Meeting with Becky Pringle
By Gerlind Kiupel, Communications Committee Member
On September 17th, members of the APA Executive Board attended a roundtable discussion with NEA President Becky Pringle and MEA President Paula Herbart.
Attendees of the roundtable: Left to right, front row: Jamie Lynn Marks, Pat Hampton, Becky Pringle (NEA), Paula Herbart (MEA); back row: Martin McDonough, Darius Bradley, Kandy Slack, Shannon Alston (MEA); Nicole Proctor-Kanyama, Gerlind Kiupel, Brett Smith (MEA)Â
APA is affiliated with MEA/NEA which means that each member of the APA is also a member of the Michigan Education Association (MEA), the largest single public employee union in the state of Michigan and the third largest education association in the United States. APA members are also a member of the National Education Association (NEA). the nation’s largest professional employee organization.
We discussed higher education issues and opportunities, for instance having APA members attend NEA conferences. We raised the point that our members are a special group within MEA and NEA, because we are supporting higher education in a variety of ways. Our members include IT professionals and engineers, administrative assistants, and research assistants, and so much more; we do not fall in the typical categories of teachers, educational support personnel (like school bus drivers, cafeteria workers, etc.), or faculty.
Furthermore, we talked about successful member events that we had organized like the Human Trafficking movie event, or our popular More You Know series of arming our members with knowledge about their rights under the contract.
In this productive meeting, our voice was heard. We can count on the support of MEA/NEA.