May 8, 2011
Jack Livramento
United Interfaith Action
Sr. Marianna Sylvester
United Interfaith Action
Daniel Lesser
Staff Organizer for UIA
This is to inform you that The New Bedford Educators Association has received your email dated May 4, 2011 requesting President Lou St. John’s presence at two upcoming UIA sponsored events.
Please accept this letter as notification that Mr. St. John will not be attending these events because the UIA is part of the Education Roundtable, an anti-teacher/anti-union group, which has organized to use public opinion to pressure the Superintendent, Mayor, and the School Committee to strip New Bedford educators of many of our contractual rights.
This Roundtable has made numerous negative statements about our teachers and school system, and the UIA continues to support those statements by partnering with them. Since the UIA is a member of an organization whose sole intent is to destroy the teacher contract and break the New Bedford Educators Association, we cannot participate in any events which you sponsor. We will not work with any organization that attacks teachers and we will encourage our members to do the same.
We hope that the UIA will re-think its position, cease its affiliation with the Roundtable and publicly denounce all the negative statements made against our teachers, New Bedford Public Schools, and the New Bedford Educators Association.
Sincerely,
New Bedford Educators Board of Directors
cc: NBEA Members
Union Supporters
