The Georgia Teachers Organization
The Georgia Teachers Organization (GTO) is an organizational body that desires to make better work
conditions and environments for all educators in the state of Georgia. Since there was no single body for speak out for the educators in the state of Georgia, GTO has its objective to do what is missing behalf of
the educators who are in the state of Georgia. They believe that they could more effectively talk out for issues such as high salaries,
better retirement gains and the abolition of state salary step structure by which the veteran teachers are discriminated, if all
200,000 Georgia educators united. Through The Georgia Teachers
Organization, they could effectively communicate with the members and coordinate actions on critical issues that concern Georgia educators.
It is All about Volunteering
The Georgia Teachers Organization states that they do not have "luxury" office apartments and none of their members run for elected
office. It is run by a group of volunteer members of the organization that work in order to achieve better
gains for all teachers, faculty and staff members in the state of Georgia. One of the goals that GTO hopes to achieve is that to educate all
Georgia educators about the vital matters that concern their profession and seek the necessary action when it is needed. The Georgia Teachers Organization maintains an email network, so the organization communicate with the members easily. The organization urges every Georgia educator to join the organization by paying a $25 annual membership fee to strengthen their movements.
Morale Bulding for Educators
The GTO promotes any lawmaking that would gain the educator benefits and morale. According to the organization every state that borders Georgia has full retirement gains for educators after 25 years of service without an
early retirement penalty but Georgia does not offer this gain. Other than for the core gains of the educators, The Georgia Teachers Organization
also functions on many extra areas for raising and bettering the benefits of the educators in the
state of Georgia.
The organization also state that the retirement benefit for each year of service should be increased to 3%. As a result 25 years of service would provide
75% (25*3%) salary upon retirement in contrast to the currently provided 60%. At present, Georgia state employee get 90% of the salary in their retirement plan and The Georgia Teachers Organization argues that it should be same for the educators.
Making Opportunities
When one joins the Georgia Teachers Organization one receives several benefits such as being involved in an action list
which notifies who to contact when important matters arise and also receiving email notifications about pending legislation
pertaining the profession. The contact details of the individuals, parties, and
organizations are given to The Georgia Teachers Organization’s members, so they can directly have a dialog with the parties who are working to improve the standards for Georgian
educators. Moreover, members would receive the opportunity to attend local, regional and state gatherings and meetings to gain first-hand knowledge about
the ideas that other teachers might present to improve the working conditions.