I hope this column finds each of you well, doing the important work that makes North Dakota the best place to raise our families and earn our livelihood.
Whether you are educating our future in our public schools or on our higher education campuses, or providing the professional public services upon which our state’s citizens depend, I want to thank you for your membership in ND United, the largest union of professionals in North Dakota. Because of your membership, ND United has the ability to advocate for your interests in ND as well as in Washington, DC. Speaking of that advocacy, I will be off later this week to WDC to meet with our Congressional delegation and put front and center the issues our members are dealing with and offer advice as to how we can help.
Here are a few of the things we are working on at NDU:
- Membership — While we do not have final numbers just yet, I can tell you that our outstanding staff has collaborated tirelessly with local leaders to grow their locals. Membership growth plans that were crafted over the last year are currently being executed with the goal of achieving growth in every one of our locals. Staff and local leadership cannot do this work alone, however. The responsibility to grow our union is shared by all of us. To that end, I am encouraging you and all of our members to have a conversation or two with our colleagues who have not yet joined. Let them know that we are stronger together, and given the expected challenges ahead in the next Congress and in ND’s legislative session, we need all hands on deck!
- Auto Pay — Right now, over 66% of our members are utilizing our “Auto-Pay” dues option. Auto Pay is simply an electronic payment method that local education associations across the nation are turning to as state legislatures consider ending the dues-deduct options that millions of members have relied upon for decades. Auto Pay is safe, secure, and ensures that your membership benefits continue uninterrupted should the ND Legislature choose to end dues deduction in ND. If you have any questions, please contact your local education association president or our staff at 701.223.0450!
- ND4PS — North Dakota United is excited to be a part of an incredible grassroots organization, North Dakotans for Public Schools! You can learn more about this awesome organization here, but I can tell you that we and our partners are centering our work around three pillars: strengthening our public schools, protecting our public schools, and celebrating the many, many successes of our public schools. For too long, the narrative surrounding public schools has been controlled by education outsiders, most of whom have no idea of the challenges public schools and the teachers therein face on the daily. ND4PS endeavors to recapture the narrative, telling our stories, honestly and consistently, not for political gain but to reclaim the promise of our schools and restore the luster to the teaching profession that has been tarnished for entirely too long. Please click the link above and join us in standing up for North Dakotans for Public Schools!
That’s it for now. Thank you again for your membership in ND United and for the amazing work you do every day in service to our friends and neighbors across the state!
