Since the start of this pandemic, TAUP has set as its top priority the health and safety of our community. We successfully campaigned for workplace accommodations and limits on in-person instruction.

Now, the focus expands to include vaccines.  We want you to have the latest information on how to obtain these medications. However, we must caution that information changes daily, and the procedures for some larger cities such as Philadelphia may differ from states. Please check official city, county, and state websites for the latest information about the vaccines.

Here’s the current situation:

You can seek vaccine if you are:

• Ages 65 and older
• Pregnant
• Have cancer, chronic kidney disease, COPD, Down Syndrome, heart conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, or cardiomyopathies, immunocompromised states from solid organ transplant, obesity, severe obesity, sickle cell disease, or type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Pennsylvania now has a website where they list locations that currently have vaccines or could soon have vaccines. Most are medical centers and pharmacies. Some have their own websites where you can register to be notified of available vaccines at their location. The sooner you register, the sooner you may get a vaccine. Checking websites daily may yield more locations where you can sign up for a vaccine.

Workers in higher education are currently classified as being in Group 1C.  There is no timetable announced yet for when vaccinations will commence for this group.

Teachers who work in Philadelphia and live in surrounding counties are encouraged to get a vaccine in the community where they live. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney was quoted in the Philadelphia Inquirer and stated:

“A large percentage of our teachers do not live in Philadelphia. So if they have the availability of getting a vaccination in their own community they should do that and reduce the number that we have to be responsible for.”

TAUP is working to expedite vaccinations for some of our members who work in person. We are aware that some of our members are working in person but do not have the health challenges that put them more toward the front of the line. These members feel an even greater urgency to get the vaccine, and TAUP supports them. If you’re teaching in person and have questions about testing and vaccines, email taupaft@gmail.com

By communicating clearly with each other and insisting that our rights to a safe workplace are respected, we will get through this long, painful episode — mourning our losses, cognizant of the inequities that continue to structure the unequal burdens we share, and committed to a healthier and more just future for our members and all in our community.

Posted by Nia Jackson and James McGinnis

Fifty-seven years ago, a great American, who fought and died for racial equality, gave a masterful speech, and dared us all to dream. Martin Luther King Jr. drew on the words of Abraham Lincoln, and he forced us to acknowledge an epidemic of  injustice in the United States.

Two generations have now passed. Old hate found its way to the forefront amid a political climate of division and fear. We now leave to the next generation a society in turmoil. We owe this next generation so much more.

We owe them a society that understands and defends the words of the U.S. Constitution, the rights of Equality, Freedom of Speech, the Press, and of Peaceful Assembly, and speaks truth to power when these rights are abused and misused.

We owe them a system of higher education that benefits all – regardless of ancestry, race, gender, sexual identity, or economic status.
We owe them an education that does not shy away from the sins of history or avoids the uncomfortable topics of systemic racism and inherent bias.

We owe them civil protest when unarmed black and brown people are killed by police officers who hold them down on the ground until their last breaths or shoot them while their backs are turned. We owe to all communities of color a recognition of a deeply painful American history, including just this past year, which was marked by the pandemic, the killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others, and an attack on our nation’s Capitol Building by those who looked nothing like those mentioned above…and subsequently did not meet the same fate.

We owe honor and recognition of the life and work of the late statesman and civil rights activist John Lewis, who marched with Dr. King and spent his life fighting for their united dream.

TAUP leadership, its members, the entire Temple community, and all those who believe in the power of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s dream, must stand in solidarity and continue the conversations, while also engaging in the actions necessary to fulfill and realize his dream. We have much work to do–as a union, as a university, as a city, and as a nation.

TAUP unequivocally joins our national union, the American Federation of Teachers, in condemning the insurrection attempted yesterday at the U. S. Capitol, an assault unseen since the War of 1812 and never attempted by American citizens.

Despite the baseless objections that helped fuel that violence, the democratic process prevailed and the presidential and vice presidential elections were certified officially early this morning.

As important as that was, it cannot be enough.  The foundation for moving forward as a democracy must include consequences for those who have actively undermined our nation’s most fundamental institutions.

There is no democracy – or hope for respectful relationships among our communities – without justice.  That starts with President Trump.  He has proven himself to be contemptuous of the U.S. Constitution he swore to serve and thus, a threat to our Republic.

He must be removed immediately.

The Vice President must initiate the process outlined in the 25th Amendment and the Congress must initiate impeachment to ensure that he is barred from ever serving in office again.

Those who broke into the Capitol must be prosecuted as the law requires.  The failures in security that allowed this to happen must be investigated with significant consequences for any individual whose work supported the breach.

And as so many have made clear, the difference in law enforcement’s treatment of the predominantly White mob stands in shameful contrast to the response of police to Black Lives Matter protests this summer and the discriminatory violence sustained by Black and Brown people throughout the history of this country. Significant change is long overdue.

A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20th.  The new House and Senate both have Democratic majorities, however thin.  The latter was secured by the election of Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff; it might give us some comfort that Sen. Warnock was the pastor and Sen. Ossoff the intern of Rep. John Lewis, of blessed memory.  It is a reminder that our job is to sustain the practice of “good trouble”, which includes holding the new administration and congress to account, pressuring them to pass and execute laws and processes that will protect and support those who need it most.

That includes laws that ensure strong labor rights, promote exceptional public education, and ensure justice in all its forms.  That will be the strongest rebuke to the destructive violence seen yesterday and the poisonous ideologies that give it power.

This is our work.