|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Community Newspapers Of Miami has seen first-hand how the United Teachers of Dade and it’s elected leaders have been a force for good for our children, teachers and our community. Over the past six years, under the management of Karla Hernandez-Mats and the Frontline Caucus, UTD has worked tirelessly to make sure that we have the TOP RATED school district in the state of Florida. Miami Dade County Public School District is the best in the state and our great public-school teachers and UTD are a big part of that success.
President Hernandez-Mats and the Frontline Caucus have also delivered for their members as well. In 2018 UTD conceived, drafted, campaigned for and passed the largest teacher pay increase in Miami Dade history. UTD has been able to keep teacher healthcare premiums the same for the past five years as healthcare costs have risen around the country. During the pandemic UTD put in place the strictest safety standards to protect their teachers and our community’s health. That’s why it is no surprise that UTD continues to grow their membership.
Equally impressive is all the unheralded charitable work and community-wide support that UTD provides on a daily basis. Every week we hear about an event where Vice President Tony White and Secretary Treasurer Mindy Grimes Festge are giving out free books to children, organizing a food drive or assisting in disaster relief alongside Karla and other Frontline Caucus members.
At the start of the pandemic when families were in desperate need of food that their children normally received in school, UTD kicked into action and created a website directing parents where and when they could pick up meals. Under their leadership and with the generosity of Comcast, UTD ran over 30,000 Public Service Announcements on local cable TV that led to tens of thousands of meals being distributed across the county.
These true public servants, UTD’s Frontline Caucus, have earned our support and deserve to be re-elected.
Except Frontline has constantly struggled to recruit and retain membership, barely meeting the minimum 50% membership threshold to avoid decertification. While health care premiums may be allegedly “frozen,” Frontline seems to ignore how members are struggling with higher co-payments, higher deductibles, less coverage, and loss of preferred primary care physicians and specialists. Frontline has allowed the district to exploit loopholes to overburden teachers with large class sizes and generally overlook, ignore, or dismiss class size issues. Frontline has exploited the referendum, that was initially conceived by rank and file teachers. These teachers publicly suggested the referendum to the School Board as early as 2015. Frontline initially dismissed the idea when approached by those rank and file teachers. Frontline exploits it as their one and almost only accomplishment. But the referendum is a supplement, not a substitute to base pay rates. Frontline has negotiated ever DECREASING base pay rates. They even accepted the district’s initial offer of 1% a few years ago, offering no counteroffer. The past contract was barely above 0.60%. Frontline candidates have made malicious false comparisons toward other candidates, even comparing them to the January 6 insurrectionists at the Capitol.
Were the other caucuses contacted and questioned as part of this endorsement process?