USEA Membership Benefits

1. Your Voice for Rights
USEA fights for fair treatment of classified employees.  We know employment laws and district policies because we deal with them every day.  If our members have a question about their rights, a call to the USEA office is all it takes.

2. Your Voice in Negotiations
Employee salaries and benefits don't just appear- they are negotiated.  USEA assists local leaders with research and presentations of ideas to improve the working conditions of all classified employees.  We have won these types of benefits for classified employees: Salary Increases, Insurance Coverage, Vacation Benefits, Sick Leave, Personal Leave, Bereavement Leave, Sick Leave Banks, Early Retirement Programs, Certification Pay, Retirement Benefits.

3. Your Voice In Due Process
Because of USEA, Classified Professionals are included under the protections of Utah's Orderly Termination Act. This law grants career classified employees due process when faced with a reduction in pay, work hours or even termination. Due process includes the right to know and rebut allegations and evidence against you, the right to present your case, and the right to a fair hearing. USEA members faced with discipline meetings or a hearing can call on a USEA Labor Representative or staff attorney to stand by them to assist and represent them through the process.

4. Your Work-related Legal Voice
USEA provides all members with free job-related legal services. For school employees, legal problems can arise whether you're doing your job right or wrong. Sometimes, employers overstep their legal bounds in dealing with their employees. In either case, USEA will be there to help represent your interests at no cost to you - not school district interests, not teacher interests, not student interests, but yours!

5. Your Voice for Positive Problem Solving
Many workers are faced with situations they just need help with such as job appeals, insurance issues, workers' compensation claims, or ordinary workplace conflicts. USEA's Labor Representatives are trained to work with these issues; and because they work for you and not your school district or teachers, they can often say the difficult things you cannot.

6. Your Voice on Capitol Hill
USEA is the only organization on Utah's capitol hill lobbying exclusively for Classified Professionals with the Utah Legislature and local school boards. USEA has won inclusion for classified employees in Utah's Orderly Termination Law which protects against unreasonable dismissal. USEA speaks out against all forms of privatization in public schools. USEA also successfully lobbied for a law which requires that Classified Professionals (including part-time workers) receive a larger compensation increase than their higher paid teaching and administrative counterparts in education. In 1999, USEA negotiated on average about .25% additional increase for classified employees because of this law.

7. Your Voice for Member Control
The driving force behind USEA is the member. Members manage and run our state organization and do it for less than other organizations providing similar services. Our Executive Board consists of Classified Professionals elected from throughout Utah. These people donate thousands of hours each year to make our organization work. They provide guidance and direction to our professional staff members and assure that dues money is spent in the best interest of members.

8. Your Voice For Local Control
USEA local chapters are independent. The state organization and full-time staff serve as resources for your locally elected officers; usually a President, Vice President and several Executive Board members. USEA is also independent. Although our national affiliation is with the National Education Association, it remains completely independent. No one will ever come to your local officers and tell them that USEA requires members to participate in any activity which local members do not agree with.

9. Your Voice For Professional Development
Each year USEA conducts training workshops for its members and officers. Topics range from negotiating methods and tactics to helping members handle grievances. These training sessions also give local officers a chance to learn from their counterparts from other districts. Training sessions often involve USEA's Executive Board, Labor Relations Representatives and the USEA attorney.

10. Your National Connection
USEA Delegates approved a national affiliation with the Education Support Professionals of the National Education Association (NEA) at the 2004 Delegate Conference. The affiliation with NEA provides members with access to the buying power and lobbying power of over 2.7 million members throughout the country. This means USEA members have access to group rates on insurance plans and buying discounts. The affiliation also means that USEA members have a voice in the largest professional employees organization in the country. We encourage you to visit their website at www.nea.org.

11. Your Source For Information
The USEA Review is USEA's newsletter and primary way to get information out to its concerned members. The quarterly newsletter keeps members informed about current events and USEA activities. The state organization also maintains this website and helps locals in publishing and mailing their own newsletters.USEA conducts an annual salary survey used in negotiations which ranks benchmark positions in school districts throughout Utah. USEA also maintains an annual Benefits Analysis and reference information which include OSHA regulations, wage and hour regulations, district financial records, labor arbitration cases and legal materials involving labor issues and several law research libraries.

12. Your Opportunity for Leadership
USEA is always searching for Classified Professionals who take pride in their work and want to make the lives of their coworkers better. People with ideas and commitment are needed. Local chapter officers and committee people are the keystones of our organization. They are the eyes and ears of state leaders who are constantly on the alert for new ways to offer benefits and services to our USEA members. USEA operates on democratic principles of participation and fairness. Its state and local officers are elected by the people they represent and serve. If you want to make a difference in your workplace - if you want to be able to vote for the people who speak for you - if you want a voice in your own future - you need to join USEA.

13. Your Source for Current Benefits
USEA began representing Classified Professionals in Utah in 1938. If you enjoy any of the following benefits, chances are that USEA members and resources were instrumental in winning them: Sick Leave, Vacation Pay, Retirement Programs, Personal Leave, Bereavement Leave, Health Insurance, Short-term Disability, Long-term Disability, Payroll Deductions, Sick Leave Bank, Unlimited Sick Leave, Early Retirement, Cashout of Unused Sick Leave.

14. Your Source for Special Services
Term Life Insurance, Dental Insurance, Mini Med Program,  Discount Automobile Insurance through Nationwide Insurance, Return of Dues Policy, Vacation Discounts, Retirement Issues. More information is available from the USEA office about many programs.  Please call for additional information on any employment related issue or benefit.

15. USEA Dues
USEA monthly dues are lower than any other employees association providing similar services in Utah and are arranged through payroll deduction.  You receive many valuable benefits. Click on the "application form" link below, fill out the membership form, print it and sign it, and put it in the mail today. There is great strength in numbers. Members working together can achieve what individuals cannot. The great majority of Utah's Classified Professionals have decided to join the USEA family. Executive Board and staff members take care of the daily business of service for our membership. For USEA the most important number is ONE. That one is YOU. Join USEA today. You and your family will be glad you did.