Secretary Seminar: Another Big Hit

The crowd was large and enthusiastic at our annual School Secretary Seminar on Saturday, Jan. 7, held at UFT headquarters. As chair of our chapter, it always amazes me how many of you come out on your own time to union functions and events. It’s a wonderful tribute to your professionalism and dedication to your career!

The day started early with breakfast and cheery greetings from colleagues who traveled bright and early from all across the city and the suburbs to attend a day packed with job-related information and materials.
The guest speaker was our union president, Randi Weingarten, who elaborated on the tough negotiations we had in securing a new contract and the tougher negotiations we face in the future. She explained that the corporate mentality has invaded our educational structure making it harder and harder to hold the line on benefits and working conditions at the bargaining table. She pointed out that we should be very aware of the Transit Workers Union stand in its negotiations, which is “no contract, no work.” Randi reminded us that before you know it, we will be sitting with the city in negotiations once again. Our contract expires in October 2007.

Now is the time to strengthen our union resolve to stand united in protecting our salary, benefits and working conditions. She urged us to participate fully in union actions such as attending rallies, picketing, making phone calls or sending e-mails when necessary. We, as working men and women, cannot afford to stand idly by while the benefits we fought so hard to obtain are taken from us at the bargaining table. She certainly gave us a lot to think about.

In addition, we were fortunate to have another guest speaker, UFT Treasurer Mel Aaronson, who directs the UFT pension department. He gave us some information on our retirement and TDA accounts. It seemed that many in the crowd perked up quite a bit for some reason when Mel mentioned retirement.

After the greetings, the work began! Workshops in payroll and personnel procedures were given by our friends from pedagogic payroll. A representative from the Office of Attendance and Pupil Personnel Services spoke to pupil accounting secretaries. In another room, procurement practices were explained to a group of secretaries eager to learn. All of the secretaries were grateful for the opportunity to get first-hand information from the Department of Education and to ask questions about policy and procedures.
Our day ended with a scrumptious lunch and a raffle to benefit our tuition reimbursement fund. It seemed to me and the executive committee that everyone left happy, well fed and much smarter.

Hope to see more of you next year!