One of my favorite parts of my job is being able to be a part of and active in my labor union.
When I was in Ph.D. school, I got really active with USF-GAU (University of South Florida Graduate Assistants United). I took over as interim President when the previous President graduated. Then I was elected President for an official two-year term. After that I served as an advisor, and folks even contacted me after I graduated to find out who to contact about certain issues or what had been done in the past about certain things.
During my four years of service with USF-GAU, I made some of the best friends I could hope for. People passionate about bettering working rights for graduate assistants on campus, but also hard working, honest people. People I learned so much about because, while we shared the same union-based interests, they had such different ways of addressing them.
Too, I can be a super cynic. (I’m recovering, but it’s a work in progress.) With them, there was a lot of realistic optimism that made me rethink how I think about the world.
I’m glad as a full-time teacher, I get to continue my activism in the union. I get to continue working with some of my USF-GAU friends, as they became teachers too. I’ve also made some new friends across the district. As I go to more trainings, I meet more awesome people. Even today I saw someone I met at a union social a couple of weeks back. We were able to reconnect, bounce ideas to help the members at each of our sites. It’s a good feeling!
The reason I saw that new friend is I signed up for union representative training today. I’ve been a representative at my site for the past three years, but I always missed this training.
Hey, it’s Saturday morning! I either had plans or decided to sleep in.
A lot of the training was review from the real-world experience I’ve gained through USF-GAU and the past three years at my school. But that old information was presented in new ways, with new stories to inspire and remind that we are not alone when administrators choose to go against the workers and the contract. When you start hearing all of the stories from across 250 schools, you know your concerns are real.
One of the inspiring stories I heard was from a Ted talk. It describes how we have to stop looking at leadership as something we’ll aspire to someday, or something that Principals and Superintendents do. It’s something we all do every single day. Those things we do in our day-to-day lives can have profound effects on others, and it may seem like nothing at all to us. Walking the talk is important.
Here’s the video:
I also decided to record the training in a new way: using sketch notes. This was my first real effort to sketch note anything. I’m pleased with the outcome. A combination of notes and doodles. I added color during lulls in the training.
While you would best understand the content if you were at the meeting, I think these notes will be more useful than text-only notes. They get at the high points. They get at the things I wanted to remember. And they look cool (though my portraits need some practice…)
I’m feeling inspired and positive about this school year. And I think I’ve got a better idea about how to talk about the union more positively too. That cynic part kicks in still, and I think people latch onto that. Baby steps in that regard.
Solidarity!