Journal prompt: You may find that moving into your organizing residency is like entering a new culture. Your organizing placement group may have completely different methods of working, ways of relating to each other, and styles of communication. If you feel this to be true, how does it feel to be working in a different culture? What can you learn from the differences? How can you find ways to be yourself in your work while still meeting the work/culture expectations of your placement group?
I’ve been thinking a lot about culture the past four weeks—side note (one of many) good grief, it’s been a month already!—but less so within the context of my placement as within the community that I am organizing. My placement is quite casual with its relationships. Everyone is really friendly and there is a great sense of camaraderie between staff. My supervisor organized “Union Solidarity Night” a couple weeks ago at a local drinking establishment in order to boost morale since so many of our staff have been organizing in Indiana; I guess she felt that the office is lonelier than usual. I think with the work that we’re doing—the long hours, the confrontational nature of it, the lack of formal structure in many cases—it’s necessary to create a deep bond between the workers. I am beginning to take on a fairly strong workplace identity myself and I see that my co-workers are near to having "Union" tattooed within a heart on their shoulder (I can’t say that I’m quite there yet). So here, I love it. And if Ann and I have a talk until 8:30pm about the nature of the organizing conversation, so much for the better that it happen over a plate of nachos.
This culture is similar to my placement last year at a small (3.5 person staff) community organization. We had staff lunches occasionally and retreats and it was very well understood that we were interesting individuals with a life apart from work that could well bleed into our jobs to give us some dimension. I appreciate having these experiences as it gives me hope that there are plenty of workspaces that are functional (or perhaps dysfunctional, but at least effective) and satisfying to work in. But then again, I work with a group of people who are mostly within my socio-economic status and educational background. That’s a totally inaccurate description actually--I work alongside these individuals, but for the most part I’m working with Childcare Center owners and staff. And that is where the culture shock extends.
*Please point out any potentially misguided interpretations from a (formerly) suburban (currently) white young woman and let’s talk about them.
I had no familiarity with the race/class politics of Chicago before moving here a year ago. The spaces (read: sides of the city, neighborhoods, sides of the street) are clearly delineated. They are well marked on maps that you can buy in any tourist shop or museum in the area as well as by sight alone. The example that most clearly stands out in my memory is from my first walk around the neighborhood with my fellow Avodah roommates. We walked down Winemac Ave towards the el stop when we got to Broadway. Our side, the Andersonville side, was neat, grassier, with well-kept houses. Across the street, the Uptown side, was trash-littered, starker, and dingier-seeming. There are many areas of the city where the gradation of income between neighborhoods is less gradual and much more striking. There is also a strong sentiment of where “good” neighborhoods are and what areas are dangerous. The violent crimes are often localized to the south and west sides of the city, but I think many people attribute the crime to the residents of those areas than to the natural repercussions (poverty, gangs, food deserts, shitty schools, foreclosed properties) of segregated and oppressed neighborhoods.
The first two days of work I spent door-knocking with another staff member on the South side. I was so excited! Having organized in one of the wealthiest parts of Chicago, I was eager to finally have a “real” experience on a notoriously dangerous side. Yes, stupid of me, I know. Yes, stupid that half of a city could be considered notoriously dangerous, I know. Yes, stupid that I hadn’t given half a thought to the possibility that the precept might be based on racism, classism, and unfamiliarity and not on reality, I know. There was no danger. There was little intrigue. There were mostly streets of brick houses where no one was home and it was boring. There were occasionally residents home—who were polite, and approximately half of those were politely not interested.
I think it would be a disservice (and inaccurate) to ignore differences that I did notice and just pretend that everything is the same everywhere. There were many homes with boarded-up windows and doors that had been foreclosed. Anecdotally, there are some streets where every other home has been foreclosed. There are more currency exchanges and loan offices than banks. There are fewer el stops. These things seem to have a great deal of systemic causes perchance. Thoughts?
Culturally (maybe?), after work/school there were many people outside their homes talking to each other and walking between houses. This could be cultural; it could also be because it’s easier to sit on the front porch of a house rather than an apartment building. I don’t know. Nearly everyone we passed on the predominately residential streets said hello or how are you. I felt self-conscious about it initially—oh, I am white and clearly don’t live here. But then I noticed that folks were saying hi to most everyone. Again, it could be cultural; it could also be that we were in a residential area where people were more likely to know their neighbors personally. I don’t know, but it did feel similar to walking around Rogers Park (large orthodox Jewish neighborhood) on Saturday afternoon and passing residents on their Shabbas walk and saying a quick shalom. Community, knowing each other, shared identity?
Ha, re-reading this, it all seems so ridiculous—I’m shocked and amazed when neighbors say hello. But really, for the large part people don’t greet each other in my neighborhood. They have one afternoon a year allotted for a block party where they pretend that this is a normal and functional way of living in a community. I wish we did say hello. Maybe I’ll start? Informal community organizing on my block?
Friday, August 27, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Week in Review and What I Do (Rhymes!)
For my residency, I am required to write reflections every other week. I may post more often than that, but for now I'll at least put up my reflections.
*I'm trying to be a little vague about where I work and who my supervisors are, so the names are made up. I feel quite spy-like about all this. For those who know me, this is good news.
1. Reflect on your first two weeks of work and look back to the opening retreat. What did you learn at the retreat that has been helpful to you in your work so far? What will you being doing over the coming weeks to carry that learning forward?
The past two weeks have been exhausting, but only in part due to work. I feel like I’m constantly running—I started to say my Avodah goodbyes last week, had a final shabbat on Friday, packed Friday night, cleaned with my roommates all day Saturday, and moved out of Avodah/into my new apartment Sunday. All the changes are great and I feel like I’m moving forward (perhaps I would venture to say that I feel slightly more grown-up), but I haven’t had time to settle into my new space at home which is making me feel slightly off balance and more fatigued than I usually would be. That’s not what this post is supposed to reflect on, but I know many folks are moving long(er) distances and I want to give a little room to commiserate.
On to the subject at hand. Organizing. For a bit of context: I am working in the New Organizing division at a Chicago union. They do precisely what the title suggests by organizing new workforces. The union is pretty baller and has taken the responsibility of organizing a lot of folks who work from home or indepepndently and would otherwise not have access to each other or have many resources for building power related to their jobs.
The first two days of work I was thrown to the wolves (albeit friendly and supportive canines) and rode along with Sarah* (my mentor for the internship) and later another organizer on house calls for the union's membership blitz. We had a list of individuals who were either homecare or home childcare workers and we visited 40-60 to talk to them about joining as members. Most people weren’t home which was more exhausting than anything else. The long hours were less tiresome when we intermittantly spoke with people about joining (which happened more the second day). The work was a bit mundane and since each of the conversations were around ten minutes, there wasn’t opportunity to develop a relationship (and clearly that wasn’t the point) beyond the immediate request.
The rest of the week, I followed my supervisor Ann* around to child care centers in the south suburbs of Chicago. There, we talked with workers as well as owners about the need to unionize and build collective power and had steps for them to take to further the process of joining either the Alliance or union. Monday, Ann gave me my own list of centers and this past week I have been making appointments with owners, trying to make appointments with owners, driving about the South side stopping at centers whose owners wouldn’t answer the phone, and finally meeting with a few owners to discuss the Alliance/union with them. Despite being tired and perhaps a little cranky, I’ve really enjoyed being out on my own having organizing conversations with owners and finding out what their struggles are.
This is a haphazard reflection, but since the set-up of my work is non-traditional I think I might take the space to explain the campaign. Sorry I’m a bit all over the place.
The union decided that the best avenue for organizing childcare workers would be through a collective process with the owners. The vast majority of childcare centers in the city are populated by children on subsidy programs (their parents qualify for government assistance in paying for childcare since otherwise it’s hella expensive). Furthermore, many centers use a few different subsidy programs to enroll children (state funding, Chicago Public Schools, Headstart). Some of these programs have minimum requirements for teacher wages, minimum child enrollment, maximum teacher-child ratios and other necessary qualifications that, given the funding provided, make it very difficult for centers to come out ahead. Consequently, owners are not withholding vast quantities of pay or benefits from their staff which is the usual unionizing rationale, but rather owners aren’t receiving enough funding from the gov’t to pay the teachers what they deserve. Or give them health insurance. Lame.
Therefore, the union created a structure where owners can join the Alliance (a collective of center owners) while their employees join the union directly. The Alliance then acts as the bargaining unit for owners and the union for the workers. Through a mediated process, owers and workers met over the course of a few months to establish a Collective Bargaining Agreement (aka Master Contract) which sets wage and paid-vacation minimums as well as a grievance policy for workers. This agreement provides some insurance to workers as well as evidence that center owners are organized and willing to create a cohesive standard that they stand behind. Center owners also benefit from being in the Alliance because they can then share resources across centers (payroll, bulk purchases, training, potentially health insurance plans, etc.).
Finally, the Alliance in conjunction with the union builds MAD POWER through participating bodies. Hurray!
It’s new, it’s revolutionary, and I think it’s a win-win-win situation. There is also talk about getting parents involved because, as we know, sucks to lose your childcare subsidy and suddenly have 3 kids to find inexpensive babysitters for.
Ah, to the reflection prompts…In my conversations with owners, I’ve been employing use of the Active Listening techniques. I am a class-A nodder. I’ll continue to do so. Our conversations follow a pretty rigid organizational flow: Introduction of self-->Drawing Out (asking owner much background information on relationship to owning childcare business—how long they did it, did they do home child care before or taught, what they love about it, how they got into it)-->Issues (what are challenges they face at work, given unlimited funds what would they do)-->Agitation (state budget crisis, loss of funding)-->Polarization (elected officials who don’t know what owners need, not prioritizing the education of our children, systemic inequalities)-->Vision (what would the response be if thousands of childcare owners, workers, and parents rallied together in Springfield, how could care be improved if we won more funding for the program)-->Commitment (sign up for Alliance/Union).
Since the initial conversation is so pivotal, there is an abundance of active listening going on. While watching Ann, I thought that I would never be able to retain all the information (we want to know stats on enrollment, # of teachers, turnover rate, funding sources, etc.) but paying close attention works well. I think having intention on being present is extremely helpful.
*I'm trying to be a little vague about where I work and who my supervisors are, so the names are made up. I feel quite spy-like about all this. For those who know me, this is good news.
1. Reflect on your first two weeks of work and look back to the opening retreat. What did you learn at the retreat that has been helpful to you in your work so far? What will you being doing over the coming weeks to carry that learning forward?
The past two weeks have been exhausting, but only in part due to work. I feel like I’m constantly running—I started to say my Avodah goodbyes last week, had a final shabbat on Friday, packed Friday night, cleaned with my roommates all day Saturday, and moved out of Avodah/into my new apartment Sunday. All the changes are great and I feel like I’m moving forward (perhaps I would venture to say that I feel slightly more grown-up), but I haven’t had time to settle into my new space at home which is making me feel slightly off balance and more fatigued than I usually would be. That’s not what this post is supposed to reflect on, but I know many folks are moving long(er) distances and I want to give a little room to commiserate.
On to the subject at hand. Organizing. For a bit of context: I am working in the New Organizing division at a Chicago union. They do precisely what the title suggests by organizing new workforces. The union is pretty baller and has taken the responsibility of organizing a lot of folks who work from home or indepepndently and would otherwise not have access to each other or have many resources for building power related to their jobs.
The first two days of work I was thrown to the wolves (albeit friendly and supportive canines) and rode along with Sarah* (my mentor for the internship) and later another organizer on house calls for the union's membership blitz. We had a list of individuals who were either homecare or home childcare workers and we visited 40-60 to talk to them about joining as members. Most people weren’t home which was more exhausting than anything else. The long hours were less tiresome when we intermittantly spoke with people about joining (which happened more the second day). The work was a bit mundane and since each of the conversations were around ten minutes, there wasn’t opportunity to develop a relationship (and clearly that wasn’t the point) beyond the immediate request.
The rest of the week, I followed my supervisor Ann* around to child care centers in the south suburbs of Chicago. There, we talked with workers as well as owners about the need to unionize and build collective power and had steps for them to take to further the process of joining either the Alliance or union. Monday, Ann gave me my own list of centers and this past week I have been making appointments with owners, trying to make appointments with owners, driving about the South side stopping at centers whose owners wouldn’t answer the phone, and finally meeting with a few owners to discuss the Alliance/union with them. Despite being tired and perhaps a little cranky, I’ve really enjoyed being out on my own having organizing conversations with owners and finding out what their struggles are.
This is a haphazard reflection, but since the set-up of my work is non-traditional I think I might take the space to explain the campaign. Sorry I’m a bit all over the place.
The union decided that the best avenue for organizing childcare workers would be through a collective process with the owners. The vast majority of childcare centers in the city are populated by children on subsidy programs (their parents qualify for government assistance in paying for childcare since otherwise it’s hella expensive). Furthermore, many centers use a few different subsidy programs to enroll children (state funding, Chicago Public Schools, Headstart). Some of these programs have minimum requirements for teacher wages, minimum child enrollment, maximum teacher-child ratios and other necessary qualifications that, given the funding provided, make it very difficult for centers to come out ahead. Consequently, owners are not withholding vast quantities of pay or benefits from their staff which is the usual unionizing rationale, but rather owners aren’t receiving enough funding from the gov’t to pay the teachers what they deserve. Or give them health insurance. Lame.
Therefore, the union created a structure where owners can join the Alliance (a collective of center owners) while their employees join the union directly. The Alliance then acts as the bargaining unit for owners and the union for the workers. Through a mediated process, owers and workers met over the course of a few months to establish a Collective Bargaining Agreement (aka Master Contract) which sets wage and paid-vacation minimums as well as a grievance policy for workers. This agreement provides some insurance to workers as well as evidence that center owners are organized and willing to create a cohesive standard that they stand behind. Center owners also benefit from being in the Alliance because they can then share resources across centers (payroll, bulk purchases, training, potentially health insurance plans, etc.).
Finally, the Alliance in conjunction with the union builds MAD POWER through participating bodies. Hurray!
It’s new, it’s revolutionary, and I think it’s a win-win-win situation. There is also talk about getting parents involved because, as we know, sucks to lose your childcare subsidy and suddenly have 3 kids to find inexpensive babysitters for.
Ah, to the reflection prompts…In my conversations with owners, I’ve been employing use of the Active Listening techniques. I am a class-A nodder. I’ll continue to do so. Our conversations follow a pretty rigid organizational flow: Introduction of self-->Drawing Out (asking owner much background information on relationship to owning childcare business—how long they did it, did they do home child care before or taught, what they love about it, how they got into it)-->Issues (what are challenges they face at work, given unlimited funds what would they do)-->Agitation (state budget crisis, loss of funding)-->Polarization (elected officials who don’t know what owners need, not prioritizing the education of our children, systemic inequalities)-->Vision (what would the response be if thousands of childcare owners, workers, and parents rallied together in Springfield, how could care be improved if we won more funding for the program)-->Commitment (sign up for Alliance/Union).
Since the initial conversation is so pivotal, there is an abundance of active listening going on. While watching Ann, I thought that I would never be able to retain all the information (we want to know stats on enrollment, # of teachers, turnover rate, funding sources, etc.) but paying close attention works well. I think having intention on being present is extremely helpful.
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