News

Smears vs. solutions

Randi Weingarten at a Massachusetts high school

Summer is upon us, and parents, children and teachers are winding down from what has been an exhausting and fully operational school year—the first since the devastating pandemic. The long-lasting impact of COVID-19 has affected our students’ and families’ well-being and ignited the politics surrounding public schools. All signs point to the coming school year unfolding with the same sound and fury, and if extremist culture warriors have their way, being even more divisive and stressful.

M+E United election results

The Elections Committee is excited to announce the results of the Executive Board election. The following members have been elected to serve a two year term:

Monika L. Nugent—President
Nicholas Jerard—Vice President
Ross Hart—Secretary-Treasurer
Kendres Lally—Executive Board Member
Amy Ravitz—Executive Board Member

The new Executive Board will be meeting next week. The Board will be in touch with information regarding a membership meeting and other activities as we move forward towards the 2021 legislative session.

If you want to get more involved with M+E, send an email to MEunited@aftct.org.

In Unity,

M+E Elections Committee

What unions do

In AFT President Randi Weingarten’s latest New York Times column, she describes what it is exactly that unions do. Though unions are the most popular they have been in decades, anti-union sentiment still thrives in red states and across the nation. “Several years ago, The Atlantic ran a story whose headline made even me, a labor leader, scratch my head: ‘Union Membership: Very Sexy,’” Weingarten writes in the column. “The gist was that higher wages, health benefits and job security—all associated with union membership—boost one’s chances of getting married. Belonging to a union doesn’t actually guarantee happily ever after, but it does help working people have a better life in the here and now.” Click through to read the full column.

6/24 M+E Meeting and 7/1 Raise Update

With July 1st quickly approaching, we wanted to share some updates and ask you to join us for our next membership meeting via Zoom on Wednesday, June 24, 2020 at 5:30 pm. To RSVP for the meeting, please send an email to meunited@aftct.org.Last month, members approved our new Constitution and Bylaws, which you can find here. As a result, we are ready to begin the election process for officers and members at large. We need a group of volunteers to serve on the Elections Committee. If you would be willing to serve on the committee, please send a message to meuntied@aftct.org.

As of the writing of this message, it seems that state managers will again be overlooked for a COLA raise on July 1st. State managers have continued to show up to work day after day to supervise employees and provide the essential state services that the public demands and needs during this time of crisis. We are in the process of writing a formal letter the Governor’s office and OPM to request a formal discussion about the lack of equitable treatment of managers and we need your input. We hope that this letter will be completed and sent to the administration just after the raises hit to express M+E members’ disappointment that we are not included in these much deserved state employee raises.

We hope that you can join us on June 24, 2020 at 5:30pm with your ideas regarding this important topic.

Please RSVP to the meeting by emailing meunited@aftct.org.

In defense of public education

Randi Weingarten and NYC teacher Tamara Simpson

Attacks on public education in America by extremists and culture-war peddling politicians have reached new heights (“lows” may be more apt), but they are not new. The difference today is that the attacks are intended not just to undermine public education but to destroy it.

AFT Connecticut President Jan Hochadel on September 13 sent an important update and a personal invitation to managerial and exempt employees in Connecticut state service. She announced the new name for our organization, formerly known as AMECSS, and shared the schedule of worksite meetings in mid September to discuss the issues we face.

New Website

Welcome to the new M+E Employees United website. Please check back regularly for more information about our organization (formerly known as AMECSS) and how we are helping Connecticut's managerial and expemt state employees.