Heading for Home
We're heading for home -- to Denver today and then off to Arizona tomorrow. In our short time here, we met some great state workers, signed up more than 300 to the petition and formed a couple of strong Organizing Committees to keep the ball rolling. That's the Grand Junction team above.Next stop -- Arizona!
Posted By: Lisa M. on 11/19/2007 12:53:00 PM
Mesa State College Organizing Committee
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| The newly established, and growing, Mesa State College organizing committee (L-R): Ron Hall (facilities maintenance), Jody Labuda (housing office admin asst.), Duane Brock (facilities maint.), Marianne Greer (day shift custodian), Shelly Cart (night shift custodian). |
The MSC OC meets for lunch to plan next steps in organizing MSC employees in every department.
(L-R) Ron Hall, Marianne Greer, Shelly Cart. |
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| MSC OC at a working lunch |
Posted By: Devon C. on 11/15/2007 7:25:00 PM
Day Nine - Grand Junction
Today was Grand Junction day! Most of us were at various sites in the population center. The first 3 members of the Organizing Committee in Grand Junction signed the Pledge and took commitments to sign their coworkers. We go back in about half an hour to meet the Night Shift.
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| AZ Organizers Isaac, Guy, Lisa and Carlos |
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Guy, Devon & Carlos got into a LOT of new places today: most exciting, the CDOT "barn" where all of the employees signed and are talking to coworkers about the Union. We have scheduled 8 group meetings in different worksites throughout the 3-county area where we are working. The team from the community college is meeting tomorrow at lunch to be pledged as Organizing Committee, and will sign up the rest of their campus. AND, thanks to Isaac and Carlos, we now know some of the things facing Veterans' Homes and are busily scheduling a meeting at the one in Prescott upon our return! Off to the Night Shift.... Your State Team
Posted By: Lisa M. on 11/15/2007 11:25:00 AM
Day Eight - Colorado Western Slope
From the land of Veterans' Care: Happy Veterans' Day! (especially to my Dad who got his Purple Heart in Germany, and to all State Employees who have served)
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Colorado Clinical Therapist Charles Smith believes a new partnership between state employees and management will help improve client care. |
Today was great! 45 more people signed the Authorization Petition here on the Western Slope! Even more significant: state employees in the Depts. of Revenue, Transportation, Wildlife, Health Services, Taxation, and Juvenile/Adult Corrections - in two counties - learned that they have a voice and a way to make changes - together. We talked to one 22-year employee from Health Services who recently went without health insurance for several years due to the cost and $1500 deductible.
We celebrated Veterans' Day by supporting State Employees at the Colorado State Veterans Home in the town of Rifle. Our team split the shifts, with one organizer arriving at 6 am and another arriving for the 10 pm shift change. Rifle, the home's location, is an hour from our hotel. The other teams met the day at similar times to honor workers who start their shifts caring for society's most vulnerable at the "crack of dawn" EVERY day. Thank you!
Back in AZ, a great team of Members & Organizing Committee "blitzed" the 1789 W. Jefferson DES site, with much interest, energy, and several new Members produced - time well spent, for sure.
Posted By: Lisa M. on 11/14/2007 11:41:00 AM
Veterans Day Weekend, Mesa County, Colorado
Greetings from, well, all over Mesa County, Colorado!
Saturday was house visit day...something we don't do much of yet in AZ. Organizers took packets and traveled all over, visiting with employees at home. The highlight was that we discovered 2 "State Employee Couples", where both husband and wife worked for the State. Those conversations led to signatures and new members! We have also met a number of retirees who are interested in being part of the organization-building.
Later Saturday, we had a planning session and divided up the 4 large worksites left to conquer: 2 prisons, a veterans' nursing home, and a youth correctional facility. Several of these are in a town called Rifle. We won't be carrying.
Organizers took a well-deserved break on Sunday, though that didn't stop them from identifying 3 more CDOT yards and a second correctional facility. Unlike in AZ, the correctional officers are unrepresented here.
The lessons of Arizona are being applied here: we are looking for a small office (a la Florence and eventually, Flagstaff) and looking for local potential organizer talent. The lesson of Colorado when we come home: we have to learn how to really organize the rural areas. Hope to be in Yuma the first week of December and back in Flagstaff before the big snows- ie, before holidays. How exciting to imagine our powerhouse statewide organization, with an operation in each of the 30 legislative districts!
Posted By: Lisa M. on 11/12/2007 11:55:00 AM
CO Photo Gallery - One
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| Abi, Lisa, Carlos and Isaac head to the Far Western Slope |
On the road to Glenwood Springs |
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| We're not in Arizona anymore! |
Mountain Pit Stop |
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| A quick roadside strategy session. |
Why didn't we bring our skis?? |
Posted By: Lisa M. and Isaac A. on 11/9/2007 12:26:00 PM
Day Three - 8 Nov 07 - Grand Junction, CO
Today we woke up in the beautiful, and surprisingly lush, town of Grand Junction on the far western edge of Colorado. The town itself, which has grown around the junction of the Colorado River and two railroad lines, is packed with beautiful stone buildings and huge shade trees.
We split the team in two first thing this morning, with Carlos and Devon visiting Mesa State University and Guy, Abby, Lisa and I headed to the Grand Junction Regional Center - an assisted living and rehab facility for the disabled. The Center is a sprawling complex with 20 some different buildings containing a full range of services for the residents from laundry to healthcare.
Abby and Lisa headed to the Administration building, while Guy and I gravitated toward the facilities management shed. We arranged to meet with the crew at morning roll call. Lisa and Abby, in similar fashion, quickly arranged a meeting with the director of the entire facility for tomorrow morning.
It seems the employees here are quite upset that Josh Penry, their state Senator, is leading the opposition to Governor Ritter's executive order and are concerned that the TABOR Act - which limits the size of the state budget regardless of the growing population - is going to further undermine their ability to provide top notch care for the residents of the Center.
"All you have to do is look at the paint peeling off of these buildings to see that we are under funded already," said Anthony Lopez, an RN at the facility.
All and all we were able to gather over a hundred signatures on the day and identify two dozen leaders. We are not resting however, and are going back at 7AM tomorrow to talk to the night crew. What a day!
Colorado state workers, Susan, Noreen (Tech 1s) & Cindy (Housekeeper) celebrate their chance to be heard on the Colorado Union Authorization Petition. All 3 work at the Grand Junction Regional Center.
Posted By: Isaac A. on 11/9/2007 12:09:00 PM
Day Two - 7 Nov 07 - Grand Junction, Colorado
Wed, Nov 7, 10:28 pm
Today we traversed half of Co (we think), caught our breath at the sight of the beautiful Colorado River, and hit the town of Glenwood Springs right after lunch. Had an interesting conversation with some cashiers at a 7-11 in Vail, who told us the wages in town definitely do not allow for employees to live within a 20-mile radius. Reminded us of Sedona/Flagstaff, where so many commute or rent due to the high cost of housing- even some of our newest members in DES and DOT up there.
The day got really exciting between 1:30-6:30 pm, when we split into 2 teams - one to the CDOT (Colorado DOT) "sheds", as they call them, the other to the Fish & Wildlife Dept. We timed the CDOT visit well and were able to catch- and sign!- all 16 employees present. A great example of the spirit was Craig Edgerton, a CDOT Engineer, who said: "I'm all for it! I've been waiting for this to happen." He knew who we were thanks to earlier CAPE (Colorado Association of Public Employees- the employee organization that affiliated with SEIU several years ago)efforts on the "Western Slope" side of CO. Team 2 got an impromptu tour of the Fish Hatchery - beautiful! - where supervisor Dave Davis signed and took a petition to sign his team. Just like back home, he has problems with keeping good workers because wages are low - even in Paradise.
Our Ft. Collins/University team, led by our own Ron McDade, gathered 20 signatures on their first day out and are excited to hit the ground running tomorrow.
Just like at home, we encountered a few skeptics ("I'll wait and see what my supervisor says..." was the response of one Wildlife employee who had just sent a severed elk head to the lab for disease testing...), but that most people love their jobs, enjoy their coworkers, and are ready to have a voice!
Posted By: Lisa M. on 11/8/2007 11:32:00 AM
Greetings From Colorado!
Our crack team arrived safely and got a full briefing on the Colorado campaign. Highlights: the place is on fire!! The petition launch yesterday (Monday) yielded hundreds of signatures in just the first few hours. In the first 24 hours, nearly 500 Colorado employees have signed the petition!
In Denver, the Speaker of the House met with state employees at their worksite!
We are in two teams - one heading north to the university town of Ft Collins, the other headed west to the towns of Glenwood Springs, Rifle (no we are not wearing cammo) and ultimately Grand Junction (yes - we are driving halfway home). We are really excited! And we will hit every CDOT shed, DES office, and Fish & Wildlife spot on the way. There's a big Veterans Nursing Home that will teach us about how to work w/ those folks when we come back to AZ.
Posted By: Lisa M. on 11/7/2007 12:21:00 PM