The UFT will train chapter leaders in how to understand the contract. But it will not train people in the essence of unionism -- organizing. In this session we will go beyond routine "business unionism," and discuss ways of we can promote activism in our UFT chapters. --- Kit Wainer
Did you see all those relatively young teachers in Chicago picketing? You don't go zero to 60 without doing the scut work of organizing.
Do you think this has nothing to do with what went on in Chicago? In order for MORE to be more like CORE you have to get involved and help shape MORE (right now a super democratic organization) into a vision for change. We know Unity is way more competent at controlling the members than the Unity-like UPC in Chicago that CORE defeated, so we will not see a Chicago-like takeover of the union in such a short time. I am not in tune with every single aspect of MORE but I am signing on for the struggle -- until there are a lot more people ready to do most of scut work of organizing 101, at which point I will retire to my new air jet tub and soak the old bones for days at a time (following the lead of my dad who died in May at 94 years old and attributed his relatively good health to his morning soak.)
Here is a message from Kit Wainer -- who by the way, until MORE came into existence a few months, I had not had the pleasure to work with before as we were with different groups.
Folks: I want to urge everyone to try to attend (or send a fellow activist from your chapter) to the MORE-Labor Notes training session -- "Secrets of a Successful Organizer" -- this coming Wednesday September 19. This will be especially useful for new chapter leaders but it will also be useful for anyone trying to be a union activist within your school. The UFT will train chapter leaders in how to understand the contract. But it will not train people in the essence of unionism -- organizing. In this session we will go beyond routine "business unionism," and discuss ways of we can promote activism in our UFT chapters. We will discuss specifics such as how to listen to and dialogue with our colleagues, how to spot potential activists and organizers, how to determine which issues will interest people and how to get them involved. New chapter leaders in particular are under tremendous pressure to provide union services and are expected to protect members' rights. And the pressure can lead to demoralization and burnout. In this workshop we'll help you figure out how to get other people involved and figure out realistic strategies for winning things you and your members will consider important. Please try to make it!
The session will be on Wednesday, September 19 at 5 PM at the Murphy Institute, 25 West 43rd Street, Room 18D. I have attached the flyer which has all the information on it. Feel free to invite others you think might be interested. And if you have any questions please contact me.
Kit Wainer- KitWainer@yahoo.com
Norm- I agree 100% with what you say about working with Kit Wainer. He is a hard working, dedicated trade unionist. If we had more people like Kit in our ranks, the UFT would be a much stronger union.
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