“Strong worksites lead to strong local chapters, which leads to an even stronger CTA as we take on the big issues facing public education.”

For CTA members, being both educators and union members go hand-in-hand as we work to improve public education and outcomes for our students, as well as working conditions for each other. While we fight for big issues that will help to make those things happen, like increased school funding and supportive school boards, it’s strength in our work sites that builds the power to accomplish larger goals.

I learned this 25 years ago as a brand-new site rep. Coming from a strong union family of educators, I was eager to share my enthusiasm and connect with my colleagues about the power of unions. But there was a glaring disconnect at our own school. We had a principal who routinely violated our contract by going over the one hour of weekly professional development she led.

I know that may sound like a small thing, but cumulatively it added up and felt to us like we were being disrespected. We worked our hearts out all day and deserved respect for our time. Seeing this happen, I knew my colleagues would have no faith in our union to win big struggles if we couldn’t even win respect at our own school. Because I was the new rep, people wondered what I was going to do about it. I realized that addressing this one-on-one with the principal wouldn’t empower my colleagues to work alongside me to address issues in the future. Instead, we invited everyone to a site union meeting and listened to how this situation was impacting us all. We collectively voted to offer her a compromise: We’d grant her the occasional hour and a half time she thought she needed, in exchange for eliminating one after-school meeting a month. She agreed.

We were thrilled! Our collective action had produced results. Then, when she slipped up and started going over the hour and a half, we met again and collectively voted to all walk out the next time she did this. When I told her of our decision, she knew we meant business. It never happened again, and the process led to monthly union meetings at our school where we tackled other important issues, such as reviving the bilingual program at our site.

The types of victories we achieved at my school site are mirrored by site reps and other CTA members at school and worksites all over California. Of course, the reality is some sites are further along than others. That’s one reason CTA has made a substantial investment in a new organizing plan that focuses on building power at the local level. Strong worksites lead to strong local chapters, which leads to an even stronger CTA as we take on the big issues facing public education.

As CTA fights back against decades of disinvestment in public education, against attacks on honesty in our curriculum, against book bans, and discrimination against LGBTQ+ students and members, it’s our collective strength that is getting the job done. It’s that strength that is expanding our Community Schools across the state. That strength begins at the site level. It begins with you!

Getting involved in your union at its most basic level, your workplace, can lead to great things. I hope that you’ll consider being a site rep or assisting the one(s) you have, that you’ll continue to build solidarity with your colleagues in your workplace, get more involved in your local chapter, and join with 310,000 fellow CTA members as we build a better future for educators, for students and for public education together.

David B. Goldberg
CTA PRESIDENT