Friday, April 14, 2006

Uniserv City, USA

I had two meetings this week at our friendly local UniServ office. On Tuesday there was a presentation on grievance training 101 with some absolutely hilarious video clips. The disheartening thing was to hear about the problems that are occuring in some of the other locals in the area, particularly Rosalia. It makes me happy to have the relationship that we do with the administrators in my district; it's not the ideal, but as labor/management things go I think it's about as good as you could ever hope to get.

On Wednesday the rest of the liberal elite and I gathered for the monthly Representative Council meeting to discuss the goings-on of the council. We started with a presentation by a teacher from Rogers High School about diversity training, then those who attended the Representative Assembly in Tacoma last month shared some of their highlights. Staff members talked about some of the battles they're fighting; it sounds like the situation at Eastern could get a lot worse before it gets better, and in Selkirk they're not only facing the possibility of a school closure and the lowest enrollment they've seen in years (read their Superintendent's reports for a good overview), but the union itself is divided over some delicate staffing issues. It didn't sound like a happy place at all.

We also voted for new officers for the Region. Everyone ran unopposed, which was fine.

I like these meetings. Number 1, the food is outstanding. The beef stroganoff on Wednesday was great, and the teriyaki chicken breast with rice on Tuesday....yum. They're also all good people, and when you know the effect that unions have on the schools it's neat to see what that looks like up close on the local level.

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