(Thank you to Wendy McClure for providing us with this information!)
Sunday May 26th, 2025
Happy Memorial Day Weekend Friends,
I just got off a Zoom meeting with some terrific educators from Bristol County who came together to kick off the next phase of our campaign to pass a Fair Fix for R+. As the House and Senate get ready to move into Conference, our bill is included in the House version of the budget – and our goal is to make sure that the language for a Fair Fix for + makes it into the final version of the state budget (which is usually passed by the end of July).
And our campaign is not going to sit passively by and watch this process unfold. Oh no friends – as we have at every other step – we are going to lean in even harder. Over the next month we are going to mobilize our volunteers in this group from one end of the state to the other and have you all reach out to your local teacher union presidents and officers and ask them to collectively cosign a letter to the state senator from your district to pass a Fair Fix for R+.
This morning we started this effort with an hour long zoom meeting with teachers from Bristol County and Southeastern Mass. They are already emailing and texting friends and coworkers across the region – building support to pressure senators in that part of the state to get this bill over the goal line before the end of July.
And let me reiterate: we are going to bring this kind of ground game into all 40 senate districts from Amesbury to Acushnet, and from Pittsfield to Provincetown. Over the next few weeks we want all of you to help identify the union leadership from every school district in your state senator’s district – and help us get them on board this campaign to win a Fair Fix for R+.
We are asking local union leaders to do three things:
Cosign a letter with other union leaders within the same senate district asking their state senator to pass a Fair Fix for R+. Here is the link to draft language: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K6h-jjbQusmLUw3oHlhl5M89raHnutPZGsp9PbzzNLU/edit?usp=sharing
Attend a meeting with the local senator or staff (either in person or on Zoom) to make the same request and submit the cosigned letter.
Attend the Lobby Day on June 25th to rally support for a Fair Fix for R+.
If you would like to volunteer to help support this effort, we have created a spreadsheet where you and others from your state senate district can share information and coordinate. Also once we have agreed on final language, we will create a single letter for each senator that your local union leaders and officers can add their names and electronic signatures too. Just send me your email address and I will add you to the spreadsheet (tedchambers1969@gmail.com).
So it’s once more unto the breach, friends!
And our HUGE SHOUT OUT of the day goes to members of the armed services who served and sacrificed for our country. Happy Memorial Day and thank you for your service.
Stay positive, stay hopeful, and stay engaged friends.
In solidarity,
The Committee for a Fair Fix for R+.
PS. Our next steering committee meeting will be next Monday June 2nd on Zoom at 7PM.