We Don't Need No Education?

No, I'm not referring to the Pink Floyd Classic:




I'm talking about the lack of education when it comes to the rank and file membership in the labor movement. How many times have you explained something to a member of your bargaining unit, and they responded, "I didn't know that was in our contract!"  If you're like me, the number is way higher than you care to admit.

This is a bigger problem than I think is widely realized within the labor movement.  If our members don't know their own contract, how are they supposed to know when it is being violated?  We have to to a much better job of educating people.

This can be done through lunch and learns, or by simple flyers with bullet points at regular functions like picnics, etc.  I also like to send out a small insert if you have a regular newsletter.  However you do it, the important thing is to do something. Anything that plants the seed in a member's mind is a positive move for the local, the international, and the movement as a whole.

A hundred years ago, members carried their union contract on their person as frequently as a wallet.(I hear some UMWA folks still do!)  They did so because they had worked hard to earn it, many times with their own blood.  Granted, we haven't had the violent battles like they did back then, but perhaps we should at least print a small version of the contract that people can fit in their pocket in case they need to refer to it on the job.

In Solidarity,

Joseph

Union Building Strategy: Apprenticeships

I know I've bitched a lot about my lack of enthusiasm for PAC fund spending, so I figured I better offer a viable alternative to this spending that might actually pay off in the way of growing membership. Most people are at least vaguely familiar with the apprenticeship programs offered by building trade unions like the IBEW(Electricians, IUPAT(Plumbers), UA(Pipefitters), etc. Unfortunately, these programs only accept applicants who already have a high school diploma or GED.

I believe it is high time that the trade unions make a collective effort to build apprenticeship programs with the high schools in their respective areas. Many times, auto shop is the only trade class offered. Imagine if the local high school offered Electrical Shop, Masonry, or Plumbing programs that started in the 10th or 11th grade and continued right after high school. Not only would the trade unions who are in desperate need of membership(this is a major understatement) gain new members, but the good press and relationship building between the union and the local community would be immense.

In Solidarity,

Joseph

Andrew Duck For Congress 2010

As my wife and I have been preparing to move to Brunswick, Maryland, one of our first priorities was to research who our elected officials would be, and how they have voted.

We were disappointed to find out that Roscoe(a la Boss Hogg) Bartlett(R) opposes just about everything that we believe in. I'm not talking about extremely partisan issues here. I'm talking about opposing common sense solutions that most Americans support. Things like unemployment benefits in the worst economic down

turn since the Great Depression. Issues like making sure that a big insurance company can't deny coverage to a child fighting cancer. And worst of all, siding with BP, while the lives of working folks, who are no different than the folks in Maryland's 6th District, have their livelihoods destroyed.

The good folks in Maryland's 6th District deserve a champion who will fight for our interests and not the interests of corrupt CEOs. Luckily, we have that champion as one of our neighbors here in the Maryland 6th Congressional District.

Andrew Duck is a man who will go to Washington and fight for the hard-working folks in the 6th District. While many people may have heard of his 20 years of exemplary service in the US Army, including tours in both Bosnia and Iraq, many folks have not yet heard about his excellent economic credentials. Andrew has studied economics at the graduate level, and has worked as a financial consultant. He has also held Series 7 and 63 licenses from NASD. The incumbent, Roscoe Jenkins, supported George Bush's economic policies that led to this financial crisis. We need a Congressman like Andrew Duck who has the financial expertise to right our economic ship.

Andrew is also solid on labor issues. he fully supports the right of working men and women to have a voice in their workplace. He is someone that we can count on to back the working men and women of Maryland's 6th and not the corporations who are trying to put profits above people.

If you live in, or around the 6th District, or if you live somewhere else and just want to send someone with integrity to Washington for a change, please consider volunteering your time or making a donation of any amount to Andrew Duck's campaign. I look forward to mobilizing my sisters and brothers in the labor movement between now and election day.

Find out more about Andrew and where he stands on the issues here:

http://www.duckforcongress.org/

My Answer to Improving Labor Education

I am the first speaker on the panel discussion video above.