Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1541528
O N S E P T E M B E R 3 0 , the Escondido Elementary Educators Association (EEEA) executive board brought together their 30-member organizing team for an all-day, intensive "Secrets of a Successful Organizer" training. e goal: build the power EEEA members need to win the schools their students deserve, both in their current tough contract fight and in the future. For the training, EEEA leadership turned to a well-known and effective guide developed by Labor Notes, the go-to media and organizing project for union members who want to put the movement back in the labor movement. In 2016, Labor Notes orga- nizers distilled generations of organizing know-how into "Secrets of a Successful Organizer." The step-by-step guide to building power on the job has become the essential handbook to learn how to identify the key issues in your workplace, build campaigns to tackle them, antici- pate management's tricks and traps, and inspire your co-workers to stand together despite their fears. (Our union also incorporates elements of Labor Notes' guidebook into our trainings.) That day, member leaders — who had taken the Labor Notes training — worked through key modules, including "Beating Apathy" and "Assembling Your Dream Team." Partic- ipants learned how to map existing social networks in their workplaces, identify leaders and recruit them into the union's contract campaign. "We are using these tools to empower member leaders and grow the core of our union," said Rocio Hernandez, EEEA trea- surer, who helped lead the training. "'Beating Apathy' gives you the tools to really listen, identify the issues that matter most to our members, and turn those issues into a plan of action." S o n y a S h a f f e r, a n E E E A a t - l a r g e executive board member, led the "Aim- ing for th e Bull seye" exerci se, w hich helps organizers visualize their mem- ber engagement. "It helps us think about our union not as a hierarchical triangle," Shaffer explained. " We learned skills to more effectively engage members and move them from disengaged to supportive, then to activists, and finally to the core group of people who are always think- ing about organizing." E E E A h a s b e e n p u t t i n g t h e s e "secrets" into action as they fight for a fair wage increase, a competitive benefits package, and meaning ful Special Edu- cation supports. According to EEE A President Brandi Krepps, " The goal behind this training was to empower our site leadership and develop a plan to catapult our association forward as one of EEEA member leaders and participants at the daylong intensive training. "This has already made an impact on negotiations, where everything started out as a 'no'. We have gained major traction in improving working conditions and fixing decades' worth of step and column gaps that have affected our career earnings." —EEEA President Brandi Krepps Secrets to Successful Organizing Escondido local invests in a training to build member power By Jonathon Mello 42 cta.org Advocacy