Support Staff Share Ideas for Building Strong Local Associations

It takes leadership, communication, unity – and a lot of creativity – to build a strong local association, educational support staff from throughout the state discovered Saturday (October 7, 2000) during a very animated and fun-filled Statewide ESP Conference in Neenah.

Using string, cardboard, balloons, markers, paper plates, bumper stickers and assorted other props, conference participants broke into groups and constructed creative designs representing the many elements that go into building strong local associations.

It was a laugh-filled exercise involving a serious goal – sharing ideas for strengthening the union at the local level.

Fran McNett, WEAC's ESP coordinator, noted that each of the six groups created a different design and approach to the concept of building a strong local association. Likewise, she said, every local association is unique and approaches this task differently, reflecting the perspectives of the people who make up the union and the nature of the community.

"We had a lot of fun, but in the process we really learned a lot from each other," said WEAC Vice President Stan Johnson, who participated in the group exercise. "We have a much better sense of what we need to do to strengthen our unions and, in turn, improve our lives and the lives of the children in our schools."

Addressing the conference, Johnson cited its theme, "Come Together," and noted that union success results from working together on common goals.

"We are an organization of many different constituents," he said. But it takes all of us working together to create a great school and, likewise, to create a great union.

WEAC Executive Director Michael A. Butera told participants that the WEAC Great Schools program "is about all the things that make a union strong."

"It's about organizing work with our members and with the community," he said.

Part of that effort, he said, is to focus on the economic well-being of members and on the economic well-being of the rest of the citizenry in Wisconsin.

Since 1990, he said, Wisconsin's per-capita income has risen 44.7% and its median income has risen 34%, while the income of educational employees has fallen far short of that. For example, he said, secretary salaries have risen just 30% and custodian salaries just 16.3% during that period.

"That means that while our fellow citizens get wealthier, we get poorer," he said.

It is important that members work to educate the public about the important work they do and the lack of financial reward they receive for that work. WEAC members, he said, are entrusted to play a critical role in preparing the community's children for the future.

"And for that, you tell us we're not worth what the rest of the state is worth," he said.

He said members also must work to help improve economic development in Wisconsin. Money to pay for our schools comes from taxes. The more economic expansion we have, he said, the more tax money becomes available, "and we can share in that larger pie."

Butera also noted that every school district in the state is contributing funds to the Milwaukee private school voucher program. That is money that is taken away from local educational programs and staff salaries to pay for the education of children in private schools, he said.

Great Schools, Butera said, is an ongoing process in which members organize themselves and their communities around strategies that lead to greater support for public education.

"It is the re-creation of union activism," he said. "We must gather more members together to go on this journey with us."

Posted October 9, 2000