Two Items

Two items briefly, please read...

1. We are in need of more people to help circulate petitions. Contact us. If you aren't able/willing to do that please consider signing a petition if you haven't already. We have petitions you can sign...please connect with your building rep, Amy Cahalan or simply reply to this email and we'll connect you with the nearest/soonest opportunity to sign a petition.

2. Read the forward below from Tom Ferris, MEA Southern Zone.

Governor Snyder signed the anti-school employee/anti-collective bargaining legislation into law yesterday. Public Acts 100-104 of 2011 continue the attacks on the job security and economic security of all public employees.

Some may be tempted to give up the fight as this point. It has been a long hard struggle and we haven’t been able to prevent the bad legislation from passing. They may believe that there is nothing we can do.

But there is something we can do. Every flood starts with one raindrop, every blizzard starts with one snow flake, every recall and referendum starts with one signature and every election starts with one vote.

We may have lost the first battle, but we are not going to lose the war. I am confident that our collective effort will forge ahead and what is right and just will prevail.

Phase Two of the Crisis Plan, holding elected officials accountable, is in full operation. Go to "Get Involved with Recall" on the Members Only MEA Website to see how your signature can be part of a flood. Volunteer to be involved with these efforts to change the political climate.

With the number of recall campaigns taking place, we have had to target where we are providing resources. One of those targeted races is the 51st House District. We will need 10,500 voter signatures by August 5 to place the issue of recalling Representative Paul Scott on the November ballot. There will be only 13 days for the signatures to be gathered. We are urging MEA members who are not actively circulating recall petitions in their own senate or house districts to volunteer to help with the Paul Scott recall.

Many of you are already engaged in this effort, but many more will need to get involved for the flood to occur. Every member's job security is threatened and every member's economic security is threatened. And when the job and economic security of education employees is threatened, the education of our children is threatened. Employees can't focus on transporting students, cleaning and maintaining facilities for students, teaching students, feeding students and caring for the needs of students when that employee is worried about having health care, worried about making the mortgage payment, and worried about just having a job.

There is too much at stake for anyone to not be engaged.