For the first time, the aft offered a bilingual version of its highly regarded health and safety training for a group of PSRPs who gathered in California in September. The two-day cooperative program was a joint effort of several AFT state affiliates. The training was held at the offices of the California Federation of Teachers but most of the trainees came from four different school districts in Texas.

The training focused on two of the more general topics for which the AFT’s health and safety program has developed training materials: chemical hazards and blood-borne pathogens. The two main trainers came from the United Federation of Teachers in New York City and the AFT’s affiliate in Austin.

The idea behind the bilingual training is not only that the staff who don’t speak English as their first language be trained, but it’s also a recognition that many school employees are more comfortable learning in Spanish, which allows for more thorough and subtle discussions of important concepts to promote job safety. As with most of the AFT’s health and safety training, the group that gathered in Burbank will return home and train their colleagues. Clearly, given the preponderance of Texas PSRPs, it is one place where the AFT state federation and many of its locals are interested in offering the bilingual training.

Another national bilingual training program will probably be held sometime next year, likely in conjunction with the AFT’s annual PSRP conference. In the meantime, many of the union’s health and safety materials have been translated into Spanish; the ultimate goal is that much of the material will be bilingual, rather than having separate Spanish and English versions. The AFT also will be consulting with the trainers and the newly trained activists about the need for any additional materials that might prove useful.

For now, many of the materials are available on the AFT Web site at www.aft.org/psrp/topics/index.htm or by calling the AFT health and safety program at 202/393-5677.