2025-01-02 General Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes & Weekly Updates General Meetings
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2025-01-02 General Meeting

Meeting Minutes

Attendance

Campaign Coordinator: @chima
Membership Coordinator: @HipGnosis
Education Coordinator: @Englishpete08
Treasurer: @Turcotte
Secretary: @Bozzii
Other Members: @PeterKraljev, @Tanner, @Adri_Martinez, @Raiken_202, @Robert_H, @Joanna
Guest: Bella

Unfinished Business

Conflict of Interest Policy and Disclosure Form:

Schedule annual bylaw review

Review language regarding Education/Membership Coordinator split

New process for approving minutes:

  • Automatically approve meeting minutes without a vote if they are posted 2-week in advance of the General Meeting and there are no comments or discussion

Voting-by-Proxy

Discussion Summary
  • @Tanner : both person casting and the proxy must be members in good standing, important because something may come up during an important vote
  • @PeterKraljev : Why can’t we post what we vote for in the group chats and if they cant make it cast the vote online
  • @HipGnosis : delegation rather than representation for proxy votes
  • @chima : yes you get more representation, but someone with may friends to show up and vote on their behalf even if they never show up. Also don’t have time to be a part of the discussion/debate, so you have no context
  • @Turcotte : anti-entryism actions we can take and doesn’t see an issue with vote by proxy at this point but may need to reassess in the future
  • @Adri_Martinez : had to miss the election because of unforeseen circumstances. Sees both sides of the discussion, but even the US has absentee voters during general elections
  • @Bozzii : agree with everyone. May not be an issue with the amount of members we currently have, but should think proactively. Can change what it means to be a member in good standing
  • @chima : shouldn’t add more layers of bureaucracy and main issue is engagement. If we had a method of engagement between meeting then there wouldn’t be an issue

Vote

  • @chima moved to table this, move the discussion to the forum, then come back to it to create a final bylaw edit for next month
    • Motion Passes (A) - 9 yea, 1 abstention, 1 didn’t vote
  • Forum post for further discussion can be found here

501c4 Tax Status Updates by @Turcotte

  • Everything is done for the tax forms
    • all that’s left is getting all the receipts and plugging them into the form for the final filing status
    • may go through a couple revisions based on previous experience
  • House Bill 9495 may cause as we have previously mentioned Palestine

WCU Article

Discussion Summary
  • @Adri_Martinez : Working class history could be a good start for our first article. It is January for MLK Jr. would be relevant. May be a way to tie the two together.
  • @Bozzii : labor organizing and working class history good introduction. Why liberals always lose would be an interesting topic for post-election and organize moving forward
  • @Turcotte : working class history is a good segue for the type of content we are going to make. Draws more people to a socialist organization. Lots of union history in Stockton.
  • @Raiken_202 : Local background good foundation. Many people don’t know localized history and issues today can be tied that.
  • @PeterKraljev : Can combine working class history, MLK Jr. (wasn’t a problem until he began to talk about socialism), and tie it back to why the liberals always lose.
  • @Adri_Martinez : added to @PeterKraljev to combine communicating with non-leftists into the article. Relevant to capitalistic system and healthcare issues are putting working class struggles in the forefront
  • @HipGnosis : in favor of working class history, allows us to say were a local organization while educating people about union history in Stockton. Lots of local events we can talk about
  • @chima : people in Stockton tend to have a defeatist attitude, but there is a lot of history that people have stood up for themselves and each other so we should put our roots there

Vote

  • @chima moved to approve working class history of local labor the first topic we cover for WCU articles
    • Motion Passes (B) - unanimous yea

State of the Organization

Tenant Union Campaign

CalVilla Plan

  • next two weeks : get handbook online; upload CalVilla’s bylaws, CCNR, and local rules online to use as an incentive to joining the Whatsapp group; put up flyers for tenants to know the rules and regulations; creating educational content for tenant union; reaching back out to code enforcement
  • second half of month : organize a meeting with tenants, shifting focus from HOA to local landlords, attend HOA meetings
  • Try to hold seminar to go over basics with tenants
Discussion Summary
  • @Turcotte : LATU focusing on apartment complexes that weren’t too big (20-40 units). Don’t need much convincing because everyone is aware of problems. Get in touch with anyone who is in that type of scenario. Going over basic rights in a presentation is a great start. Focus on landlord issues on Voices of the Working Class
  • @HipGnosis : Pick particularly bad landlord, very easy to vilify for an easy win
  • @chima : Power map Stockton and choose someone who is high up in local scene. Would be good to organize tenants while getting leverage for other things later on
  • @Bozzii : choosing someone within local landlord can help up activate and unify broader community. Research needed either way so voices of working class and interviewing people would be a great idea. Talk to people first through interviews, surveys, etc because we shouldn’t rush
  • @Adri_Martinez : Benefit in surveying to get an individual in a neighborhood who may want to take this on, rather than us doing all the work.
  • @chima : second half of January look into details about the seminar, who we want to invite, how and where we hold it, and how we want to research it and outreach

Vote

    • Motion Passes (C) - unanimous yea
  • @chima motion to materialize the Calvilla plan mentioned above
    • Motion Passes (D) - unanimous yea, 1 didn’t vote

Educational Initiatives

  • Tenant Union Campaign Onboarding / Theory Series
    – Teach-in planning
    – Onboarding development
    – Integrate past presentations and reading groups
  • Basic political education
    – Capitalism 101 primer
Summary
  • @HipGnosis : nice to get everyone on the same page about what words mean

New Business

Medicare for All-esque Townhall Side-Quest

  • Collect healthcare stories
  • Townhall to take advantage of current heighten discussion around healthcare/CEOs
Discussion Summary
  • @Turcotte : Voices of the Working class, have a QR code where people tell their stories, and write their stories in an article. Good to refocus things away from Luigi and back to healthcare
  • Bella: used to work in healthcare specifically hospice, issues within healthcare even for the workers
  • @PeterKraljev : talk about pre-Mccarthyism when socialist organization created mutual funds, community health plans, and funded youth groups and cemeteries. Tie it back to working class history
  • @HipGnosis : success story cecosesola in venezuela started out as funeral home to make sure people were buried and now feed half of the city they are based in, direct people towards this. Anarchists had history of propaganda of deed and learned that it doesn’t work
  • @Bozzii : Egypt healthcare is only for the elites so many people do mutual aid for medications and checkups. During townhall mention that the issue isn’t the leader, its the system itself
  • @chima : point of it is to reorienting people to build class consciousness
  • @Bozzii : we ourselves are not the solution, people uniting in their struggles is. People are looking for a savior, but there won’t be one person that comes in and saves us all like Luigi
  • @Adri_Martinez : should think about what to do for people that are having issues now. If people are trying to come to us for what they should do and need help now. How do we prepare for that
  • @HipGnosis : being part of a network of GoFundMe’s for emergency funds isn’t a solution but it is a bandaid so we can
  • @Turcotte : townhall idea should lead to people sharing stories and make it a coalition of GoFundMe’s that way people actually get help. for 6-week plan start off with getting people stories

Vote

  • @chima moved to implement 6-week plan- first week making QR code, two weeks hashing out what we want it to be, two weeks to advertise it, and hold it mid-February
    • Motion Passes (E) - 9 yea, 1 abstain, 1 didn’t vote

Labor for Palestine Side-Quest

  • Discussion of involvement with Labor for Palestine
  • Strategy for reaching out to local union political committee
Discussion Summary
  • @HipGnosis : what unions or are we targeting any (Harpreet responded any) Good to get contacts into local unions
  • @Bozzii : good to continue the conversation of Palestine alive because its dying down. Gave the unions enough time to educate themselves on topic. Can offer them the Palestine campaign toolkit
  • @Adri_Martinez : if non-profit status may be revoked maybe we should do it
  • @chima : we’re already doomed
  • @Bozzii : HR 9495 isn’t just about Palestine it can be anything they deem bad
  • @HipGnosis : shouldn’t rely on non-profit system

Vote

  • @chima moves to approve this side-quest and put together small package, reaching out to unions, and having a meeting with them
    • Motion Passes (F) - unanimous yea

Community Outreach

  • Tabling for recruitment
  • Local event participation opportunities
  • Establish a regular social event (time/location)

Upcoming events:

Voting Record

Notes:

  • (*) means they did not vote; were at the meeting but did not yea, no, or abstain during the vote
(A)Tabling Vote-by-Proxy (B)WCU Article (C)Additional time (D)CalVilla TU Plan (E)Healthcare Townhall Side-quest (F)Labor for Palestine Side-quest
@chima yea yea yea yea yea yea
@HipGnosis yea yea yea yea yea yea
@bozzii yea yea yea yea yea yea
@Englishpete08 yea yea yea yea yea yea
@PeterKraljev yea yea yea yea yea yea
@Joanna * yea yea * * yea
@Tanner abstain yea yea yea abstain yea
@Adri_Martinez yea yea yea yea yea yea
@Raiken_202 yea yea yea yea yea yea
@Robert_H yea yea yea yea yea yea
@Turcotte yea yea yea yea yea yea

Quorum for Meeting

[(12+11+12+12+11+11+12)/7]/2
= 6

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After the General Meeting, @Bozzii @Englishpete08 @Adri_Martinez and I ended up talking for a while. Since this was a majority of the steering committee discussing WCU business, I am going to include a brief summary of what we talked about below. This is from memory so Pete/Basma/Adri, if you think I missed something important, please include it below.

Healthcare Town Hall

Adri suggested referring people to free clinics like EMAC at our Medicare for All Town Hall. We discussed the challenge of determining whom we should invite and what we’re offering them. If we’re asking for healthcare stories, those who attend might be people facing financial hardships or other healthcare issues. There are existing solutions available: payment reduction plans, letter templates to appeal insurance denials, free clinics, and income-based payment reductions.

This raised the question of our role as a socialist organization. Should we act as intermediaries between people and these nonprofits? These organizations already receive funding for outreach. Does it make sense for us to do additional outreach on their behalf? What kind of relationship would we establish with them? Alternatively, should our focus be on building class consciousness among those who are angry, ready to be active, and have the capacity to contribute to our current efforts?

Palestine for Labor

We briefly touched on the Palestine issue and the sense of hopelessness surrounding it. When engaging with unions, are we merely reaching the activist layer? Should we focus on discussing the actual interests and challenges union workers face, such as automation? We also discussed the guilt associated with watching from afar and feeling powerless to help Palestine.

Tenant Union Work

We discussed the importance of power mapping—not just of landlords but also local elected officials and power players. Creating a comprehensive database of city council members, school boards, water councils, and other agencies would be valuable. This database would include easily searchable records of meeting attendance and statements, along with FOIA requests on emails, centralized in one place.

We commented on how while this information is available for transparency, it’s not always accessible. Expanding our tenant research phase to include political donations might be worthwhile, instead of focusing solely on the largest landlords.

Summary

No decisions were made by the steering committee members.

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Is the link to the Voices article dead?
I tried to follow it but it gives me a 404

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I just updated the link, it should work now.