With the entire external organizing crew focused on long term community projects exclusively in Portland, I can only wonder how this was sold to the membership, or in fact, if it even was sold to the members.
I have long believed that our members should be encouraged to participate in their communities, but this is not a member driven project, this is a staff project that is a major diversion from their job responsibilities as external organizers. I can connect the dots that eventually such an effort may at least produce a more favorable view of unions among those that are benefitted, but history also bears out that such committments are not reciprocated if there is any political cost.
I am not by nature a naysayer, but I do believe there is good cause to doubt the potential for the cities project.
A much more crucial, pertinent and positive effort that had a much greater liklihood of achieving real results for the union would have been to have put some real substance into the quality services program. We are, after all, a labor union, and a dynamic, universally applied quality services program flies right in the face of the primary criticisms we receive from an increasingly hostile culture.
But as is too often the case, a new program is rolled out with much thunder only to collapse from neglect as competing interests squeeze it out. We seem addicted to creating excitement with new ideas, but lack the resolve to follow through with them. This cities program will probably suffer a similar fate, only more justifiably when once again we learn that the friends we gain will all be of the fair weather variety, and will dump us the minute we are no longer useful for advancing their particular interest.
I have a big hint for moving forward. Focus on labor related issues such as quality services. There is much good we can do there, and it can actually help our membership by reducing the pressure for outsourcing and a whole host of other beneficial outcomes. Yes, it isn't very sexy because we've already discussed it and began implementing it to considerable fanfare with DHS. Maybe following through on something would be sufficiently eventful in itself to create excitement?