Platform

Union Strong's platform centers on three pillars: 

1. Amplify teacher voice:

• Build strong, transparent, building level organization at every school. Currently, not every school has a union delegate or functioning Union Faculty Committee (UFC), Instructional Leadership Team (ILT), or School Improvement Team. Establishing and strengthening these bodies through training and support will allow PTU members to have greater collective voice.

• Rebuild and expand PTU's district wide presence. Our members know what is best for students and need to make our voices heard, but you don't see much about PTU on the news and in the public. Lindsay and Union Strong will leverage press connections, social media, community forums, and more to reclaim the narrative about our schools. 

2. Increase educator supports:

• Reinstate and strengthen new teacher support and mentorship. PPSD and PTU used to collaborate on professional development and PPSD provided more funding to new teacher and peer assistance programs. Union Strong slate members have the experience to implement and the skill to pressure the district to reallocate its funding from costly consultants to PTU members.

• End administrators' retaliatory behavior through assertive grievances and work actions. When union leaders don't enforce the grievance process or back members up, a culture of fear develops. Lindsay has experience reversing retaliatory discipline and will proactively monitor administrator issues district wide.

3. Win a strong contract for all members

• Involve members democratically to win better pay and benefits. Current leadership uses negotiation strategies that are ineffective: a few teachers making deals behind closed doors without the help of a professional contract negotiator. The result? Members are making significantly less money (when adjusted for inflation) in 2026 than they were in 2020:

• Step 1: $5,500 LESS

• Step 6: $9,600 LESS

• Step 12: $10,400 LESS 

With the help of a skilled labor negotiator, Lindsay and Union Strong will revamp the contract process. When unions involve as many members as possible in negotiations, the outcomes are better:

• Fall River Educators Association organized hundreds of members to attend negotiations and won 18-21% pay increases for 2025-2027, plus additional stipend & hourly increases.

• Boston Teachers Union involved regular members in writing contract language and posted detailed updates after every negotiation session to all members. They won 20-30% pay raises for TAs, and 9-11.5% raises for teachers for 2024-2027, plus improved staffing.

• Negotiate to improve our professional autonomy so we can actually do our jobs. Daily responsibilities have increased and the district continues to make unilateral decisions about how we do our work -- but a contract can be a place to push back. Teacher unions across the US are using their contract to negotiate around testing, curriculum, school safety and student discipline, and more. PTU can do that too.

• Connect with every school and worksite to identify building-level issues--big or small--and ensure educators are getting support.

• Develop contract campaign goals and an action plan that prioritizes member input and expertise.

• Create a Curriculum and Testing Taskforce to research ways to take back control over pedagogy, assessment, and grading practices.

• Reduce retaliation by identifying the top 10 most challenging administrators, create an organizing plan to hold them accountable, and support targeted staff members.