CEA held its first annual Membership Madness Tournament, where 14 local teachers’ associations sent at least one member—usually their local membership coordinator—to CEA’s office in Hartford for a day of reconciling their membership records, sharing best practices, and ultimately growing their lists.
“They teamed up on this work with CEA’s Membership Department, and each participating local was awarded $250,” says CEA Organizer Chris Teifke, who came up with the idea for a tournament. “After these one-on-one meetings, membership chairs and other local union reps went back with tools and information to sign up as many potential members as possible.”
It starts with the ask
Connecticut law requires that school district payroll offices supply their teachers’ unions with the names and contact information for all new employees in their bargaining unit. Many districts, however, fail to do that. Problems are compounded in districts with high teacher turnover. Leaves of absence and other circumstances can also mean that people fall through the cracks.
“We’ve had cases where educators intend to sign on as members during new teacher orientation, never complete their signup, and wind up without the protection and benefits of their union,” says Teifke. “It’s unusual, but it can happen, so we’re helping our locals ensure their lists are current and complete.”
“Membership lists really are a moving target,” CEA Membership Analyst Cherie Young explains. “It can be challenging to keep up, so we’re here to lend a hand,”
Young, together with colleagues Andrea Sutton and Chenge Ma, sits with local union membership chairs and compares their bargaining unit lists with membership lists maintained by CEA. Discrepancies are flagged, and action steps are mapped out.
NEA Danbury won top prize for locals with 700-999 members with a membership percentage of 97.19.
“It can be intimidating to approach central office and ask for that information,” says Sutton, “but the law is clear. They are required to provide the name, job title, department, work location, work telephone number, and home address of every newly hired employee within ten days of hire or the first pay period of the month following their hire date—whichever is earlier.”
She adds, “We also try to give local membership chairs pathways to success, including materials they can share with potential members, such as contact information for their building rep, UniServ rep, organizer, and more.”
“This year we turned it into a friendly competition,” says Teifke, “and at the end of April, the locals with the highest membership percentage in their demographic bracket won an additional $500, which we presented to them at the CEA Representative Assembly.”
Meet the top prize getters in this year’s CEA Membership Madness Tournament:
- Locals with more than 1,000 members: Fairfield Education Association, with 98.92% membership
- Locals with 700-999 members: NEA Danbury, a buzzer-beater win (97.19%) —
- Locals with 400-699 members: Manchester Education Association (97.57%)
- Locals with 1-399 members: Naugatuck Teachers League with 99.73% membership
“Keeping an accurate, up-to-date membership roster is exceptionally challenging in an urban district with continuous high teacher turnover,” says NEA Danbury President Erin Daly. “It takes meticulous attention to detail every month to track our membership efficiently. Our membership chairperson, Rebecca Migiano, has done an excellent job cleaning up our roster and making sure we have the most up-to-the-minute accounting of our membership. CEA’s Membership Madness tournament allowed for her excellent work to be showcased as a model for other locals.”
“We’re lucky enough to have a part-time office administrator who can track members, nonmembers, potential members, and any changes over the year,” says FEA President Mick McGarry (pictured at top with Teifke). “We also have a luncheon during new teacher orientation where we distribute CEA information packets and FEA swag when they sign up, and we’re there to answer any questions. The investment in personnel and events pays off.”
“We congratulate all our competitors and look forward to an even bigger tournament next year!” Teifke says. Interested? Email christophert@cea.org.
