🍀Monday, March 30, 2026🍀
This year featured contested elections for Stewards Council, MTA Annual Meeting, and NEA Representative Assembly! We also filled the vacant Treasurer position and the constitutional amendment was passed.
The USA Board wants to extend our gratitude to outgoing stewards Linda Fish, John Folliard, and Jacob Ketchekau for the many hours of time they volunteered to support and represent members. Linda served as a steward for USA for more than 30 years! We thank her especially for the years of institutional knowledge that she has shared with new stewards. Jacob, John, and Linda will transition out of their positions in July.
Meredith Barcz has left UMass to pursue other opportunities, and we deeply appreciate the effort and attention to detail she put into the USA budget as treasurer! Meredith went out of her way to create and record a presentation for last year’s budget meeting so that all members had an opportunity to review it before voting to approve. Thank you, Meredith!
Alycia Fabry has helped dozens of USA members with reclassifications and has left behind a solid foundation of knowledge for future Classification Committee members. She is transitioning away from being the chair of the committee and has offered her support to incoming committee members and stewards. Alycia worked hard during bargaining last year to make our contract language related to classifications clearer, representative of the actual process, and contain better timelines. Thank you, Alycia!
Schools Drop ICE aims to get hundreds of colleges to drop their contracts with ICE’s key corporate enablers: Enterprise, Hilton, Flock Safety, ICE Air Carriers, and Target.
UMass contracts with Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the primary provider of ICE’s vehicles. Sign the petition link below to tell UMass to end that relationship with ICE enablers and DROP ICE by May 1st!
✨ Upcoming Events ✨
2026 MTA Education Support Professionals Conference
Registration is open for the annual ESP Conference, designed specifically for MTA Education Support Professionals (that’s you!). This conference offers professional development, networking and fun. It’s a great opportunity for ESPs to have the space to explore their roles in public education, their workplaces, and their unions. This conference is tailored for both Higher Ed and preK-12 ESPs and their allies.
WHAT: MTA ESP Conference
WHEN: April 10 & 11, 2026
WHERE: Margaritaville Resort, Hyannis
The conference is free to attend. Contact the USA Office at usa@umass.edu as soon as possible if you’re considering attending and if you need lodging. We can assist in coordinating room sharing and we have reimbursement funds available for travel expenses. The online registration deadline is April 6th, but please register by April 2nd so you can receive paid union time (PUT) for your timesheet!
Want to learn more? Read about your USA colleagues’ experience at last year’s conference!
Interested in rank-and-file research for bargaining campaigns, organizing actions, and more? Get in touch with the Research Committee lead Chris Weeks at crweeks@umass.edu!
Union Crafting Circle hosted by crafty USA members!
Bring your projects and handiwork for an hour of crafting and socializing! All UMass community members are welcome – not just USA members!
Monday April 6th, 12-1pm @ W.E.B. Du Bois Library, Room 1920 (19th Floor)
Tuesday April 21st, 12-1pm @ W.E.B. Du Bois Library, Room 1920 (19th Floor)
If you’re interested in helping coordinate events or want to be added to the soon-to-be created email list, please email Camille (cgodboutchou@umass.edu) and Deborah (dplace@umass.edu).
MTA President & Vice President Candidates Higher Ed Town Hall
We Rise! Voices of Resistance & Intersectionality is the theme of the first-ever MTA LGBTQ+ Summit scheduled on Saturday, March 7, at Worcester Tech High School.
MTA President & Vice President Candidates Higher Ed Town Halls
Join your fellow MTA higher ed members at two upcoming on-line meetings with the MTA Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates, hosted by Anneta Argyres, the higher ed representative on the MTA Executive Committee. There will be brief presentations from each candidates and time to ask questions. These meetings are open to all MTA higher ed members.
The MTA President and Vice President will be voted on by elected delegates from each MTA local at the MTA Annual Meeting on Saturday, May 9th. You can see the elected USA delegates here: 2026 USA Election Results
Keep an eye out for a future Candidate Forum hosted by USA & PSU later in April!
➡️ April 8 (Wednesday) 5:30-7 pm,
Vice President candidate forum: https://umassboston.zoom.us/meeting/register/xXYLN7ATSYiDKs5VgXTnLw
➡️ April 9 (Thursday), 5:30-7 pm,
President candidate forum: https://umassboston.zoom.us/meeting/register/J04p4J2kTEGH7IojJP8l6w
Join us for the UMass Amherst stop of the Tom Alter national tour!
On Thursday, April 9th at 5:30PM in Campus Center room 162, Tom Alter will join local activists and labor leaders to discuss the national fight for free speech and academic freedoms!
USA President Sheila Gilmour will be one of the speakers on the panel and the University Staff Association is one of the sponsors.
A friendly reminder from the USA E-Board: Please note that all UMass staff are welcome to attend the Wellness Fair during working hours without using accrued time, and they should not be unreasonably denied the opportunity to participate. Make sure to check in with your supervisor before going to ensure that essential duties are covered while you’re attending the wellness fair!
The UMass Amherst Public Health Promotion Center, in collaboration with the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing and the School of Public Health & Health Sciences, will host its fourth annual Wellness Fair on Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22 from 11 a.m – 2 p.m. in the Campus Center Auditorium. The free, day-long event is open to all UMass Amherst students, faculty, and staff.
Take advantage of:
- Blood pressure & hearing screenings
- Nutrition, biometrics, and ergonomics counseling
- Yoga and mindfulness
- Educational programs
- Community resources
- Raffles
- And more!
The 2026 Wellness Fair strives to educate and celebrate the ongoing efforts to promote integrated approaches to wellness in support of being a health-promoting university through the Okanagan Charter and the Okanagan Wellbeing Collective.
Works on Work 📚📖
This spring, the Du Bois Library is featuring a shelf display on “Woeful Workplaces,” highlighting common workplace challenges such as poor management and communication issues.
The display includes books on unions, labor history, negotiations, and collective bargaining, as well as fiction exploring labor struggles, like Germinal and Strike!.
Featured is What the Boss Doesn’t Want Us to Know, co-written by PSU co-chair Andrew Gorry, available as an eBook through UMass Libby. Visitors can view the display on the library’s lower level and materials can be checked out with your UCard!
🍀 In case you missed it!🍀
USA email sent 2/27 – Anti-education non-profit’s attempt to undermine union activity
This email is brought to you by the USA Communications Committee.
If you’re interested in joining, contributing, or have stories to share, please reach out to Deborah Place at dplace@umass.edu
