. I will post breaking news on the School Secretaries home page. Our chapter will schedule borough-wide secretary meetings for early next school year that will include a special presentation to new secretaries. You will be notified by mail as to date, time and place.

Have a wonderful safe and restful summer!

Jackie Ervolina