Terms and Acronyms
EC
Executive Council, the officers of the TEA, the EC governs the RC.
MEA
Michigan Education Association
MESSA
Michigan Education Special Services Association. A not-for-profit membership organization established by the MEA as a Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA). For more information on the history of MESSA, follow this link.
NEA
National Education Association
Portable Document Format. A document format that makes a navigable image of a file. It usually preserves all of the attributes of the original. For example, a newspaper article looks like the newspaper, complete with columns, photographs and headlines. It requires a free reader program from Adobe. Click here for a copy. Or click on the icon.
Region 2B
Michigan is divided up into geographic regions, each local association falls into one of these regions and is assigned MEA Uniserve Directors according to their region. Representation at governing assemblies, the RAs, are organized according to those regions.
RA
Representative Assembly. The RA is the legislative assembly of the Association. There are three RA's scheduled each year, the Spring and Fall MEA RA's and the Summer NEA RA. The Fall RA falls usually on the first or second Saturday in November and lasts one day. The Spring RA falls on the first or second weekend in May and is held over two days, Friday and Saturday. These are both held in Lansing. The Summer NEA RA falls the week of the Fourth of July in assorted national venues, such as Los Angeles, Dallas, New Orleans, etc.
RC
Representative Council, the ruling body of the TEA. The RC consists of the officers of the TEA, all Association Representatives, and Committee heads.
TEA
Trenton Education Association
Uniserve Director
The Professional Negotiator hired by the MEA to service local contracts. The Uniserve Director is well versed in labor law and can advise the local on all aspects of the contract and our obligations under that contract.