By Mike Myslinksi
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Region 2 Leadership Conference participants Glenda Woolfolk from Bakersfield and Bakersfield Elementary TA President Carol Reichert attend a workshop on the union movement.
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Mix together clips of famous union-themed movies like Norma Rae and Silkwood with snippets of labor songs like "Solidarity Forever" and words of wisdom from union leaders like Mother Jones, Walter Reuther and César Chávez, and what have you got? You've got a valuable lesson in union history.
"Inspiration 101: Union Principles through Voice, Song and Film" not only showed why solidarity is critical in fights to come, it also fit right in with the election fever at the recent Region 2 CTA Leadership Conference, held shortly before the special election.
Eight hundred teachers from the northern, eastern and central parts of the state came together for the Reno conference, which featured impassioned get-out-the-vote speeches from CTA President Barbara E. Kerr and NEA President Reg Weaver.
From the hotel, teachers made about 2,400 calls to voters between workshops. Some participants turned the buses that brought them to the conference from great distances into mobile phone banks.
Workshops offered at the conference covered topics vital to the teaching and union experience, such as membership promotion; how CTA chapters can use bargaining to shape the application of the No Child Left Behind Act; basic media relations training; organizing for power; survival skills for new leaders; understanding poverty; and using technology to build a stronger chapter.
The multimedia union history workshop reminded Bakersfield Elementary Teachers Association activist Glenda Woolfolk of the proud and powerful emotions that run deep in the labor movement, and how tapping into them can keep us all going strong.
"It's all about the human factor in union work, how it comes down to the people.
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Tulare-Kings Service Center Council Chair Carol Clarke works the phone bank between workshops.
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"I'm very emotional about anything that has to do with the union," she added. "We work so hard at what we do in union work - it's got to come from the heart."
BETA President Carol Reichert says labor history gives new teachers valuable perspective. "The new members don't know how hard we fought for our benefits, for example. Something like this workshop helps them to see."
Union power is created through unity, inclusiveness, respect, determination, organizing and courage, said workshop presenter Daniel Koen, a CTA staff consultant.
He reminded participants about how the words of famous labor leaders and supporters are still relevant, and ring true down through the decades:
A. Philip Randolph: "The essence of trade unionism is social uplift. The labor movement has been the haven for the dispossessed, the despised, the neglected, the downtrodden, the poor."
Eugene V. Debs: "Solidarity is not a matter of sentiment but fact.… If the basic elements, identity of interest, clarity of vision, honesty of intent, and oneness of purpose, or any of these, is lacking, all sentimental pleas for solidarity, and all other efforts to achieve it, will be barren of results."
Mother Jones: "My friends, it is solidarity of labor we want. We do not want to find fault with each other, but to solidify our forces and say to each other, 'We must be together; our masters are joined together and we must do the same thing.'"
Walter Reuther: "Labor is not fighting for a larger slice of the national pie. Labor is fighting for a larger pie."
César Chávez: "The fight is never about grapes or lettuce. It is always about people."
Woolfolk, after 26 years in teaching, was moved by the message that solidarity really does matter. "The big picture is that we're going to win if we stay strong."
