The Oregon Education Association is in a pivotal moment as we define what our future looks like in a post-Janus and post-pandemic world. Our diverse group of more than 41,000 members come from many backgrounds, politics, geographies and job classifications. Bringing together these diverse perspectives as we build the future of OEA will be critical, and Laura is the candidate to do that.
As Vice President of OEA, she will bridge the urban and rural geopolitical divide to lift all voices, from the smallest local to the largest. Laura will also ensure that the direction of the organization, decisions and actions are reflective of the increasingly diverse population of members within OEA and support initiatives that recruit and develop BIPOC leaders and elevate the voices of LGBTQIA2S+ members and other historically marginalized groups. The future of OEA depends on implementing democratic structures that are organizing focused to bring us into a sustainable future. A key part of that sustainable future is to continue to work to balance the budget of OEA. Unions are more popular than ever before and we will need strong and decisive leaders to leverage that popularity and lead Oregon's largest education union into a labor focused future. Laura Latham is the Vice Presidential candidate to do that. |
Laura is a leader with experience |
Laura is the President of the Phoenix-Talent Education Association, a rural 145 member local located in Southern Oregon and an OEA Board Director representing Board District 1. She has served PTEA in many elected roles as a Building Rep, Grievance Chair, Vice-President, and now President. Her experience also includes bargaining three contracts with Phoenix-Talent Schools. Laura has planned and led organizing campaigns and has recruited and developed diverse leaders to support her in changing the local culture of Phoenix-Talent from a historically apathetic membership to a local with 97% density and 100% of new hire signups for the last two years in a row. In just three years of Vice President/President experience, Laura has reorganized the internal structures of PTEA, asserted the rights of the union and changed the culture of PTEA from of one of passivity to one of activism.
In addition to local experience, Laura has been an OEA Board Director representing Southern Oregon since 2022. Additionally, she has been cadre worker for OEA as Member Organizer Mentor, supporting local leaders in low-density areas. In pursuing her passion for union work not only at the local and state level, Laura has represented OEA at the NEA Leadership Summit in 2023 and 2024, co-presenting this last year in Chicago on "Finding Issues and Leaders to Beat Apathy in Your Union". In spring of 2024, she completed the NEA Pre-Uniserv Program, a competitive program that trains NEA leaders to have the skills and qualifications to do Uniserv Staff work. Through this program, Laura gained a new level of knowledge about the national structures of NEA as well as the role of Uniserv Staff in state affiliates. The training from this program on organizing, labor activism and social justice that she received deepened her knowledge and helped to broaden her perspectives on union work. Laura Latham is a detail oriented leader who is a systems thinker. Her leadership style is one that is open to hearing all viewpoints, but decisive and not afraid to challenge the status quo. As the next OEA Vice President, she will support the President in leading the Oregon Education Association into an organizing focused future where all voices are heard. |