We support HB 655 because there are hungry kids in New Hampshire. As of Sept 2024, almost 40% of Granite State children live in households that don’t have enough food, at least some of the time.

And since we know these children are in New Hampshire, we know that many of them are in our public schools. I know because I have seen them. My members see them on any given day. My members often dig into their own pockets to keep a stash of easy snacks in their classrooms for those in need. Why do we do this? Because we know that hungry kids have a harder time paying attention to their schoolwork. Hungry kids often have more off tasks behaviors and disrupt learning for other students. Hungry kids sometimes act out. What they don’t do is learn as well as they could.

I am here today to express our support for SB 206.

AFT-NH supports SB 206 because giving our educators and students distraction free learning time to focus on learning during the school day is just good common sense. 

We support this bill because the current system isn’t working. As cell phones have become a common, and constant companion for teens, preteens, and even some elementary school students, the issues this causes in our classrooms have multiplied. Cell phones have become a distraction from the learning tasks at hand, competing with the teacher for the attention of students. With ready access to social media aps, student cell phone use during the school day can increase student anxiety, add to feelings of stress, decrease in-person communication and inflame incidents of cyberbullying. 

If you live in a town of one of these School Districts, please attend the Deliberative Session! Please support AFT-NH Members who have worked hard to negotiate a contract that will appear on March 11th (Election Day) ballots. TOGETHER WE WIN!

KNOW THE IMPACT!

I am here today to testify in opposition to HB 735.

This bill is a solution in search of a problem. In the Granite State our public sector unions represent the teachers and paraeducators who teach our children, the firefighters who come out in any weather to put out the fire when our house is burning, the police officers who respond when there has been a break in at our homes, the highway department workers who plow, salt or sands the road to make it possible for us to get where we are going, and many others. The point is, these are the people who keep our Granite State communities running. They are friends, neighbors and taxpayers: they live here, and raise families here. They deserve the opportunity to be treated fairly and with respect on the job and way they get that respect is through their unions.

Unions are the only way to level the playing field so that ordinary working people can collectively negotiate a fair bargain with their employer, in this case a town, city, school district or state. And NH voters overwhelmingly support unions and collective bargaining as a way for average working families to get ahead especially in the economy. In fact, a bipartisan RABA Research poll of NH voters completed in the past week found that 90% of Granite State voters believe workers should be able to join a union if they choose and 91% oppose government interference in collective bargaining arrangements. Requiring more frequent automatic recertification votes for already existing unions is government interference in collective bargaining.