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Here is what the problem is with UTLA.
Have you noticed that you don’t know hardly anything about what UTLA is doing or what it is supposed to be doing? It always amazed me that a Union of educators does such a poor job of educating its members about how it works. Is that because they don’t know how to, or they are too busy or because they don’t want you to know in order to keep their jobs safe?
They don’t give out any reports, stats or metrics about how any Officer or UTLA Staff department or person is doing with grievances or anything else. However, there is one independent statistic that reflects on how well UTLA is doing. The combined salaries and benefits compensation to LAUSD educators is second from the bottom in Los Angeles County. For some that figures out to earning $100,000 less over your working life compared to teachers in other Los Angeles County school districts.
The problem with UTLA is that we are the only Union of our size that doesn’t have an Executive Director. We are run by classroom teachers. We need teachers to come up with the vision and educational mission but we are trained on how to run a classroom, not on how to run the $24,000,000 dollar UTLA service business. That is why all those Unions that are doing so much better than us. They set the vision and then turn to expert Executive Directors to manage the process and make sure the mission is carried out. UTLA got rid of our Executive Director in the 1980’s and then the current UTLA Administration chased away that last of founding Members of UTLA. I have also never seen so many talented people who worked for UTLA quit. Just this month one of our Area Reps gave his 30 day notice. He has many helpful political connections to help UTLA due to his position as a City Councilman for a local city. He is just the most recent in a long line of talent people who have quit or been forced out of UTLA.
The current Officers keep much of what is going on hidden. Have you noticed that since Secretary Betty Forrester became Secretary that you are no longer notified in the United Teacher Newspaper about the motions that the members have passed. She expects you to figure out where to find the info on UTLA.net. And that is just the motions that finally get passed after many months. That doesn’t include all the motions members make to address unresolved issues that get lost or buried in various committees.
According to the UTLA Constitution the Officers are supposed to keep you informed about actions of the Board of Education. But they never tell you about the hundreds of millions of dollars that get voted on at the School Board meetings all year long. You just hear about the layoffs and furlough days of UTLA members and our friends in other LAUSD Unions.
Then after 3 years of being kept in the dark you are asked to pick between the incumbents who get their picture, name and a whole page in the United Teacher to say whatever they want every month versus other candidates you probably don’t know anything about. The election is more of a high school popularity contest. We overwhelming passed a motion in Valley West Area directing the Officers to write an article in the January United Teacher Newspaper explaining what their job is as a service to the members who will have to decide on who to vote for in the February election. If you check the January United Teacher Newspaper you will see they have kept you in the dark again. Only Gregg Solkovits sort of explained a little in the December issue.
How your vote can save UTLA
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