News

Share This

YOUR Collective Voice is Under Attack!

The time to get active in YOUR union is NOW!

As our members and the community well know, our union advocates for strong, vibrant public schools where students receive the support they need and educators receive the respect they deserve. Our UNION is OUR COLLECTIVE VOICE.

Legislation in Tallahassee (SB 256) threatens to restrict your constitutional right to collective bargaining. By eliminating payroll dues deduction, requiring a 60% membership density to maintain collective bargaining rights, and restricting union communications in the workplace, this bill creates unnecessary and unfair barriers to union membership for select public employees in the state of Florida. Ultimately, these provisions endanger the collective bargaining agreement that teachers and support staff in Citrus County have worked for more than 40 years to create and puts our guaranteed working conditions at risk.

Without U & I, there is no union. WITHOUT A UNION, THERE IS NO CONTRACT.  

Some of you have been dedicated also to your union and understand that we work hard to advocate for you at the bargaining table, behind the scenes, at school board meetings, at public meetings, and in your school. You know the value of your union. SHARE IT! Encourage your colleagues to be a part of lifting up our profession and strengthening our public schools by JOINING CCEA TODAY! 

We're a member-lead organization and we need member leaders like never before! Contact Victoria Smith, President of CCEA, to ask how you can make a difference in your union.

Together we are taking steps to ensure our union remains strong and vital. In the days ahead, our members will be called upon to take action and SOLIDARITY is critical. If you would like to learn more, attend our CCEA General Membership meeting (March 6). https://floridaea.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0rdeyhqjopG9SxztHUUK4vEH3lRGlKz2VS

Ratification Notice

NOTICE OF INTENT TO RATIFY:

Having reached tentative agreements related to salary and working conditions for the Instructional and Support units represented by CCEA, ratification vote shall be conducted September 1st and 2nd. Tentative Agreements (TAs) are available for review on the CCEA website (Collaborative Bargaining | Citrus County Education Association) and will be posted on CCEA bulletin boards at worksites no later than August 19th.  All employees in the affected bargaining units are eligible to cast ballots.  

Ratification Townhall

An informational meeting shall be held on August 22nd -- All Instructional and Support staff are encouraged to attend:

When: Aug 22, 2022 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) 

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://floridaea.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYrd-ysqDMqH9bhOmwFaEB2MlYz0d-H7YLe 

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

CCEA Announces Primary Endorsements

Following weeks of live-streamed interviews with candidates for local office, the Citrus County Education Association has announced endorsements for the 2022 Primary. The screening process, which included interview questions from other Citrus County unions and was coordinated with input from the West Central Florida Labor Council, was open to all primary candidates for local office.

The endorsement committee invited candidates to speak to their priority goals and to clarify how they might support policies benefitting Citrus County students, educators, and families, as well as our public schools. Recordings of all candidate interviews are available on the CCEA Facebook page (Citrus County Education Association | Facebook).

Based on their responses, the following candidates received the endorsement of CCEA's Local Elections Endorsement Committee:

 

Collective Bargaining is Our Super Power!

CCEA is the designated collective bargaining agent for all Citrus County Instructional, Classified Support and Professional Technical employees in Citrus Schools. Together we negotiate with the District for YOUR wages, hours and working conditions. Together we are stronger!

Negotiations for the 2021-22 contract year have been extremely productive and we will be moving tentative agreements to a ratification vote in the month of November. Every instructional staff member and every classified and professional technical support employee will be able to weigh in on the proposed changes and improvements to the contract, so take a moment to review the Tentative Agreements carefully...

Click here to review this year's tentative agreements!

Your working conditions ARE student learning conditions. That's #WhyWeUnion

Click here to join CCEA and help us advocate for our students, our schools, and our profession! 

Join CCEA during our Fall Membership Campaign and you'll receive a $50 new member rebate!

Throughout CCEA's Labor History Week (8/30-9/5), we posted a daily trivia question. Each correct answer was an entry into our Labor Day Prize Giveaway raffle. Prize winners are: Donald Whitaker, Brian Sullivan, and Jennifer Clark!  E-gift cards are on their way!!!

 

 

more

Bonus Questions Not Yet Answered

As you know, the state budget that was recently passed includes an allocation of around $215 million, to provide full-time classroom teachers and principals with a $1,000 bonus, using funds from the American Relief Plan.

More recently, as details regarding the distribution of bonuses began to emerge, larger questions loom regarding whether the bonuses - now identified as 'relief payments' - will be paid.

For too many of our colleagues, a ‘thanks for a job well-done’ bonus after the stress and uncertainty of working through the pandemic may not materialize at all. As was true with Best and Brightest bonuses, the non-classroom teachers (school counselors, psychologists, media specialists, etc.) and our essential support staff will not qualify for these bonuses from the state.

CCEA brought the topic of bonuses to the bargaining table in April hoping to secure an early commitment from the District to provide matching bonuses for instructional and support personnel left out of the state bonus. We know that every employee working in Citrus schools through the past year helped to ensure our students were safe and that learning continued. It is our position that as federal COVID relief funds make their way into the District, nonrecurring dollars will be available to cover the cost of one-time bonuses. We await a response from the District.

Beyond knowing who will be receiving bonuses and when, we know that you have questions about these bonuses. It remains unclear whether bonuses will be paid to individuals who retired or separated from employment during or after the 2020-21 school year. It is also not yet known whether bonus checks will be issued directly from the state, or if the District will be tasked with distribution of funds. What we know is true of bonuses (generally speaking):

  • Bonuses are taxable at a higher rate than regular income.
  • The recipient will be responsible for taxes on the bonus.
  • Bonuses do NOT count toward retirement under FRS. 

We encourage you to follow the progress of negotiations online and look for additional updates from CCEA in the weeks ahead.

RESOURCES:

CCEA and District bargaining sessions are livestreamed through the Citrus Schools’ YouTube channel and recordings of all prior sessions are accessible for review.

FEA has added a list of FAQs on their website. The page will be updated as more information is made available.

 

What unions do

In AFT President Randi Weingarten’s latest New York Times  column, she describes what it is exactly that unions do. Though unions are the most popular they have been in decades, anti-union sentiment still thrives in red states and across the nation. “Several years ago, The Atlantic ran a story whose headline made even me, a labor leader, scratch my head: ‘Union Membership: Very Sexy,’” Weingarten writes in the column. “The gist was that higher wages, health benefits and job security—all associated with union membership—boost one’s chances of getting married. Belonging to a union doesn’t actually guarantee happily ever after, but it does help working people have a better life in the here and now.” Click through to read the full column.

A torrent of censorship

Nearly 250 years since our country’s founding, some Americans are still attempting to restrict others’ basic freedoms. In Florida and elsewhere, censoring books is part of larger efforts to exert greater control over and undermine education.

more

Voting for democracy and a better life

In the leadup to the midterm elections, pundits predicted a red wave, even a tsunami, based on polls, historical precedent, and steep gas and grocery prices. But I had my doubts. I spent the weeks before the elections talking to voters and traveling on the AFT Votes bus, rolling through a dozen states with more than 50 stops. In a year when kitchen table issues, democracy and our freedoms were on the ballot, many people told me that the elections came down to a choice between, on the one side, election deniers and extremists stoking fear, and on the other, problem-solvers working to help the country move forward. Many races were close, but Americans turned the tide from a red wave to a swell of support for progress and problem-solvers. Read the full column here.

Sharing more pathways to student debt relief

As the landscape of student debt shifts, and more and more opportunities allow borrowers to have their debt relieved, the AFT is using every avenue to ensure that the word is out. In affiliate meetings, telephone town halls, media coverage and social media, the union is spreading the news, and at a student debt clinic at AFT headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 31, AFT President Randi Weingarten vowed to reach as many people as possible with information that could save them tens—and sometimes hundreds—of thousands of dollars.

more