LAMPHERE FEDERATION OF TEACHERSAFT Michigan

Horseracing and Solidarity-- The LFT is hosting a night at the races at Hazel Park Racetrack on Friday May 9. The dining room opens at 6 p.m. Live racing begins at 7:25 p.m. The cost is $16.95 per person which includes the dinner buffet, racing programs and dining room seating. All members of unions in the school district have also been invited as well. Spouses and friends are welcome also. Please RSVP to your building rep by May 5.

Lobby Day Registration--AFT Michigan is hosting a Lobby Day on April 22. Meet your legislator and talk to them about the issues that affect you and your students. If you are interested in attending contact Judy Schram. Deadline for registration is April 1st.

PAC Fund--The LFT PAC Fund Committee will soon be initiating the annual PAC fund drive. Last year's $5 for 5 collection was very successful and it will be done again. The money collected will be for the AFT Michigan PAC fund which is used for state of Michigan election races. Remember how important it is to elect "eduacation friendly" candidates to the state government.

Member to Member Survey--Building reps will be distributing AFT Michigan's "Member to Member Survey." The state federation uses data collected from those surveys to plan goals for the union.

Convention Elections--The AFT Michigan Convention delegate election was uncontested. The LFT Executive Board voted to seat the delegates. The delegates are Chris Anderson, Barb Buczynski, Denise Jackson, Amy Keller, Michelle Charron (Lass), Beth Sabo, Judy Schram and Dave Wrobel. Thanks to the members who will take some of their personal time to represent you. There will be an election on April 16th for the delegate representation to the AFT Convention.

Share Your Stories About the Family and Medical Leave Act
In an attempt to roll back or undo the Family and Medical Leave Act's hard-won worker protections, the U.S. Department of Labor in February proposed changes to FMLA regulations that will make it more difficult for workers to use leave under the act. The AFT will be signing on to the AFL-CIO's detailed comments on the specific changes, but we need to make the Labor Department aware that its actions will affect real people. Share your personal story of how you have used FMLA leave to help you or your family through a time of illness, care for a newborn or provide long-term care for a loved one. The deadline to comment is April 10. Since its inception, more than 50 million Americans have used FMLA leave. The FMLA is extraordinarily popular with workers, and businesses have found that it has not had a negative effect on productivity or economic growth. In spite of this, the Bush administration is proposing changes that would make it more difficult for workers to obtain leave under FMLA.

What's At Stake?--Protect Your FMLA Rights in the Workplace

The DOL's proposed changes to the FMLA regulations fall under three broad categories:

Infringement upon privacy of medical information. Under the proposed changes, after seeking permission from the employee, the employer may directly contact the employee's medical doctor to clarify information. In the current law, the employer may not directly contact the medical doctor. Employers must designate a health professional to make such contact.

Increased burdens upon workers to access FMLA leave such as:
- Increasing the number of medical visits that the workers will be required to pay for either outright or through co-pays,
- Requiring additional medical certification forms that the workers must pay their health care providers for,
- Limiting the use of accrued paid leave. Currently, workers are able to use their earned paid leave while on FMLA. The proposed regulation will require workers to follow their employer's rules for using paid leave; and

Relaxation of requirements upon employers as to when they must allow workers to use FMLA leave. Under the proposed regulations, workers will have less time to provide notice and will be required to provide their employer more information than previously required when requesting leave.

There are two proposed positive changes:

"Light duty," such as temporarily moving a person from factory floor work to administrative work, would no longer count toward the FMLA leave time (12 weeks). Under current FMLA regulations, workers who accept "light duty" assignments have the time that they work on light duty counted against their 12 weeks to be reinstated to their regular position; and
Employers must provide more detailed information about FMLA rights to employees.

These positive changes, however do not outweigh the unacceptable proposed restrictions that would make it much more difficult for workers to take leave under the FMLA.

Q&A--A new question and answer section is being added to the web page. Many members have similar questions and concerns as issues arise. Answers to common questions will be posted there.