Today’s contract ratification vote was a huge success, and I want to thank all the members who ignored the media hype about gridlock and the MTV Video Music Awards and came out anyway to make their voices heard. I also want to thank the Negotiations Team, our Executive Board and NTU staff for manning the polls and answering questions since 7 a.m.
We had 887 voters come out, with 93.46% voting YES and 6.54% voting NO. The YES’s have it, and we have ratified the contract! Now the agreement will go before the NBOE Board meeting tomorrow night Tuesday August 27th for their approval.
Approximately 25% of the members participated in the election. That is 5 times the percentage of taxpayers who participate in local school board elections.
We are also proud to say in this Post-Janus world, we signed up nearly 250 new members to the Newark Teachers Union in the last week. So much for the falsehood that teachers don’t care about their union or their contract.
In Solidarity,
President John M Abeigon, Secretary Treasurer Michael R. Iovino and the NTU Negotiations Team
Newark Teachers Union, Local 481, AFT, AFL-CIO