Month: March 2020

TAUP Online Town Hall Friday, 3/27

A reminder that we will be hosting a Online Town Hall this Friday, 3/27 from 2-3pm.  RSVP here to receive a Zoom link with the meeting information.

In this meeting we will:

  • Share the steps TAUP has taken to advocate for our members 
  • Hear how the pandemic is affecting you, your family and your co-workers
  • Learn how the union can support you as we go through this trying time together
  • Hear how members feel Temple and higher ed in general may change in the future based on what they are seeing
  • Discuss where the union has power to act, and how we can work together to defend our rights. 

We are considering hosting weekly virtual get-togethers in the future to discuss the challenges we face and how to collectively address them. 

Please feel free to reach out with any immediate questions or concerns at: taupaft@gmail.com.

We also want to direct you to the COVID-19 page on our website.  We know you’re very busy, but it would be helpful if before the town hall you could review two documents on that page that we sent to the administration last week, our Principles and Questions and our Request for Information on Health and Safety. They will be discussed at the meeting, including the administration’s responses.

We look forward to seeing you on Friday!

Donate Personal Protective Equipment!

We have all been getting many urgent requests during this pandemic, but we come to you now with one of the most urgent, one that can save lives. Health-care providers face a dire shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) necessary for them to do their jobs.   This includes our brothers and sisters on the front line in Temple’s Health System.

Philadelphia’s Office of Emergency Management is asking for:

  • N95 Respirators/Face Masks
  • Disposable and Washable Gowns
  • Eye Protection
  • Gloves
  • Swabs

All items should be in the manufacturer’s original packaging and unopened. 

If you and/or your department can donate any of these items and haven’t yet, we urge you to seek the appropriate permissions (from chairs/deans) to do so.  The call for help and the link to the donation form can be found here.

Let’s all do what we can to flatten the curve and contain this virus.

Please also consider donating to the Student Relief Fund, indicating TAUP’s FAST Fund in the memo.  Just today, thanks to generous donations our FAST Fund received $5000 of desperately needed money.  On Friday the account was at $0. Every day, students in desperate circumstances come to us, out of work due to the necessary steps to contain COVID-19, fearful as they face not having money for rent or food. As we tend to our students’ intellectual needs, we can also support them when they are in crisis.  

Thanks very much to all of you for all that you are doing as members of many communities and families, including TAUP!

Chime In! TAUP Video Townhall

We cannot tell how long or how severe this disruption will be, but there is no question that COVID-19 has already deeply dislocated our personal and professional lives and caused much uncertainty in our daily decision making and long-term plans.

With few if any TAUP members left working on campus, we face the challenges of working from home and teaching online, tending to research projects, and caring for ourselves and our families.

As a union we need a way to hear about the experiences you are having that TAUP might be able to help with. 

What challenges have you been facing in performing your job responsibilities? What questions do you have that have yet to be answered by the university?  What have you learned that has been helpful? What student struggles are you seeing? Are there things that your college/school or department is doing that have been especially useful and supportive?

The union is interested in creating a space that allows us all to be in dialog during these extraordinary times. To do this, we will be hosting an

Online Town Hall on Friday, 3/27 from 2-3pm.
-RSVP-
  Look for a link in your email early next week.

We would like to:

  • Share the steps TAUP has taken to advocate for our members

  • Hear how the pandemic is affecting you, your family and your co-workers

  • Learn how the union can support you as we go through this trying time together

  • Hear how members feel Temple and higher ed in general may change in the future based on what they are seeing

  • Discuss where the union has power to act, and how we can work together to defend our rights.

We are considering hosting weekly virtual get-togethers to discuss the challenges we face and how to collectively address them.

Please feel free to reach out with any immediate questions or concerns at: taupaft@gmail.com.

We also want to direct you to the new COVID-19 page on our website. Though it’s still under construction, we’ve posted it in order to offer resources as quickly as possible.  In addition to links to multiple Temple University sites, we’ve included connections to resources from the City of Philadelphia and the state, emergency resources for students and members of the North Philadelphia community, and more. It also includes the recommendations and questions we have sent to the administration, and we will be posting responses as soon as we receive them.

We look forward to seeing and hearing from you–if remotely–on the 27th from 2-3.  In the meantime, please email us your questions and concerns, and stay safe in this challenging time!

In Solidarity,

Steve Newman, President

Leanne Finnigan, Vice President

Norma Corrales-Martin, Treasurer