No Off-Season
Negotiations for the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) have concluded with a very supportive ratification vote. We thank everyone for getting involved and sharing your perspectives, but the work does not end there.
The proposed changes that did not make it into the current agreement are not lost. We use any and every avenue to make improvements in those areas, including new Letters of Agreement (LOAs) or policy changes. This is the political work of your union. Together, we keep the issues alive and active. It takes this entire team to affect change.
Where do we go from here? We find ourselves in an awakening for the labor movement. The opportunities to write that next chapter are more available now than ever before. All around us, we see history inviting involvement through a variety of union actions in the news and even more local. There are generation who never heard of or experienced grassroots unionism, but that is changing. The organic nature of organizing new union locals and expanding existing locals is enticing. While the excitement of getting involved is empowering, the question is when and where do each of us step up.
Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The Labor Movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress.” During these negotiations, many of you reached out and said, I would like to do more to support the union. How can I do that? Just by asking the question, you have taken the hardest step. You can get more involved and engaged through things such as getting to know your contract, asking questions, going to APA events, meeting individually with your union leadership and/or Area Representatives, and talking to each other.
In solidarity is not simply a slogan but a commitment to a larger family. We look forward to hearing from you as we all work together; creating a better and brighter workplace here at MSU.