Bottom Feeding
My favorite color is yellow.
I love how it’s so bright and sunny. Which is odd because yellow DOES NOT match my disposition. Perhaps that’s why I am drawn to it. I’m salty, sarcastic, from Jersey, and believe in living like a halibut, a bottom feeder, so you are less likely to be disappointed because you have nowhere to go but up.
This is not at all an approach I would recommend in life, nor do I raise my children in this way, but here we are. I’m 45 and I roll with what I’ve got. This mentality has some major drawbacks. I don’t ask for help, mostly because I believe others will not do it “right.” How many of you complain your partner or child doesn’t do the dishes, and when they do help you complain they did it wrong, leading to you always doing the dishes?
It’s a vicious cycle that ends with you feeling overwhelmed because you’re the one doing everything. However, if you look back at what brought you to that feeling, it was you and your unwillingness to believe others can help or want to help. I get it. I do it every day. HOWEVER, when it comes to Union work, we NEED help (lots of it,) and you would be surprised how many are willing to step up if you simply asked.
I witnessed this firsthand recently at an MEA membership meeting. An MEA staff member was standing in front of the room looking for volunteers. As expected, no one jumped right up. Then that same staff member called out three names of people in the audience and asked them all to stand up. Immediately, all three members stood right up. The difference-he simply asked a specific person a specific task instead of putting out an open-ended request without any definitive action. The small change in process made a big difference in the result. Instead of hoping three people volunteered for something union related, we now had three people who were on hand to help, simply because they were asked.
Getting people to do anything that isn’t required is difficult. People need a reason why. Why is it important? Why do you need help? Why should I care? And perhaps the biggest question-what’s in it for me? I say this not in a negative way, but in a realistic way-we’re all tired, we’re all busy, we all could come up with something better to do (even if it’s sitting watching Love in Blind). It’s totally natural.
However, it’s crucial we ALL understand the greater purpose of the union. The answer lives in the word itself-UNION. We are a collective, and only as effective as the sum of our parts. Without each other, we are not truly a union. Being a member is great, but I urge you to ask your local leaders how you can help and engage in the work of the union. I promise you they’re doing more work than you know, and they’re also working their day jobs, just like you are, and have the same stressors you do, AND THEN they also have their union work.
Supporting all members in a local is not an easy task, even if you think your local is running smoothly and you have “no big issues,” there is always something going on. Membership is a year-round job, and we’re in the early enrollment phase where non-members can join for free from now until August 31. Getting new members during this time period is key to help grow the union, and in turn increase our effectiveness. Have you asked a non-member to join? Do you know if your local is running an early enrollment campaign? Have you thought about helping? See, told you there is ALWAYS something going on, and we need everyone to pitch in so we don’t fall into my trap of living like a halibut-because trust me-the bottom of the ocean can be a dark, lonely place no one really wants to visit; so, come up for air and start swimming with the school.
