LEO Goes to Lansing: AFT-MI Higher Ed Lobby Day

By LEO SPACE Committee

On Wednesday May 14th, 10 LEO members and staff organizers joined members of eight other AFT-MI locals for AFT-MI’s first-ever Higher Ed Lobby Day in Lansing. We met with our legislators to advocate for increased spending for our state’s 15 public universities and 31 community colleges. Lobby Day was also a chance for us to push back against attacks on immigrant students and workers, as well as attacks on DEI.

Pictured from left to right, back row: Meredith Kahn, Brianna Foraker, Cindee Giffen, Scott Dennis, Larisa Mednis, Sheryl Edwards, and Bobby Madamanchi; front row Jimmy Brancho, and AndyT

What it was like

We met as a group in the morning at the AFL-CIO office about a 10 minute walk from the Capitol. Over breakfast, AFT-MI President Terrence Martin, staffer Meenaksi Mukherjee, and lobbyist Todd Tennis provided an orientation to what we were advocating for and its context within this legislative session. 

From there, we were divided up into seven teams and assigned to meet with our own respective state senators and representatives. Each team had 2-3 scheduled appointments and mostly spoke with staffers in each office. Between those scheduled meetings we did drop-ins on a number of other legislators and watched the Senate and House Sessions.

Key takeaways

One of the main takeaways was that higher education is not as much of a priority for our legislators as we would like. This means a few things for our union. We need to…

• Do more of these lobby days! 

• Get more LEO members from a wider range of districts to diversify the politicians we’re speaking to. In particular, we need to be talking to more Republican legislators to get our issues on their radar.

• Get members to regularly visit with their state reps and senators whenever they offer coffee hours to meet up with their constituents.

Testimonials

“During a time in which national politics draws much of our attention, it’s important to remember that there is still much we can do at a local level to improve quality of life and the health of our communities. This was my first time attending a formal lobbying event in Lansing, and I’m excited to keep talking to our electeds about the importance of investing in higher education to secure a bright future for our state.” - Meredith Kahn

Meredith Kahn

AndyT

“In general I found the whole experience to be pretty empowering. It’s through my union that I learned more about the legislative process and now I feel way more comfortable dropping in to visit my state senator & rep, even if I don’t have an appointment! I live in pretty progressive districts in Detroit and so the offices we met with were on board with what we were asking, but they did punt and say that we needed to be talking to the Republican legislators to try and get them on our side regarding funding for public higher ed. I’m like, ‘Challenge accepted!’ We need to do this again and I’ll gladly team up with any LEO member who lives in a less progressive district to have the more difficult conversations!”

- AndyT

“Participating in Higher Ed Lobby Day helped me understand the perspectives of our legislators, and why they need to hear from constituents. They don’t always know what’s happening to people, and need to hear more from us about the impacts of state and federal policies. It also gave me an appreciation for the many issues competing for their attention and the trickle-down effects of federal budget uncertainty on our state. I now know who we need to talk to to more effectively push for state funding for higher ed, and the kind of stories and data that might be compelling to legislators.”

- Cindee Giffen

Cindee Giffen

Scott Dennis

“It was my first time lobbying legislative officials where they work, and I was surprised by how open, welcoming, and candid they were.  I was also struck by the outsize influence U-M has on their thinking, both positive and negative, and how this gives us the opportunity to help validate and amplify the voices of our colleagues at other institutions like EMU and the community colleges with whom we share so many interests, and also to counter misinformation about U-M and higher ed in general. (For example: Michigan Republicans seem not to know that their colleagues in other states whose governing approach they admire, like Florida, fund public higher ed institutions at a higher rate than Michigan does.)  These officials need and want information, perspective, and real-world stories that we are uniquely able to provide.”

- Scott Dennis

The Who’s Who

LEO members got to meet and work with colleagues from these other AFT-MI locals:

• Henry Ford Community College Federation of Teachers (HFCC-FT) in Dearborn

• Eastern Michigan University Federation of Teachers (EMUFT) in Ypsilanti

• Union of Nontenure Track Faculty (UNTF) at MSU in East Lansing. Their current president is former LEO member Victor Rodriguez-Periera!

• Union of Part-Time Faculty (UPTF) at Wayne State University (WSU) in Detroit

• Graduate Employee’s Organizing Committee (GEOC) also at WSU

• Kalamazoo Valley Community College Federation of Teachers (KVCCFT)

• Professional Instructors Organization at Western Michigan University (PIO WMU) in Kalamazoo

• University of Michigan-Flint American Federation of Teachers-American Association of University Professors (UMF AFT-AAUP)

• UM Ann Arbor Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (UMAAUP), not an AFT-MI local, but still an important ally!

The entire AFT-Michigan group who came together for Higher Ed Lobby Day poses outside the state capitol building.

Here’s the list of all of the Michigan State Senators that we visited:

• Sue Shink (SD 14) 

• Jeff Irwin (SD 15)

• Sam Singh (SD 28)

• Sarah Anthony (SD 21)

• Sean McCann (SD 19)

• Mallory McMorrow (SD 8)

• Stephanie Chang (SD 3)

• Mary Cavanagh (SD 6)

• Erika Geiss (SD 1)

• Rosemary Bayer (SD 13)

Here’s the list of all of the Michigan State Representatives that we visited:

• Carrie Rheingans (HD 47 & former LEO member!)

• Jimmie Wilson (HD 32)

• Emily Dievendorf (HD 77)

• Matt Longjohn (HD 40)

• Helena Scott (HD 8)

• Matt Kolezar (HD 22)

• Tom Kuhn (HD 57)

• Tyrone Carter (HD 1

• James DeSana (HD 29)

• Laurie Pohutsky (HD 17)

AFT-Michigan participants, including those from LEO and LEO-GLAM as well as UMF AFT-AAUP attend sessions in the balcony looking down on the chamber.