At Issue: Election 2006
ESP Cadre delivering message
Rank-and-file support staff members will lose their jobs if DeVos wins election.
Roy Cartright of the Wayne-Westland
ESP comments during cadre training.
Members of MEA’s Election 2006 ESP Cadre will meet one-on-one with rank-and-file support staff members this fall to“get out the ESP vote” for Gov. Jennifer Granholm and explain why their jobs will be jeopardized if they vote for her opponent.
ESP Cadre members will deliver this message: Dick DeVos will privatize your school support staff job if he is elected.
DeVos is on record praising the Grand Rapids school board when it outsourced hundreds of district ESP positions in 2005 and more recently encouraged superintendents across Michigan to privatize support jobs as a way of cutting costs.
MCadre member Theresa Dudley of the Grand Rapids ESP listens to advice.
“We must immediately begin spreading
the word, networking one-on-one in our
communities and in our locals with this
message,” said former Pontiac ESP member
Aileen Adragna at an NEA-sponsored training for the Election 2006 ESP Cadre
team Aug. 3-4 at Saginaw Valley State
University.
Adragna knows first-hand the devastating impact of privatization—she lost her Pontiac ESP job last year to outsourcing.
Adragna and 14 other ESP Cadre members will be fanning out this fall, delivering their message colleague-tocolleague, under the watchful eye of NEA Government Relations, which is funding release time for them to conduct “get out the vote” meetings across the state.
“We need to energize rank-and-file support staff members to get actively involved in this election—to get out the ESP vote for Gov. Granholm,” NEA’s Tricia Bosak said. “That could make the difference in this election.”
NEA is viewing the Michigan effort as a pilot program that could spread to other state affiliates if results are positive in November, Bosak said.
ESP Cadre members are anxious to get started. “We’re excited about this program,” said Connie Boylan of Traverse City. “We need to reach out to our members, and I think we can make a difference.”