In Brief

Health: AFT joins African teachers to combat HIV/AIDSBuilding on a successful, groundbreaking pilot project with the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA), the AFT is launching a multiyear, multicountry project to give African teachers resources and support to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The AFT-Africa AIDS Campaign offers technical assistance and funding to help African teachers unions develop training materials and programs. Over the last year, the AFT and ZIMTA have created materials and conducted workshops in Zimbabwe for a specialized workplace-based training program to bring accurate information about AIDS to every school in Zimbabwe.

In addition to ZIMTA, teachers unions in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria have agreed to collaborate with the AFT to develop and implement programs in HIV/AIDS education and prevention, counseling and referral, and care for teachers and their families affected by AIDS.

The scope of the AIDS crisis on Africa’s education systems is staggering. In South Africa, 420,000 children have lost one or both parents to AIDS, and an average of 1,000 teachers a year die from the disease. In Zimbabwe, more than 30 percent of the country’s teachers are infected with the AIDS virus. Without effective prevention programs, AIDS deaths among teachers throughout Africa are expected to climb dramatically over the next 10 years.

The situation, however, is not hopeless. Behavioral changes and prevention programs have already resulted in successful efforts to reduce AIDS transmission, not only in more developed countries, but in African nations.

Meanwhile, UUPers are being asked to donate to the AFT-Africa AIDS Campaign by ordering AFT ribbon pins (inset) for $10 each. All proceeds go directly toward union initiatives for HIV/AIDS education, teaching materials and supplies.

“The pin is a powerful symbol of our commitment to assist the teachers of Africa in their ongoing efforts to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic,” said UUP President William Scheuerman, an AFT vice president.

For more information, visit the Web at http://www.aft.org/africa_aids.

In Rochester: Women’s issues top Fall DA agenda

A political scientist will be the keynote speaker at the union’s 2002 Fall Delegate Assembly (DA), set for Oct. 4-5 at the Hyatt Regency in Rochester.

Frances Fox Piven, left, a distinguished professor in the department of political science at CUNY’s Graduate Center, will discuss the campaign to regulate American workers.

Her speech is the centerpiece of DA discourse on women’s issues. Tentative events include: osteoporosis screenings; a hearing on financial planning; a talk on women and disabilities; and a special luncheon with invited speaker Nuala Drescher of Buffalo State, former UUP president.

Also at the DA, delegates will vote on a proposed constitutional amendment to change the makeup of the statewide Executive Board. The proposed amendment calls for the board to increase from 11 to 13 members and to include the elected chair of the Committee on Active Retired Membership as a nonvoting, ex officio member.

— Karen L. Mattison

In Memoriam: UUP mourns longtime editor

Longtime labor-union writer and editor Theodore Bleecker, 79, died July 6 following a long illness.

Bleecker, the founding editor of New York Teacher, retired in 1994 after 31 years with NYSUT and more than two decades as editor-in-chief of its bi-weekly publication.

He was a past president of the AFT Communications Association (AFTCA) and recently was presented with AFTCA’s prestigious Albert Shanker Lifetime Achievement Award.

During his stalwart union career, Bleecker, above, was active in “Teachers Against the Vietnam War” and assisted the AFT “Freedom Schools” operation in Virginia in 1963, which was established for African-American children fighting against segregation.

He served as a union organizer in New York and New Jersey and was the first elected leader of the union representing New York City Health Department workers.

Contributions in Bleecker’s memory may be made to: Chandler Hall Hospice, 99 Barclay St., Newton, Pa. 18940 or to the Parkinson’s Foundation, 680 W. 168th St., New York, N.Y. 10032.

— Karen L. Mattison

Legislation: New Reilly intern joins UUP staff

Kristie Coppernoll, a graduate student at SUNY Albany’s Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, is on board as UUP’s newest John M. Reilly legislative intern.

A native of Mayfield (Fulton County), Coppernoll, above right, is working 20 hours a week. Her duties include tracking bills, helping to organize legislative meetings, researching and analyzing relevant data and other responsibilities associated with the union’s legislative agenda.

Coppernoll, 23, is working toward her master’s degree in public administration. She received a bachelor of arts degree in political science from SUNY Stony Brook in May 2001, and expects to earn her master’s in May 2003.

Coppernoll worked this summer as a policy analyst for the state Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research.

The UUP internship is named after former President John M. Reilly of SUNY Albany, who served from 1987-1993.

— Karen L. Mattison