Executive Director's Column: Spread the word on value of PSEA

Voice: July 2017 

It’s summer.

For those of you who have a break from your schools and classrooms, I hope you’re using this time to relax, recharge, and reconnect with your friends and families.

Of course, your summer vacation is well-deserved. But there’s always work to do in our Association. And, when you get back to school, we’re going to ask many of you to help us do it.

For the past couple of years, you’ve read a lot about PSEA’s organizing initiative in the pages of this magazine. And you’ve read about why getting every single employee where you work to join is so important.

Impending changes to long-standing Fair Share rules will likely allow Fair Share fee payers to enjoy the contract and grievance protections PSEA provides – for free. Yes, it is nearly certain that the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn years of legal precedent and say that Fair Share fee payers don’t need to pay a dime for the services they receive from us.

You know how valuable your PSEA membership is.

You see that value in the information we provide in Voice, Connected, Current News in Special Education, or the Insider. You see it in the excellent staff members who protect you when you need it most and help you bargain fair contracts. You see it in the hundreds of dollars you can save every year through our Member Benefits program.

The point is that you see the value in your membership. And, all we need to do to convince new employees and current non-members to join us is to tell them about your experiences and help them to see what you’ve seen all along.

That’s where you come in. And that’s what every PSEA member can do to help.

Think of it this way. PSEA’s strength comes from its members – and our numbers. The more members we have, the more advocates we have and the more voices we have. With those numbers and voices, we get better contracts, better legislation in Harrisburg and Washington, and a stronger Association.

So, do you know new employees where you work? Talk with them, and tell them how great PSEA is and why they should join. Do you know people who have been working with you for a long time but aren’t members? Talk with them, ask them why they’re not members, and share your experiences with PSEA.

Sometimes these conversations are all it takes to sign up new members. And, more often than not, these conversations – conversations initiated by members like you – are the most powerful tools we have in our organizing efforts.

As with any of our Association’s initiatives, our most powerful resource is our members – members like you.

So, I hope you are enjoying the summer. You deserve it.

And, when you come back to work in August, be ready to tell your new colleagues how great PSEA is and how much more powerful we can be – if they join us, too. 

Email Jim Vaughan: jvaughan@psea.org