Are you thinking about how to build up your chapter this spring but you’re not sure where to start? Medford Chapter 15 can tell you that it’s not the daunting task it might seem!
There are some simple steps you can take to get the ball rolling. You don’t need to come in hot – you can simply plan to listen. In the fall, Medford Chapter 15's leadership held a successful “listening tour” to connect with classified at every worksite in their district. They spent two days taking questions about their contract and OSEA, updating contact information, organizing new members and refreshing bulletin boards.
Chapter President Sarah Reames gathered a crew that included her executive board, Field Representative Lisa March, OSEA President Sarah Wofford and Zone V Director Alecia Elverude. They spread out to each of Medford's 25 worksites in small groups. Reames planned the listening tour to coincide with parent-teacher conferences, which meant classified educators had a little more time to talk. All in all, the crew had about 100 conversations.
"It went really well! People had suggestions and questions about bargaining and engaged with us," Reames said. "They're seeing us and hearing us more and now we're really trying to seek everyone out and say 'hey, how are you doing, how are things going' and it seems like it's just really hitting them that we're working for them."
These kinds of conversations – one-on-one and focused on meeting workers where they’re at – are some of the most valuable organizing conversations. At its core, organizing is about recognizing that we have similar goals to the people around us, and that together we can address each other’s needs. You can get there with very simple questions: “how are you doing? What would make your work life better?”
And those conversations are valuable with members or potential members! Aside from their own direct conversations, Chapter 15’s listening tour crew inspired some of the worksite organizers (WSOs) they talked to, who then spoke to their coworkers about OSEA at their worksite’s next classified employee meeting, resulting in even more new members!
“They were super empowered and super excited,” Reames said. “They were able to go out there to their own specific sites and have that conversation.”
The listening tour is part of a larger Chapter 15 effort to communicate more effectively with their members and bargaining unit. They’re heading into contract negotiations, so they’ve been sharing more information about the contract and how bargaining works and they created a more robust newsletter to provide useful information to their bargaining unit.
President Wofford said the listening tour was "an amazing opportunity for the newly elected leaders to get out and speak with chapter members in their workplaces, to see and hear what chapter members are feeling and needing in real time. It's conversations and moments like these that remind us why we call union 'family.'"
Reames had a few pieces of advice for chapter leaders who want to try something like this:
- Break it down! You don’t have to hit every site at once. Split your district up geographically and visit one area at a time.
- If you can't make it to every worksite, target the ones with low membership or ones that don't have a WSO. Request your membership lists from our State Office to pinpoint where you need to go.
- Think about using in-service days or conference days when students aren’t present, but most workers are at their worksites, because there is more space to converse. It’s often hard to reach Educational or Instructional Assistants during regular working hours, particularly in SPED classrooms, so using these days when students aren’t around can be especially valuable for reaching those coworkers.
- If you’re not sure you’re ready for one-on-one conversations, there's a training for that! OSEA will be holding a One-on-One Communication Training on April 14 at 5:30 p.m.
- Don't forget about OSEA's time release for chapter leaders – if you have an outreach plan that includes time spent on organizing, one-on-one conversations or membership growth, OSEA can help get paid time for you to do outreach. Find more information about time release here (PDF).