2023-06-08 WCU General Meeting
Meeting Notes
Old Business
- Approved Minutes from 2023-05-25 General Meeting
Committee Reports
- Steering Committee met on 2023-06-07 to discuss and flesh out roles
- NEED TO INSERT LINK TO STEERING MEETING HERE
New Business
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Approved attending Lodi Pride 2023 as a social event as well as to canvas. We discussed talking points we could use when trying to recruit members.
– @HipGnosis: Give them an idea of what our beliefs are, what our campaigns are going to be, and see what they might be interested in. Try to give them a call to action.
– @Adri_Martinez: We should go back to the roots of pride. Understanding that pride was primarily made by trans women and there was also a class aspect to it as well. Let people know they are not separate and bring people in. Sylvia Rivera would emphasize that in her own experiences, how the movement then started to just become what it is now, which is more rainbow capitalism. She unfortunately died homeless.
– @Turcotte: Emphasize the tenant union thing, because queer youth, especially here, because the wages are bad, really struggle finding places to live. Reiterate that, if you have any questions, we can help track down solutions. -
@chima presented his proposal for Tenant Organizing as a Focus Campaign
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Approved @chima setting up a meeting with Los Angeles Tenant Union (LATU) or Autonomous Tenant Union Network (ATUN) before the next General Meeting.
– All Membership will be invited to attend and the recording will be available afterwards.
– We collected a list of questions for LATU/ATUN that are listed below. If you have additional questions, please reply in this thread. -
Approved reaching out to potential connections for farmworker outreach
– Dennis said he would reach out to someone who was driving out to get school supplies for migrant farmworkers.
– @chima said he would reach out to Luis Magaña, who may also connect us to farmworkers who are dealing with bad landlords -
Approved sharing social media content about the Teamsters/UPS current vote to strike
– Also approved reaching back out to local Teamsters member and ask if they would like us to interview them and share it on our social media as well -
We set consistent monthly Reading Group times for the ABCs of Capitalism. They will be the second and fourth Wednesday and Friday of every month.
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The fourth Monday in December is Christmas Day. This meeting was cancelled. Elections for Steering Committee will be held on the first meeting in December, the first Thursday (Dec 14th). Note: Harpreet said Dec 7th in the meeting, but that was the incorrect date.
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Approved three modifications to the WCU Bylaws.
– Under IV. Section 5, added “A motion cannot be both moved and seconded by Steering Committee members alone.” This was done to ensure that the Steering Committee cannot push items forward for a vote without at least one other dues paying member’s approval.
– Under VI. Section 13: Legal Documents, added “In the context of local, state, federal, and other regulatory documents, the Campaign Coordinator shall hold the title of Chair/President, while the Membership Coordinator shall hold the title of Vice-Chair/Vice-President. These designations are solely for documentation purposes and do not imply any extra duties or privileges within the organization.” This was necessary because we do not have a Chair/President, and that role is sometimes required for legal or tax documents.
– Under IV. Section 3, modified to the following, “A quorum for General Meetings requires either 10% of the Membership or a minimum of three Members in good standing, whichever is greater.” -
@Robert_H addressed Roberts’ Rules saying he would work with another member to make a presentation for the Membership. We will have to modify them as we go but as long as there is no wrecker behavior in the meetings, we should be okay.
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We also discussed the possibility of doing outreach to young people who are entering into the workforce without knowing their legal worker rights or about unionizing.
Questions for Tenant Unions/Organizing
- Is there anything particular to San Joaquin that would be unique to our area when it comes to tenant laws?
- What roles to government bodies like the Housing Authority play?
- What kind of housing should we target first, how to pick out a neighborhood or apartment complex?
If you would like to add or discuss anything related to this meeting, please reply to this thread.