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“The soldier is the army.”
– General George S. Patton, Jr.
By Terry Lawler
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Structure is key to The Rock Valley United Teachers Organizing Grant states, “In order to successfully mobilize members, local unions must first set up a workplace structure to allow local leadership to communicate quickly and effectively with each member.” |
A new UniServ grant program that supports and encourages local organizing efforts has generated a renewed atmosphere of solidarity within Rock Valley United Teachers.
“The RVUT Organizing Grants have enabled the Beloit Education Association to re-energize its members and get people excited about union activities,” said Tim Vedra, president of the BEA and a member of the RVUT Board of Directors.
The grant program is funded by a $5 dues contribution from each RVUT member, with the money returned to members through their local associations for organizing activities.
“We have 2,000 members, so that gives us $10,000 a year, given out in $500 grants,” said RVUT Executive Director Craig Leedham. “Since we serve eight locals, each local can apply for more than one grant in a year. Every penny our members put in goes right back to them.”
The idea for the Organizing Grants developed in discussions between Leedham and the RVUT Board soon after Leedham was hired in 2004.
“We wanted to discover how to best assist our locals to become more powerful and effective. We also needed to find the most beneficial approaches to providing that assistance,” Leedham said.
“Organizing is about rethinking how your local is structured,” Leedham said. “Organizing forces locals to improve their communications and develop mobilization structures and form local action teams.
“The strength of a union is not its budget or technical expertise; the strength of a union is its membership and what those members can accomplish.”
Members applying for a grant must answer questions regarding regular attendance at RA and union meetings, whether the local has a newsletter, how often local leadership visits local sites, and whether the local currently has an action team. The local must also commit to setting up any workplace structures it currently lacks. Applicants are then asked for the purpose of the grant, to describe the organizing plan in detail, list how many members will be affected by the plan, and provide a timeline for the plan’s completion. Applicants must also complete a report after the activity’s completion, summarizing whatever successes and/or failures the activity produced.
Leedham said “effective unions approach everything from an organizer’s perspective.”
A former researcher for WEAC, Leedham has studied strong locals he believes are models for organization, like Reedsburg, Waupaca, and Kenosha.
Since the inception of the grant program, Leedham has seen RVUT’s locals become more empowered.
“As a union, we have grown strong,” said Shelly Crull-Hanke, Turner Education Association president. “We have great support in each of our buildings for the actions we are doing in support of negotiations. This is where the RVUT grant monies came into play.”
Crull-Hanke said Beloit Turner received two grants. The first grant helped purchase a full-page ad in the Beloit daily newspaper. The ad declared “Turner Teachers Help Make Turner Schools Great” and highlighted “some of the positive roles of Turner teachers,” she said. The second grant funded the printing of signs reading, “We Support Turner Teachers” and “Turner Teachers Deserve a Fair Contract” for yards and car windows.
The Beloit Education Association has used grant money to purchase 565 black T-shirts displaying the local’s logo, Vedra said. Members wear these shirts every Tuesday to demonstrate their solidarity and their displeasure with their unsettled contract. BEA has also been able to purchase a digital camera for use at general membership events and activities. Now, Vedra said, they “can get publicity on our Web site and e-mail pictures to the newspaper and other outlets.”
Another benefit of the Organizing Grant is that it has helped solidarity among the eight RVUT locals. Recently, the Whitewater Education Support Staff (WESS) used grant money to purchase polo shirts and window clings that read “WEA/WESS Solidarity.”
“WESS is in the middle of a contract, so they used their grant money to support Whitewater’s teachers who are still in negotiations,” Leedham said.
At a recent Beloit rally, members from all the surrounding locals were present to give support. Leedham reports that attendance at general membership meetings is consistently 80% to 90%.
“I’m hoping that organizing is becoming part of RVUT’s culture now,” he said.
Solidarity was, Leedham said, a significant factor in successfully bargaining Janesville’s current contract which contains the first per-cell salary settlement since before the QEO.
“Our bargaining team held fast,” Leedham said. “They refused to settle for a substandard contract. Our membership is behind the bargaining teams 100%. They feel like they’re part of the process. Administrators in our area are sitting up and taking notice.”
Posted February 24, 2006
