The NJC and Beyond... |
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Brothers and sisters, we have tabulated the results of the evaluations we received from NJC 2010 and this year’s meeting received the highest rating since we began asking for evaluations several years ago. Eighty-six participants returned evaluation forms rating everything from the plenary sessions, to the workshops, to the food, to the overall quality of the meeting, on a 1 to 5 scale. (1 = poor, 2 = fair, 3 = good, 4 = very good, 5 = excellent.) One hundred and seventy-seven written comments were also submitted.
Overall, the NJC was rated between “Very Good” and “Excellent”, with several workshops receiving near perfect-5 ratings. The highest rated plenary session was Tuesday’s session on Human Trafficking. Many delegates commented that they were deeply moved by Bill Hillar’s presentation. All of the fifteen workshops received from Very Good to Excellent ratings, but the top five were the workshops on Human Trafficking, Multi-Media Presentation, American Labor History, Mock Bargaining, and Unit Finances.
An innovation at this year’s NJC was the introduction of successive exercises in “Mock Bargaining” and “Mock Grievance Handling”. These were designed to simulate real bargaining and grievance situations, and those who participated strongly recommended that these workshops be offered again, and even expanded.
The American Labor History workshop had been scheduled for one workshop session, but proved to be so popular that many requested that it be offered a second time at the conference. Unfortunately, the schedule did not permit a repeat of the workshop, but it is clear that we’ll need to offer that as a plenary session next time, or at least to offer it as a workshop twice.
Among the comments we received were:
I really enjoyed myself. Very informative. Everything was great!
This was my first conference, and I learned so much about our union. It was also great to meet other members across the country. I now feel like I have a lot more resources and friends.
The interaction in Mock Bargaining is fantastic! Enjoyed all the information given. Very useful.
Areas needing improvement, identified by some members, included:
No bagpipes after banquet. Before would be fine. (yes… there were bagpipes!)
Do we really need to do intros at almost every session? It takes up a lot of time and is repetitive. I'm not saying don't do them, just keep it to the first day only/first session.
This is only a small sample of the 177 comments we received. A summary of the ratings along with all of the comments from the NJC evaluation forms are posted in the Member Resources area under NJC 2010. Members can also find handouts used in various workshops and all of the Resolutions adopted by the NJC, which are available for download. Please check back frequently, as these will be added to the website during the month of August.
Thanks again for all of you who made this year’s National Joint Council so memorable! And for those of you who didn’t or were unable to attend, please join us in January of 2012 for our next NJC.
In Solidarity,
Gordon Deane, President
Tim Yeager, Financial Secretary/Treasurer
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Coalition Building |
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The Coalition Workshop discussed ways to reach out to other groups to maximize union influence. The workshop discussed ways to reach out to local communites to both help with union struggles and also participate in progressive issues affecting the community. Click on the links below to download the workshop handouts.
Download:
coalition_building[1].doc
Coalition Building Basics.doc
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Human Trafficking |
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Since the plenary session at the NJC on human trafficking, NOLSW staff received an overwhelming response from members who are interested in learning more about human trafficking and how they might be able to get more involved in combating modern day slavery. Here are a few simple ways to help make a difference in the lives of persons who are victims of human trafficking: 1- KNOW THE LAW: Under the Trafficking in Victims Protection Act of 2000, the legal definition of, “severe forms of trafficking in persons” is: - Sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not
attained 18 years of age, (22 USC § 7102; 8 CFR § 214.11(a)). - Labor trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purposes of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery. (22 USC § 7102). (http://nhtrc.polarisproject.org)
2- KNOW THE FACTS: Learn more about human trafficking and help educate others by talking to them about what you have learned. Here are a few facts to get you started: a. 27 million people around the world are victims of modern-day slavery (Kevin Bales, of Free the Slaves) b. 1 million children exploited by the global commercial sex trade, every year. (U.S. Department of State, The Facts About Child Sex Tourism: 2005.) c. $32 billion in total yearly profits generated by the human trafficking industry. (ILO, A global alliance against forced labor: 2005). 3- KNOW WHERE TO FIND MORE INFORMATION: The following websites offer excellent resources to help you understand the scope of the problem and how you can help: The National Human Trafficking Resource Center Rescue and Restore Campaign, US Department of Health and Human Services Shared Hope, National Report Please keep checking the website for additional ways to learn about and get involved in combatting human trafficking.
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Page Last Updated: Aug 23, 2012 (14:39:00)
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