Meetings since September, with the exception of December, have been highlighted by a training conducted by the UMass Lowell Labor Extension Program.

This was a four part training that has taken place each month and was completed on January 16, 2008. Each month featured a different topic. Folks are looking forward to session four.

This was a valuable training for all who attended, giving new tools and ideas to take back to our workplaces. SUMMUP certainly appreciates the work done in these sessions by Charlie Richardson, Mike Prokosh, and Susan Winning. Read on for a discription of the program. 

Session 1:  Painting the Picture: Management's Plan

We'll start by asking what is changing at work - work reorganization, new management policies - and see how these are impacting our members and our union. We'll analyze the pressures on managers to make these changes, where those pressures are coming from, and what they are trying to accomplish. Management is determined to "do more with less" by winning concessions both at contract time and in between contracts. We will start looking at a union response called Continuous Bargaining and develop it in the next three sessions.   

Session 2: Communicating and Involving Members

A union that involves members can defend their interests in negotiations and between contracts. We'll ask why we should communicate with members, when we should do it, and what we should say - or ask. We will get delegates' ideas about how to communicate with the members and how to build a practical communications structure that fits their unit's reality.

Session 3: Working with Allies

Every year, public sector workers are becoming more of an identified target. The drumbeat of "cut my taxes, shrink government, take away those gold-plated benefits" is taking our natural allies away from us and making them harder to involve. We will look at ways to change the view of the public sector and get more respect from the public - and ways to involve members in doing that work.

Session 4: Implementing Continuous Bargaining

Drawing on ideas from the first three sessions, we will map a Continuous Bargaining response for our units. Our goal is to end with a plan that delegates can take back, put to work, and use to build leverage through member involvement.