We should all be life-long activists
by Peg Newberg
Although many of you are preparing for the holidays at this time of the year, I hope each of you has taken the time to join MEA's "Not Another Cent" campaign by signing a card urging your legislators to keep their hands out of our pockets.
I hope you will also make a call, send an email, write a note, or pay a visit to your legislative representatives. Remind them that you are an educator and that you have taken enough "hits" in the past and can take no more.
Or better yet, ask them to explain how they helped educators during the 125th Maine Legislature and how they can help you in the future. This is the appeal that I recently made to my retired colleagues who are members of MEA Retired (MEA-R).
It should also apply to our active educators! We should all be life-long activists working together for our profession.
We can no longer afford to remain passive when it comes to our benefits! We cannot sit back and assume that others will protect our benefits and quality of life. We must become advocates for what we believe in and defend our programs, health insurance, and retirement plans.
MEA-R is actively supporting MEA's new campaign: "Not Another Cent from Maine's Working Families."
Through MEA-R's county organizations, members will be filling out the pledge card and soliciting friends of education to do likewise. Through MEA-R's legislative program, retirees will be contacting our state representatives and senators and reiterating the goals of both of our organizations.
Advocacy is our best hope for convincing lawmakers that we are serious about standing strong for students, educators, retirees, working families and public employees.
It is not too soon to be thinking about your participation in the 2012 election process. Whose voting record best supports public education and educators? Whose positions and beliefs most closely align with our goals. Who will protect our health insurance and retirement? Who will you support; who you will not support? Who should MEA support?
More than ever, current educators and retirees need to work together to protect what we worked so hard to achieve in the past; what we have in our schools today; and, what we can hope to accomplish in the future.
Our students deserve a great public school and the opportunity to fulfill their potential. They deserve high-quality programs and educators.
Maine's educators are entitled to a fair and livable wage and a decent health insurance plan. And, all educators who devote their careers to Maine's school children should be entitled to a retirement with dignity, not one of poverty and privation.
We have earned and deserve the retirement benefits and health insurance we have been promised by generations of legislators and we are united in opposing any attempt by the legislature to cut, cap or further reduce our benefits.
Peg Newberg is president of Maine Educators Association Retired. She is a former president of local, Merrymeeting Educators Association, and of her county retired local, Mid-Coast Retired Educators Association. She taught in SAD #75 Topsham and resides in Harpswell.
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