Organizing means facilitating collective action among a group and is a way to promote member engagement, leadership development, and collective action within a union. When teachers learn organizing strategies, they are prepared to grow their local union and lift up the voices of other members.
At an NEA Organizing Institute in Annapolis, Maryland, this summer, teams from four CEA local associations had the opportunity to join with locals from across the northeast for a four-day immersive experience to learn more about how to incorporate organizing strategies into their associations’ plans.
“Our teams had various focuses from building internal and external power to looking at budgets, school board races, and contracts,” says CEA Training and Organizational Development Specialist Katie Grant. “Every team had a different focus, but they came out with really solid plans that they’re going to implement in their locals over the course of the next year, which we’re really excited to see.”
Grant says that the trainings that were offered within the Institute helped members from Bridgeport, Enfield, New London, and Region 20 identify what their core organizing issue is and how to leverage it. The trainings covered topics including power mapping, using data, integrating feedback on a plan, developing a campaign template, how to escalate tactics, and more.
“One team that decided to work on building their internal power—that came as an evolution as they looked at the issues they’re currently facing and tried to figure out how to engage more members with their union in order to achieve what they want to achieve for their students, schools, and community,” Grant says. “We also had a team focusing on a contract campaign and how they’re going to secure a really strong second contract to follow up with their first really strong contract. It was interesting to see how the conversations even across really different topics were very similar because they all aligned with the core, fundamental practices of organizing for power and for building power within a local.”
Organizing for better elected officials
Bridgeport Education Association President Jeff Morrissey says that he and other BEA members decided to attend the Organizing Institute after weathering several tumultuous years in their district.
Bridgeport Education Association President Jeff Morrissey, CEA UniServ Rep Bekah Saxon, BEA members Katie Smuckler and Mikeya Stovall, and CEA Associate for Instructional and Professional Engagement Abdul Osmanu worked on an organizing plan around Board of Education elections.
“We thought it looked like a good opportunity to learn more about strategies to successfully organize,” he says. “We did organize last year and all came together successfully to get better leadership for our district. We thought this would be a good way to continue along that path and gain more insights. We want to use what we learned to now get more members involved.”
Morrissey says he found the training very inspiring and admired the passion he saw in NEA members who attended from across the region.
“The only real way to induce change is through communicating with others, creating a plan, and then acting on that plan,” he says.
The Bridgeport group decided to focus their organizing efforts on their upcoming Board of Education elections.
“We wanted to increase members’ participation at Board of Education meetings and also decided to put together a questionnaire for candidates running for Board of Ed,” Morrissey says. “We’re giving candidates an opportunity to share their opinions on issues that affect students, teachers, and the community. We’re now putting together a forum to allow candidates to discuss their positions and reasoning behind their desire to run for a seat on the Board and allow people in attendance to ask them some questions.”
Morrissey says the candidate forum will be held October 9, and invites not just BEA members, but also any CEA member who lives in Bridgeport to attend.
“Each local should have an active organizing committee, even if it’s just ad hoc to begin with,” Morrissey says. “Going to this conference really instilled a sense of awe from hearing firsthand stories of how organizing really works and seeing the outcomes of these efforts on better working conditions, salaries, and benefits for workers and their families. It feels good to be part of justice being done.”
Organizing for a better budget
The New London Education Association decided to attend the Institute after their district’s education budget was flat funded last May.
CEA UniServ Rep Greg Perry and New London Education Association members Margaret
Lewis, Maddy Biggins, and Polly Spring worked on a plan to organize for a better education budget.
“That was an overwhelming disservice not only to teachers, but to students and our community as a whole,” says Nathan Hale Arts Magnet Elementary teacher Maddy Biggins. “Our hope is that this training has equipped us with tools to get ahead and prepare for this upcoming budget season so that our schools can receive the funding we so desperately need.”
Biggins says that, while at the Institute, the NLEA team was able to create a solid plan for an organizing campaign they hope to begin soon. A main component of that campaign is the creation of a union organizing committee.
“I’ve already been taking steps to implement our learning through advocating and getting the ball rolling with creating our organizing committee, which will take many steps throughout this school year to ensure we get an adequately funded budget this spring,” she says.
Biggins describes the training as an invaluable experience.
“It gave us a clear vision and a plethora of inspiration to draw from in our own campaign,” she says. “This is my first full year in the classroom; I am a brand-new teacher! I know that I have a lot to learn still, but I was very grateful for the experience to attend the Organizing Institute.”
“There’s something special about taking teams to a new place and putting them in a really immersive experience where they have the time and the space to really focus on how they want to build power, how they want to grow their union,” Grant says. I’m really excited to see where this work and the time and dedication teams have put in take them.”
If your local association has a team interested in taking on an organizing project next year, reach out to CEA’s Katie Grant.
