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Healthy Schools Now!

Organizing in Your Building

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AEU AND AZ COSH

November 20, 2021

School Health & Safety Committees, Cohort One

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Agenda

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  • Intros

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  • Health & Safety Committees 101 + Arizona Schools Examples

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  • Organizing Basics: Getting Started

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  • Breakout Groups: Making Your Recruitment Plan

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  • Report Back and Close

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Health & Safety Committees 101

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Types of Health & Safety Committees

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  • Formal committees created by a collective bargaining agreement. These often include both labor and management representatives.

  • Workplace committees formed by workers who are “acting like a union,” regardless of whether there is a collective bargaining agreement. May also be a joint project of labor and management reps.

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  • Activist worker committees! No formal recognition or management representation required.

BUILDING EFFECTIVE WORKER-LED COMMITTEES

CONSTRUYENDO COMITÉS EFECTIVOS LIDERADOS POR TRABAJADORES

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H&S Committees in Arizona Schools:

AEU Member Organizing at Arizona College Prep Middle School

AEU members began organizing in August, 2021.

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  • 3 committee members have distributed health & safety surveys to 30 teachers and 20 staff members.
  • Findings from preliminary results:
    • Concerns about HVAC Systems
    • Adequate supplies for PPE
    • Mental Stress
    • COVID Outbreak
  • This is a worker-led committee that meet with the school administration when need to.
  • While there are union members part of the committee, it is not a sponsored by the Union. The rank-in-file and non-union members are taking it into their own hands.
  • For next steps, we are going to organize an event to present our universal demands to the school.

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H&S Committees in Arizona Schools:

Tucson High

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  • Worker-led health and safety committee of 8-9 teachers meet weekly with principal to discuss H&S issues.
  • Generally positive relationship with management, but goals and outcomes to-date are unclear.

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👇Drop in chat: examples at your school or that you’ve heard about!

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Getting Started: Organizing Basics

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The Basics: Recruitment

So you want to form a health & safety committee? That means you need to recruit others to join you!

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Let’s Talk:

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How would you get started? 👇Drop in chat👇

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What tools can you think of that will help you with recruitment? 👇Drop in chat👇

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>>ROLE PLAY TIME!<<

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Breakout Groups

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Work in groups of 3

  • Briefly introduce yourself!

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  • Practice recruitment roleplay

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  • Take time to each brainstorm the 4-5 people you will work to recruit or partner with. Share them in the chat.

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  • How will you approach people, and how will you organize a first meeting? Talk through your recruitment plans together. If your organizing is further along, substitute appropriate next steps / goals.

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Please take notes in our shared google doc!

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Report Back

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Reminder:

GOALS + Homework

Everyone leaves today with:

    • the names of 4-5 people in their building they will work with or try recruit
    • a plan for outreach and;
    • a goal of holding an initial H&S committee organizing meeting before we reconvene in mid-Feburary -- meeting info coming soon!

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Resources

  • Sample letter to management requesting an H&S committee - here.

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  • Reach AZ COSH @ azcosh@gmail.com or

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Announcements: COSH CON!