I probably spoke too soon when I said that things would be a bit calmer for me now that election season is done. I’m still doing a lot of work for my slate and our social media, but I knew that would be happening. But I guess I forgot about the prep work for the election taking as much time as it does. I knew there would be a few meetings, but this year there was an extra meeting added in beside the ones I have attended before.
Normally, there is an orientation meeting for the convention and that’s the only main union meeting regarding it. That’s normally combined with a local board meeting so it’s a pretty long meeting. This time, the orientation is going to be a webinar online and there will be a board meeting later that night (and I’m hoping to still attend that as an observer). But they added an extra meeting this week all about convention resolutions.
Resolutions are the different changes to the union constitution that we vote on during the convention. There can be a lot of resolutions to consider and some of them are not voted on if they are something that the delegates don’t have authority over or if they would be breaking a contract or law. But we still go through lots of resolutions that are submitted by delegates around the country. While I haven’t personally submitted one before, I have looked into doing them. But many of the resolutions I have thought of cannot be voted on for one reason or another. Having people in my slate who can advise us if a resolution can be voted on or not is just another benefit to being a part of a slate.
But not everyone has that support or they want to discuss their resolutions with a larger group. So the local officers created a delegate caucus where resolutions could be discussed among delegates and one of our legal representatives could advise about the legality of the idea.
They did cover some things about the convention that I know they will discuss at the orientation such as the basics of the schedule and what events are happening on what day. But I know that information will be explained in more detail during the orientation webinar. There were a lot of people with resolutions to discuss so they wanted to limit convention discussion time to get through as many resolutions as possible.
Some of the resolutions were ones that are already online and can be endorsed and others were new ideas. Nothing official happened at the meeting, it was more of a workshopping of the resolutions. We did raise our hands if we would consider supporting it, but it was not the same as an official endorsement. But it still helped the people working on the resolutions to see what the temperature of the room was for their idea. If they knew that nobody would support it, maybe they would reconsider submitting it. And while we want everyone to submit the resolutions they want to be considered at the convention, the more resolutions we have the less time we have to discuss and debate.
I knew there was a chance the meeting would get political and tense, and it did happen a bit. It wasn’t as bad as the campaign stuff was, but some resolutions were very clearly against one group or person. I tried to not be biased when I listened, but it was hard when I knew exactly what the person was trying to say without actually saying it. It helped that nothing was official at the meeting so I didn’t feel pressured to vote one way or another and know that it would be a real decision. I know I need to research the resolutions before convention before I feel comfortable voting.
All the resolutions have to be submitted this week and then I can take the time to research them before the convention in a month. And I know I have a lot of people I can turn to and ask questions about them if I’m not clear what they mean or what would happen if it was voted up or down. And I do take voting on the resolutions seriously because I know that they are important. I take the time researching and I decide how I want to vote. I do get recommendations from others, but I still decide for myself how I want to vote.
I know the convention will be here before I know it and I know that I’ll be probably doing a lot of work to get ready for it over the next few weeks. I can’t wait for the convention because it really is something that I enjoy and I love getting to spend those days working with my fellow members. Even when it’s crazy and political, it’s such an incredible feeling being in that room. And doing all this prep work is getting me even more excited and ready for it!
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