Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1040135
COMMUNIQUÉ A PUBLICATION OF THE IOWA STATE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION – OCT/NOV 2018 – Vol. 55, No. 2 IN THIS ISSUE: Vote Your Job Recertification Now Midterm Recommendations 3 6 11 Set it... Set it... and forget it! and forget it! EFT AVAILABLE NOW! EFT AVAILABLE NOW! The Power of WE FOLLOW US ON: By Mike Wiser, mwiser@isea.org The 2018-19 school year was still about a week off when three dozen or so members of the Davenport Education Association filed into a conference/classroom at the Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency. This wasn't your typical in-service, though. This was about grassroots organizing at the most basic level: person-to-person, member-to-member. Some might call the approach old school; we call it "the Power of We." In practice, the Power of We means having one-on-one conversations with colleagues on four areas: • Member priorities for the local contract • Information about recertification elections • Issues and recommendations for the 2018 midterm election • Membership recruitment "These are the things unions have always been doing," said Coy Marquadt, the ISEA's director of field services. "But we haven't always put them in a single, cohesive program." Unions exist because members know they can better protect member interests – wages, hours, working conditions – with one than without. In public education, these interests extend to student support, legal aid and state and federal policy. "Helpful-wise, the most effective part about the Power of We is the one-on- one conversations," said Cari Johnson, president of the Davenport Education Association. "Our building reps are getting a lot of people involved. It builds capacity and we're learning some things we didn't know before." The Davenport EA training at Mississippi Bend was just one of dozens of Power of We trainings held across the state which involved more than 1,000 members representing some 340 ISEA locals. The attendees received policy briefings and worked on interview techniques to help them suss out the hopes and concerns members have at work and home. Johnson acknowledged it can be difficult for building reps to find the time to have meaningful conversations, especially in some of the district's high schools and larger middle schools. There's also personality involved – some members just have an easier time talking to people they may not know well. "And, really," she said. "What we're asking for is time to talk – and we all know teachers don't have a lot of extra time." But the program paid dividends. "I don't have the exact numbers because we're still getting forms in. Usually, though we get the new member forms around the start of the school in August and some in September. To be getting them in still when, in fact, it's October … well, I think that really says something." Iowa State Education Association President Mike Beranek makes a point during a "Power of We" initiative at an association meeting at the Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency. Beranek, ISEA Vice President Josh Brown and other members of the ISEA elected leadership traveled to dozens of "Power of We" meetings this summer and fall to speak with members about the campaign. MIKE WISER/IOWA STATE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION "I don't have the exact numbers because we're still getting forms in. Usually, though we get the new member forms around the start of the school in August and some in September. To be getting them in still when, in fact, it's October … well, I think that really says something," — Cari Johnson, president, Davenport Education Association.