Our jobs are being treated as if we are a needless expense to MCPS. But children cannot be educated unless they are at delivered to school on time, learn in safe and well maintained buildings, receive healthy food, and have accurate records and information for their teachers. We represent almost 25% of all the classroom teaching personnel, yet Paraeducators are still denied planning time, paid training time, or paycheck recognition for the education and experience we bring to the classroom every day.

We need WINS on issues that are important to our jobs.
Why? Because our jobs are important to educating children.

• We need more staff and resources to do supporting service jobs.
• We need higher pay grades that recognize the increased responsibilities we have taken, and been given.
• We need more hours to perform our work.
• We need a better pension from MCPS.
• We need every supporting service job to have benefits.
• We need training that helps us grow in our professions and trades.
• We need to end Grades 4, 5, and 6 because of the high cost of living in our community.
• We need to STOP the bleeding of our benefits.
• We need fair promotions and transfers.

We need effective, goal-oriented leadership in our union that can brings us a plan to achieve these successes!

We need leadership with the skills necessary to lead our Union to a better standard of living! How will this be achieved?

Only one way - by expressing the attitude and having the experience which forces the Administration to pay attention and acknowledge what we need as a Union, but more importantly as respected workers.

• We need to be asked what we want in our contract!
• We need to see the contract language before we vote on it - not an option!
• We need better bargaining that keeps us informed during the process - who would settle for less?
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• We need to win back the giveaways bargained last fall - why did we give in?
• We need a Fair Dues structure - where did this go three years ago?
• We need communications in time to make a difference in the decisions of our union - keeping informed is half the battle!
• We need better visibility of Local 500 in the community and press - Local 500 who?
• We need our website to post communications and meeting reports - after all, our daily lives are diverse and call for the option to be informed in ways that meet our needs!
• We need members to adopt our union’s organizing, political, and bargaining plans - these goals must be owned and shared!
• We need leadership in our union that can brings us a plan to achieve these goals - it takes little effort to take a plan and run with it, yet hard work, intelligence and perseverance to create and execute a good plan!

We need to end secrecy in our union’s activities.

We need leadership with skills to lead our members to better standards of living... and experience to make the Administration take action to respect us and support what our families need!