Local campaigns are underway throughout the state, ranging from large-scale initiatives to smaller ones, some in their initial stages, and others developing over months or years.
Last October, Shondik Boone, President of Nash County NCAE, invited Lisa Battle to a meeting of transportation workers to discuss some of the issues they were facing on the buses. At that meeting, Lisa and her coworkers concluded that bus drivers and monitors are left out and overlooked by management, and they would have to come together as a department if they wanted to see anything change. She joined the union that day.
As the Nash transportation meetings grew into a full-blown campaign for improved pay, communication, and safety, Lisa, too, began to grow into a leader on the transportation organizing committee.
“I’ve known my coworkers for so long… But I had never sat down and just talked to them.”
That quickly changed. As Lisa took around copies of the survey her team ran last fall, she got to know her fellow drivers and monitors much better.
“It felt really good. Once I built relationships and got people by name, they didn’t have a problem signing,” said Lisa Battle, Nash County Schools Transportation Worker and NCAE Member.
She didn’t stop at collecting surveys. She got petition signatures and even began signing up new members. In building relationships with people she’s known for years, she’s found success in talking to her coworkers about our union and how they should be treated as workers.
Heather Largent of Forsyth County Association of Educators (FCAE), has also taken action with our union for the first time this year. Heather has been a member for more than a decade and has always felt that our union has had her back. Now, more than ever, she sees it as the place to elevate educators’ voices.
Jenny Easter, FCAE President, reached out and asked Heather to share a petition. The petition called for a significant pay increase for classified and certified staff, as well as the addition of more counselors and EC case managers. She started with a simple email to all staff, and then within the hour, custodians and TAs started coming to her door asking to sign it.
“I carried around a folder everywhere I went and would stop people in the hallway. And then other people would stop me and say, ‘I want to sign that,’” said Heather.
Heather and her coworkers quickly achieved supermajority participation at her school, but not quite as fast as Kadian Watkis in Vance County.
Kadian is from Jamaica and was actively involved in her union back home. So for her, joining our union here in NC wasn’t a question. Last fall she agreed to serve as her school’s building representative and didn’t waste any time moving her school to action. She has gotten most of her coworkers participating in a weekly Red for Ed and taking a photo together. When an organizer dropped off a stack of petitions calling for raises for all classified and certified staff, Kadian knew what to do.
“The school is very big. For me to get around [by myself], it won’t be done in a day. So I found influencers from different sections of the school.”
Red for Ed photo of Kadian and her coworkers at Clarke Elementary in Vance County.
Kadian and her coworkers made sure their coworkers understood what they were signing, and the team also listened to why it mattered to their coworkers. By the end of the first day, one hundred percent of the staff present signed onto the petition.
Every day, locals across the state get a little bigger and a little stronger because members like Lisa, Heather, and Kadian decide to step up, take action, and engage with their coworkers on the issues that matter to them.
Kadian hopes her colleagues start to see the power they can build through collective action. “I want them to see that when we come together for a shared purpose, we can make a real impact, not just for ourselves, but for the whole education system. I want them to know change starts with us.”
