From Democracy Is Power. . .Using the 'New Officer's Checklist' To Help Reform Your Local

I ran for office to make changes in my union, the Municipal Employees Federation (MEF), one of 12 chapters that make up AFSCME Local 101 in Santa Clara County, California. I ran mainly because I was angry about 2005 contract negotiations, which were disorganized and chaotic...

I ran for office to make changes in my union, the Municipal Employees Federation (MEF), one of 12 chapters that make up AFSCME Local 101 in Santa Clara County, California. MEF represents workers at the City of San Jose. I ran mainly because I was angry about 2005 contract negotiations, which were disorganized and chaotic.

Labor Notes has been very helpful to me as both a member and an officer. I've used Labor Notes' monthly newsletter and various books that I've bought from Labor Notes to create an election strategy and run for office.

ACTION PLAN

Now that I'm president, I've found Democracy Is Power to be a particularly useful, practical guide. For one, the "New Officer's Checklist" in Democracy Is Power is an essential read for any new union leader.

After reading through the checklist and consulting with fellow union members, I decided that the first order of business upon taking office was to lead the executive board and the members in creating an action plan. We needed to bring our organization together and get focused. As the checklist says, we had to plan our immediate priority campaigns.

Brainstorming, collecting ideas, and refining a plan took several meetings. Then we went one step further. We prioritized the plan at an annual leadership retreat for stewards, board members, and activists. At that meeting union leaders made changing our local's bylaws the number one priority.

Our first goal was to give workers a direct say in who would represent their departments on the executive board. Currently, the 10 board members are elected at large. Instead, we decided to make the board a representative body that is elected by workers in department areas. To assure accountability, we proposed bylaw changes that would give board members specific responsibilities.

For example, the bylaw changes would require board members to act as Member Action Team (MAT) captains who would be responsible for setting up member-to-member communication networks in their respective departments. This would be a big help to us when we want to communicate to over 3,000 workers on contract negotiation issues in 2008.

CHANGING THE BYLAWS

The bylaw changes suggested in Democracy Is Power generated great ideas for us. We had several unanimous votes to approve our plan and the direction for re-building our union.

But when I put the proposal in writing and placed the bylaw changes on the table for discussion at a general membership meeting in June, I began to see opposition. The unanimous decision, the consensus vote, broke apart at the first reading of the bylaw changes.

I expected this because the bylaw change would mean that some board members would get voted out of office in the next elections. No one likes to lose their position, especially if they have been on the board for years.

Also, the new board configuration would limit the amount of board members that could be elected from any one department. Our union has a history of one department or another organizing a leadership coup every few years. The bylaw change forces our union to address issues from many different departments, not just the one department that can gain a majority on the board.

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Our bylaws say that we have to have two readings before amending the bylaws. I scheduled an additional third reading to give people time to digest the proposal and to give members plenty of notice about the changes.

The extra reading also gave us time to do some organizing and line up votes in favor of the bylaw change. Once again I read through Democracy Is Power, this time the section on dealing with the opposition.

"Be prepared for membership meetings. Do everything you can to get your people there. If the old guard is active, make sure that your people have prepared in advance and understand the issue and have floor leaders assigned to handle each," write the authors Mike Parker and Martha Gruelle.

I took their advice to heart. I asked seven allies on the board and key stewards at worksites to begin identifying people who would commit to attending the August 24 meeting and support the bylaw changes. I asked them to talk with members one-on-one.

The chief steward and vice president (both allies) thought up an idea for a flyer. They suggested we focus people on the need for fair and democratic union elections, and union leadership that will be accountable to members to communicate about the upcoming contract negotiations.

Using their ideas I created a flyer that I distributed to key leaders who would commit to doing the difficult one-on-one communication at worksites. I gave flyers to stewards and union officers who worked at the convention center, the old MLK Library, and city hall. The steward at the airport had the most enthusiastic response. He made sure that all the custodians he knew got a flyer and an invite.

We were prepared in other ways as well. The treasurer had food and snacks ready. The secretary had agendas printed out. And I had the bylaw proposal packets ready.

BIG TURNOUT

Over 40 people attended the August 24 meeting-triple the number that usually attends. Airport custodians who were pissed off about the last contract and wanted to have their own representative on the board turned out in force. It was the very first union meeting for at least half of the people that attended!

We had a spirited meeting. There was lots of good discussion about the bylaws proposal. I was prepared and the leadership team was prepared. After an hour of discussion we voted. The bylaw proposal passed. Members cheered and clapped. Our group won its first campaign.

Although I am a new union leader, I am more confident in my role thanks to the helpful stories and tips about union leadership that I get from Labor Notes. The rank-and-file workers are the ones who will turn around the Municipal Employees Federation, and Democracy Is Power gives us some of the tools we need to make that happen.

People now feeling that our union is moving towards becoming a more powerful organization. Labor Notes gives us the added edge we need to fight and win!

Erik Larsen is Chapter President of the Municipal Employees Federation, AFSCME Local 101.