We want every UTLA member to vote
Thousands of tired, stressed out, overworked, and underpaid UTLA members must vote by February 27th to change their leadership if they want change.
— Leonard Segal
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES, February 22, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ — Candidate for UTLA president, Mr. Segal, an educator with nearly thirty years in LA’s public schools and union said, “What’s going on with UTLA today is not fair, it’s not just, and it’s not delivering results for our members who are struggling every day at our school sites with overcrowded classrooms, breaches of our contract rights, safety issues, and inadequate pay! Many members report to me they feel abandoned at their school sites and they are ready for change.”
The current UTLA president got all school police removed from every secondary school without a vote of the members.” Segal laments. “Many of our members are upset enough about this one issue to want new leadership.
UTLA’s president orchestrated a drastic change to the UTLA Constitution giving the officers unlimited power by taking away the power of the members and their elected representatives on the House of Representatives to veto the UTLA President. The only power left to members is to vote them out of office by February 27, 2023.
Leonard Segal, a candidate for the position of president of UTLA which is the nation’s second-largest teacher’s union, says he is asking members to vote for him along with the entire slate of the United Team for Change so he can return to a focus on getting much higher pay and better working conditions. He says he represents a large segment of the union’s membership who are fed up with the way their union is being led.
“Our members feel strongly that our professional educator’s union should focus first and foremost on our member’s needs at our school sites, getting all of our members significantly higher wages, improving our working conditions and safety, and being there for any member to defend their contract rights. Only a vote for change will yield these results.” Segal explained.
By all publically available rankings, teachers of LAUSD are near the bottom of the rankings in pay of all the school districts in Los Angeles County. The members do not want to go on strike every three years in order to get the same cost of living raise they would have gotten without a strike. Some members saw a worse outcome after the strike. And other members have not gotten help with enforcing the new rights they won.
Mr. Segal said, “There is no teacher shortage. There is only a shortage of educators willing to work for the inadequate pay and difficult work conditions that exist today. A professional salary will ensure members can afford to live in one of the most expensive cities in the nation.”
If members of UTLA vote before February the 27th to replace the current leaders, who many UTLA members feel are not focused on member’s needs first, Mr. Segal plans to dramatically increase UTLA’s presence with the California legislature and use its power to put higher pay and stronger protections into the California Education Code. The union is caught up in a cycle of striking and demanding concessions the School Board can’t or won’t deliver on. Most of our funding comes from the state legislature and we should put our focus and efforts there, while we invest in ensuring we never lose our allies in the School Board” Segal said.
Mr. Segal expressed great confidence in the United Team For Change, which he called “the most competent slate of candidates I have seen in 30 years.” It includes educators with backgrounds in finance, business, education, administration, negotiations, and union operations. Readers can learn more about their qualifications by visiting ut4c.com. The list of candidates includes Laura N. McCutcheon for NEA VP, Mark Muskrath for Secondary VP, Tracey Schroeder for Elementary VP, Soni Lloyd for AFT VP, Michele Middleton for Treasurer, Carrie Phu for Secretary, Gary Fraigun for Board of Director NEA Valley East, Lauren Gordon-Ruderman for Board Director NEA Valley East, Gilbert Gil for Director of Special Ed, David Riess & Monique Lukens for Director of Substitutes, and Angela Chavez for Board Director Harbor Area.
Leonard Segal
United Team For Change
+1 818-383-0383
info@ut4c.com
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Members need to vote for new leadership at UTLA
