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Convocation Day Action
Unity in Action
OFFICIAL CONVOCATION CANCELLED!  SEA GOES FORWARD WITH CONVOCATION DAY ACTION PLANS

LATE BREAKING NEWS!
The Tim Collins Convocation Speech – Live!
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 2 – 11:30 a.m. at the School Department HQ, 195 State Street

A number of SEA members have asked that Tim Collins deliver a real convocation speech tomorrow and to do so at a location – School Department headquarters – where Joe Burke will hear Tim and us loud and clear.

So, for those SEA members who can get there, join Tim and other SEA colleagues for the Collins Convocation speech at 11:30 a.m., on the steps of 195 State Street.

We have the contractual right to leave school for lunch when students are not present, so long as you sign out and sign in when you return.  We also have the right to an hour for lunch at this time of year.

For those who cannot make it to the speech, carry on with the school-based convocation day action-meeting.  
Seems like the prospect of any action, by SEA members on Convocation Day made Joe Burke and Charlie Ryan so uncomfortable that they cancelled the entire event!

Let's keep the pressure on and move forward with the work of building and demonstrating our unity and resolve.

We are calling on every current and future SEA member to come together -- Friday, September 2 -- for a lunch-time action meeting. (If your colleagues want to do this at another time, that's ok, too!)

Instead of the planned boycott of the convocation and the convocation broadcast, gather together -- at lunch-time or any other time you choose -- to show your determination to defend our students, our schools and our profession -- and to achieve a just and fair contract.

Use the time that would have been spent on convocation or watching the convocation broadcast (and listening to Joe Burke and Charlie Ryan, among others) to organize a lunch-time meeting to show our unity and resolve.  

You should conduct this action meeting on school property.  If the weather cooperates, you might want to take it outside.  

The action meeting should include at least the following -- but, feel free to improvise:

Sign the `We're Together'  poster.
Welcome our new colleagues into our schools and our union.
Organize a Building Action Team (BAT) to sustain our solidarity and increase our collective ability to preserve the highest standards of professionalism and power in our schools.
Discuss solidarity action options for your school - button days, black armbands, morning visibility with signs, parent events and any other ideas.
Then, maybe a few cheers and a unity march back into the building.

After you are done, please e-mail a report on your action meeting to contact@seateachers.com.  (Was the turnout good? What activities did you do? What comments and ideas were offered?) If you have a digital camera, take some pictures and e-mail them in to the SEA office.