School Blog

Hear from a student enrolled in the course about the topics being covered, what they’re learning, and more! This week’s reflection is written by Wini Peterson, Secretary, MTA – METRO Regional Office.

I am attending the Labor Guild and attending the class “Standing up for Workers Rights: Grassroots Organizing” with Rand Wilson as the instructor. I find this class to be an eye opener as it is so important to get people organized, but also to have them knowledgeable about what the issues but why it needs to be dealt with. You can have the best issue, but if no one knows about the issue or why it is important nothing gets done. I am especially enjoying the stories that other locals have and how they overcame opposition to the rights and benefits of their members. We are coming up to a time when big business has an ally in the White House who doesn’t appreciate Unions, private or public and would like to see them gone. Now more than ever we need good strong unions and even stronger union members.

Get to know one of the students in the week’s featured class! This week we’re excited to learn from Claude “Tou Tou” St. Germain, Recording Secretary of Boston School Bus Drivers- USW Local 8751, and a longtime Guild school student.

Inspired by something from this week’s posts? Want to know how to continue learning and acting on the issues? Check out the resources below!

Students in the Grassroots Organizing class will be writing their own actions plans for their unions and communities. Consider writing your own! Here are some materials that might be helpful:

http://www.labornotes.org/secrets#handouts
https://massjwj.net/organizing-resources/
http://www.massaflcio.org/how-organize-union

Hear from a student enrolled in the course about the topics being covered, what they’re learning, and more! This week’s reflection is written by Ross McDonagh, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 25.

Get to know one of the students in the week’s featured class! This week we’re excited to learn from Alison Sheppard, Facilities Manager at MWRA and Steward with USW 9360.

Inspired by something from this week’s posts? Want to know how to continue learning and acting on the issues? Check out the resources below!

Navigating the Five Steps of Grievance Handling, AFSCME Tutorial
The Steward’s Basics, USW (one in a four-part series!)

“Union strong is American strong.” – Judith Foster

Hear from a student enrolled in the course about the topics being covered, what they’re learning, and more! This week’s reflection is written by Claudette Wright, IBEW 2222.

 

I am a student in this class for the very first time. I have never been more excited to study with my brothers and sisters from all walks of life from the unions and neighborhoods throughout the country.

One of the reason I love this class is because we can see the personalities of all members of the class and build positive relationships. Building relationships is one of the most important things a person can do for happiness and harmony.

[I also think that] learning how to be an effective speaker is an essential key to allowing all voices to be heard at the table. Advocacy and mediation are so necessary for all people, who need solutions and not resolutions. When we take the time out and think, analyze, speak and articulate effectively, it can change the outcome and influence a positive direction of collective and individual goals. I also learned that it is impossible to be a public speaker with poor listening skills. [At the same time,] silence is an answer that can be more harmful than good. The way you speak and the influence matters so much, if it is not from a righteous perspective. Public speaking is a career and speakers can use it for the good of the people or with bad intent.

I am still learning, and I recommend anybody that needs to build positive relationships join the Labor Guild and take classes.

“I enjoy making connections with people, I like talking to members and finding out what’s important to them. I want to give people a voice especially when they don’t think they have one.”

Get to know one of the students in the featured class! This week, we’re excited to hear from Cara Madarese, Shop Steward and Executive Board member of OPEIU Local 6.

Cara has been a Shop Steward for 12 years, 10 of which have been in the Office of Court Management where she currently works. She initially became a steward at her business managers request. “He saw that I didn’t have a hard time standing up for myself or others […] I don’t like to see people being bullied, I want everybody to have a voice.” She says that issues in her workplace, “Come in waves. Sometimes it can be really good, and sometimes it can be really bad. We are always in the spotlight because we’re in the public sector.” Because of that, “It’s hard, people are afraid they’ll lose their jobs” if they stand up to management.

However, over the years that Cara has been a steward, she says that it has gotten easier to speak up and do her job, and to know that there are people on her side and who are standing with her in her union.

The union like Cara has grown stronger and she has worked to bring others into leadership roles. “What I find to be the most difficult is engaging the members and organizing them. The managers have no problem keeping everyone separated.” To combat the isolation, Cara connects and builds relationships with people in her workplace, and has also encouraged other union members to take on small leadership roles. She keeps lines of communication open with employees in other departments and other court offices in the area.

Cara first learned about the Guild from George Noel, Business Manager at OPEIU Local 6. She says that George has worked hard to bring the union closer together, in part, by educating members and introducing them to the Guild.

Cara began taking classes at the Guild last year, and plans to continue her education. About the Guild, Cara says: “I’m from a clerical union, and there’s a lot of tradesman [at classes]. They come from a different working environment. It’s interesting to hear the different scenarios and situations they’ve experienced and how they have helped correct the problems, especially the situations related to health and safety. Learning from your peers and other students in the class is important.”

For this current term, Cara is taking the classes Next Steps For Stewards: Organizing Around the Grievance Process and Persuasive Public Speaking: Building Effective Presentation and Persuasion Skills.

The second class is outside her comfort zone, but she says, “Rick Reilly is great. I don’t particularly like public speaking, but I find that he gets you into the material. He gets everyone involved. I definitely have challenged myself with this class.”

The Guild is very lucky to have Cara as a student and community member!

Inspired by something from this week’s posts? Want to know how to continue learning and acting on the issues? Check out the resources below!

Public Speaking Tips, Toastmasters International

Hear from a student enrolled in the course about the topics being covered, what they’re learning, and more! This week’s reflection is written by returning blogger Wini Peterson, Secretary, MTA – METRO Regional Office.

 

I’ve been attending Paul Feeney’s class on Political Campaigning for the past six weeks. We are learning about how to run for a political office. Paul has taken us through the step-by-step process of mounting a winning political campaign.

We started by learning how to use a Tully Message Box, a tool using 4 boxes. Each box asks a question: the first box, “What do we say about ourselves?”; the second box, “What do we say about them?”; the third box, “What do they say about us?”; and the fourth box, “What does our opponent say about themselves?”.

We also learned about checking the stats for the district on how people voted in the past, and using that to figure out what would be your target “win” number– amazing information on what goes on behind the scenes of a campaign. Last night, April 24th, we went over Get Out the Vote (GOTV), Poll-Checking and what needs to happen on the Election Day.

I may never run for office, but I now can help someone who is. We live in a world where we need to choose and help elect politicians who will be the voice of the working class/middle class. We have seen way too many people get elected and then forget all about these folks.

As Paul says, “When we Fight, We Win.”

 

“I always like to improve my method of organizing. There’s always something to learn.” –Martin Sanchez

Get to know one of the students in the featured class! This week, we’re excited to hear from Martin Sanchez, Organizer, New England Regional Council of Carpenters (NERCC).

Martin has been a member of NERCC for 17 years, and has been an organizer with the union off and on for the past eight years. In this position, his main role is educating the membership and organizing non-unionized workers. This means helping people understand what the union is and does, and why it is so important.

The transition from a non-union job to being a union member is something Martin can speak to firsthand. Before joining the carpenters’ union, Martin worked for three years as a wood framer without the support and protection of a union. “A carpenter organizer told me, ‘look, you can make more decent wages and have a better style of life.’ So somebody helped me, and I would like to pass it on.”

Martin spends much of his time visiting sites where workers are not unionized, and many of them do not know about organized labor. “They think they just have to work for what the boss is giving them,” he says. He has seen sites where people are receiving far below minimum wage ($10 or even $8, when the minimum is $11 in Massachusetts), and where subcontractors are taking advantage of undocumented workers and refusing to pay them after they have already completed projects. Some contractors are repeat offenders, continuously hiring and exploiting workers.

One way the carpenters unions have been successful in fighting back against this kind of exploitation is by exposing contractors so that developers will not work with them again. Martin says that they have had success in these cases particularly when working with local developers, because they are more accountable to the communities in which they are building.

According to Martin, the demands on carpenters to perform at a high level make it hard to get members excited about participating in union meetings and other activities after work, especially since they have to be on the job at 7 am. He is experimenting with creating opportunities for members to bring their families to union events, to work better with people’s busy lifestyles.

This is Martin’s first term taking classes at The Labor Guild, and it has helped him think about his work in new ways. The stories shared by his instructors Rand Wilson and Paul Feeney, and the round table discussions have given him “a lot of knowledge, stuff that I want to put into practice. You have your own style, but when you hear from other people you can incorporate that.”

The Guild is lucky to have a Martin as a student and community member!

Inspired by something from this week’s posts? Want to know how to continue learning and acting on the issues? Check out the resources below!

Take a look at the state’s guide on How to Run for Office in Massachusetts

If you’re a woman interested in running for office, check out Emerge MA, whose Executive Director Ryanne Olsen spoke last term at the Guild

Hear from a student enrolled in the course about the topics being covered, what they’re learning, and more! This week’s reflection is written by Judith Foster, HERO Nurturing Center.

Inspired by something from this week’s posts? Want to know how to continue learning and acting on the issues? Check out the resources below!

Union 101: Why Unions Matter and How They Work, In These Times

A Glossary of Labor Lingo, AFSCME Next Wave

Get a glimpse of the action, and hear some of the ideas that were discussed. Remember, there’s much more to come as the week continues!

“At the end of the day, we can talk about this or that, but unions are trying to protect people.” – Ken Grace, Esq., instructor

“I love my members, so I would never want to leave them hanging.”

“So, you’re the arbitrator. What do you think?” – Ken Grace

“The moral of this is that we don’t all see things in the same way.” – Ross McDonagh, Teamsters Local 25

 

Hear from a student enrolled in the course about the topics being covered, what they’re learning, and more! This week’s reflection is written by Steve Izzo, Teamsters Local Local 25.

I am very grateful to have attended this year’s Labor Guild Spring Term. This has been my first time attending the Guild, as I have been looking to further my knowledge in the labor field so I can be more in touch with my union, its history, and current events. I have taken two classes this semester, the “Next Step for Stewards” class, where we were taught how to organize around the grievance process and effectively mobilize the members around issues; and the “Labor Relations” class, where we learned all about labor history, labor movements, labor laws and more.

What I enjoyed about the Labor Relations class is that Ken is so knowledgeable on the ins and outs of the history of labor. He taught us the structure of unions and where they came from, and informed us of past and present laws that have been put into place. He also ran lessons on famous struggles in labor movements such as the Bread and Roses Strike and the Patco (Air Traffic Controllers) Strike.

Ken ran very effective classes by having us engage in group discussions, and role playing activities where we had to come up with plans on how to organize members around a strike (keeping in mind what the company will do in the event of a strike). We also played the roles of stewards and management to act out grievance cases. There were also some awesome guest speakers.

I am very glad I chose the Labor Relations course, and if I had to rate Ken and his course on a scale of 1 to 10, I would give him a 20.

“I wanted to contribute, especially after the election, to strengthening unions and thinking about what the labor movement was going to look like going forward. So I was looking for insights for a while, both for broader movement and to work within my own union to make it better– more organized and politically engaged.”- Jake Spertus

Get to know one of the students in the featured class! This week, we’re excited to hear from Jake Spertus, Union Rep, HUCTW.

Jake Spertus is a union rep with the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW). He joined the union a year and a half ago, when he began working as a researcher at one of Harvard’s labs. According to Jake, becoming an active member wasn’t an immediate priority. “I’m in the bargaining unit, so they came around and had me sign a union card. Pretty much everyone opts in because everybody pays anyway. I didn’t initially think that much about it.”

It wasn’t until the election in November that Jake realized the power of the union and decided to become more engaged. While he knew and appreciated the important job HUCTW plays in securing benefits and pay increases for its members, it was the political climate and the way in which other unions were responding to it that showed him a broader view of what unions can accomplish. “Unions’ fundamental role is to protect working people and ensure fair wages. When we’re thinking about increasing inequality and rising xenophobia, I really think economic justice is at the base level of that. Unions have a crucial role to play in fighting for the rights of working people.”

As a union rep, Jake wants to spread that message and help people realize that the rights union members have are unique and powerful. There are 5,000 members in his union, all with diverse jobs, and many who work for only a year or two before going on to graduate school or other research positions. For Jake, reaching these people and creating a positive experience with HUCTW is important for influencing the way they think about unions throughout the rest of their careers; “We need to see ourselves as part of a larger movement, and that’s actually something I’m working for.”

This is Jake’s first term taking Guild classes, and he is excited about the experience he has had so far. “You sit in a room with people of all ages, and from all different backgrounds and trades. It’s an amazing space and one that doesn’t really exist anymore […] Some of the best parts of the Guild are the discussions that come out of these classes, to learn all of these different kinds of strategies for organizing and bargaining and exerting pressure and filing grievances. And what the instructors do is really facilitate those conversations.” This term he is taking Rand Wilson’s Resistance in a Trump Presidency: Grassroots Organizing and Strategy, and Ken Grace’s The American Labor Relations System: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.” He has enjoyed the focus on history and organizing, thinking about how to most effectively learn from the past and work both within and push against the current systems that exist.

The Guild is lucky to have Jake as a student and community member!

Inspired by something from this week’s posts? Want to know how to continue learning and acting on the issues? Check out the resources below!

To learn more about Just Cause, come to a special Guild workshop: “Unlocking the Mysteries of Just Cause,” with Robert M. Schwartz and Rand Wilson. Details and registration here.