Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/11437
This event offers a variety of ses- sions designed to assist chapters in day-to-day representation, help teachers build leadership skills, and improve teaching and learning. This year’s offerings include: Legal T ra ck —The Legal Department is expanding its of- ferings at Summer Institute this year to two separate partial- week tracks. Track 1 (Sunday–Tuesday) — This track will focus on “group” la- bor and employment issues, in- cluding basic union and employee rights under the Educational Em- ployment Relations Act, the legal framework around bargaining, unfair practice issues, duty of fair representation issues, and Brown Act open meeting issues. Topics will include: the rights of members to union representation; duty of fair representation — what are the best practices to follow to protect your chapter from DFR liability; which union activities are protect- ed by labor laws and other statutes, and which are not; what is the legal framework for bargaining; what actions by the district can be suc- cessfully challenged by filing an unfair practice charge; and how can you use the open meetings law effectively. Track 2 (Wednesday–Friday) — The second track will focus on “individual” labor and em- ployment issues, including the rights of individual union mem- bers under the antidiscrimina- tion statutes, the rights of educa- tional employees to a safe and healthy workplace, the discipline and dismissal procedure under the Education Code, and cyber- 26 California Educator | MAY 2010 Nego ti atio ns and O rgani - z a tio nal D e vel opment Strand —The NOD Strand in- cludes the following tracks. Emerging Leaders — D e- signed to arm members with the information, resources and skills needed to become effective orga- nizers and future leaders in their local chapter, this track includes the basic concepts of unionism and advocacy, association history and structure, and effective orga- nizing techniques. The session is intended for all association mem- bers who are beginning their ac- tivism in their local union. Essential Bargaining Skills — In this highly interactive session, designed to guide participants in the use of a 10-step process to ensure a successful bargaining experience, p articipants will form bargaining teams, bargain an agreement, and work through extensive coaching and debrief- ing sessions to determine which strategies were successful. Advanced Bargaining Skills — This track i s designed for those who have completed the Essential Bargaining Skills track or who have at least three years of experience on a local bargain- ing team, or who have previously completed the Essential Bargain- ing Skills track and at least one year of experience on a local bar- gaining team. Those who don’t Be a lifelong learner: Attend CTA’s Summer Institute C TA’s Summer Institute 2010 will be held Aug. 1-6 a t UCLA’s Conference Center. law, texting and Facebook issues. Topics will include: employment discrimination and sexual ha- rassment; disability discrimina- tion and reasonable accommo- dation; discipline and dismissal; leave of absence issues; school health and safety issues; cyber- law, texting, MySpace and Face- book — what are best practices in a hyperconnected world. ABOVE: CTA President David A. Sanchez at last year’s Summer Institute at UCLA. meet the prerequisites of this track will not be admitted. This track provides skills and knowl- edge that will improve the asso- ciation’s final contract settle- ment. Participants will le arn about developing effective bar- gaining strategies and tactics, writing effective contract lan- guage, identifying key elements of the district budget, defining and negotiating issues, compos- ing effective bargaining commu- niqués, balancing the bargaining goals of complex constituencies, and utilizing CTA’s research da- tabase in an effective manner. School Finance — Designed for leaders and bargaining team members who want to become more knowledgeable about school finance and school district bud- gets, this session includes tracking the trends of budget priorities, calculating the cost of a bargain- ing proposal, determining a dis- trict’s ability to pay, and develop- ing comparability data to support bargaining objectives. Healthcare Benefits and Is- sues — This full-week session fo- cuses on bargaining health ben- efits in o rder to increase the quality of care and reduce costs. This workshop will also inform members about current local, state and national medical health care reform measures, current activities of CTA coalitions, and Medicare benefits for retirees. Participants should be prepared to discuss their Summary Plan Descriptions, contract language and other information pertain- ing to their locally bargained medical benefits program. Member B enefit s Strand — This partial-week strand (Sun- day–Tuesday), presented by CTA Member Benefits and NEA Mem- ber Benefits, will offer participants survival tips on how to manage stress, save money, utilize their ben- CTA photo by Dave Earl Carpenter