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For Immediate Release
February 21, 2006
Contact:
Alex Wohl
202/879-4458
awohl@aft.org
AFT Outlines Extensive Outreach in 2005 WTU Election
Response to Department of Labor Filing
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Federation of Teachers today
responded to an action filed by the U.S. Department of Labor concerning
alleged technical problems involving some member mailing addresses during
the most recent election of Washington Teachers Union (WTU) officers by
noting the extraordinary outreach to WTU members before that election and
the resulting high turnout of members who voted in that election.
“This was an astoundingly successful return to a member-run
organization," explained George Springer, the administrator appointed
by the AFT in 2003 to run the WTU. “We made an extensive effort in
the months preceding the December 2004 and January 2005 election to reach
every WTU member and inform them of the upcoming election of officers.
As a result of our vigorous efforts, we had one of the highest turnouts in
any recent WTU election.”
“We wanted this election to be one of the most democratic, most
member-involved elections ever held by the WTU. And we achieved our
goal,” said Springer. “By any standard, our efforts were
significant, but in comparison to prior WTU elections, they were virtually
unprecedented.”
The broad member outreach included a series of announcements at
school meetings with teachers and with union building representatives who
further disseminated the information, both through additional meetings
with teachers and fliers about the election placed in teacher mailboxes.
The outreach also included communications with members through internal
mail, the WTU newsletter, the WTU Web site, the WTU telephone hotline and
postings on bulletin boards in teacher lounges.
The complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Labor does not address
these efforts but only outlines technical statutory violations alleged to
have occurred in the course of the election concerning the WTU mailing
list. The allegations stem from complaints filed by several losing
candidates. |
