MTA leadership: ‘We are in this together’

 

We are in an extraordinary time. But we are in it together. During this global pandemic, we need physical distancing but social connection. So many MTA locals are finding ways to create social connections among members, with students and their families, and in their communities. The MTA is doing that too!

This post is the first of what will be regular website updates for you, our members, on some of the most important issues and actions as we all, together, support each other through this crisis. Very soon we will share other technological means by which we can all stay in touch and share how we are helping our students, members and all of our families survive and thrive through the pandemic.

Today we want to share with you a set of common good demands  — demands for our public schools and colleges, for all workers and for our communities — that we have gathered from our many conversations and email exchanges with all of you, as well as through conversations with our many union and social justice partners in the state and across the country. This is a living document, meant to be updated as the situation changes.

Indeed, through your advocacy and organizing, we have already achieved some of the demands in this document, including a statewide closure of schools and commitments from most communities and campuses around paying all workers during this crisis.

But we felt that as the largest union in New England, we needed to take a stand early in this crisis about what public education needs, and what the communities in which we live need, in the short term and as the impact of the pandemic is felt in the months ahead.

Check back on this website regularly so you can be in dialogue with us as the MTA organizes for the common good of our members and all of our communities.

In solidarity,

Merrie Najimy
MTA President

Max Page
MTA Vice President