I have really appreciated having the union meetings I’ve been attending recently through Zoom. I am almost always working during the time that the meetings are happening, and having them on Zoom allows me to be a part of them. And I’ve been pretty lucky to not have meetings or time-sensitive things I’ve needed to do during the meetings. I can’t always give the meetings my full attention because I’m working, but at least I’m not completely missing out. I have worried that when the meetings go back to being in person they won’t have the Zoom component (just listening to the meetings on a conference call isn’t the same), but I think they may keep Zoom as an option since it has allowed so many more people to participate in union service.
Soon, my work schedule should have some additional flexibility so attending union meetings might be easier, but I don’t have that finalized yet so I’m not exactly sure how it will all work. But I’ve been planning on attending union meetings with the idea that things won’t be able to be moved around and that’s how I probably will continue to plan for them. But of course, all great plans don’t work out every time. And that’s what happened this week.
I was supposed to attend the local communication committee meeting this week and it worked into my schedule perfectly between other things that were time-sensitive, so I was planning on attending just like always. But then, one of my work meetings changed times and was the exact same time as the committee meeting. There was nothing I could do because the work meeting had to be the priority. It’s not ideal, but it’s the reality of my life. It wasn’t fun to miss out on a meeting when I do like to be a part of the plan for union communications. I do take pride in the committees I’m a part of and I know that I need to take it seriously since so many people want to be on committees and can’t. For several years, I wanted to be on a committee and there wasn’t space for me. So I really do appreciate the space I have been given on the committees I’m a part of.
I tried to not feel too down about it because I didn’t have another option. But it was frustrating for sure. And because the information from the meeting hasn’t been shared yet, I still don’t know what decisions were made or what action items I need to be aware of. I know those will come soon, but I don’t like waiting on the information since I missed it when it was announced. I think this is motivating me to do the action steps as soon as I get them because I know I will already be a bit behind in doing the work.
But, I know that there will be more meetings for me in the future and hopefully, they work out with my work schedule. This was the only meeting I’ve had to miss so far because of work since the pandemic, so that’s not bad. I do make every effort I can to attend and my attendance record shows that. And maybe one day in the future, I won’t have a day job to be a conflict (although I might be working on set which would also be a time conflict). But until then, I have to be ok with missing a few meetings if it’s really impossible for me to attend. And I know that doesn’t mean I’m not taking my union service seriously, it just means that sometimes I’m double booked and something else might have priority.
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