2025-02-24 WCU Steering Committee Meeting

Meeting Minutes & Weekly Updates Steering Committee Meetings
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2025-02-24 WCU Steering Committee Meeting

Meeting Minutes

Attendance

Campaign Coordinator: @chima
Membership Coordinator: @HipGnosis
Education Coordinator: @Englishpete08
Treasurer: @Turcotte
Secretary: @Bozzii

General Meeting

Date: 2025-03-06T08:00:00Z

Recording Check

  • Ensure that the meeting is being recorded.

Roll Call & Introductions

  • Steering Committee
  • Quorum
  • Introductions (New Members)

Reports of Members Sick or in Distress

Unfinished Business

Death of the Left: Whatever Happened to Medicare for All (10 min)

  • VOTE: Contents of Meeting Agenda
  • VOTE: Schedule a day for us to hold this in March

We should do outreach to these unions:

  • California Nurses Association
  • SEIU Local 1021
  • Union of American Physicians and Dentists
  • Any others?

What other outreach should we do?

  • Public health departments?
  • Nonprofits like CMC?
  • Patient organizations?

How do we do this outreach?

  • Print + hang flyers around the hospital / clinics?
  • Drop flyers in their cars?
  • See if the unions will co-sponsor the event?

WCU Article: The Spinach Riot: When Stockton Workers Declared War on the Bosses (30 mins)

Review current draft together: 2025-14-1 WCU Article Workshop - Google Docs

  • VOTE: Approve edits + final draft

Do we want to develop this article into a workshop?

@Englishpete08 has done a great job outlining the actual history of the strike that we could go into more detail with. If so:

  • VOTE: Schedule a day to hold this workshop/presentation

Labor for Palestine → Union of Unions (10 mins)

  • VOTE: Approved modification of Side-Quest goals

Putting together outreach package

We will need to set a date for us to put this together.

DSA NCV Organizing Fair (10 mins)

Discuss concrete timeline. What actually needs to be planned and how much capacity will it take?

  • VOTE: Increase our time/resource commitment to the organizing fair

New Business

Renew Tenant Union Focus Campaign (30 mins)

Feedback and Reflections (10 mins)

Updated plan for new aggressive tenant union campaign (20 mins)

Initial Outreach via Tenant Union Workshops

  • Identify areas of SJC with properties owned by local, large, or known landlords. The goal is to pick landlords who can actually be pressured instead of small or out of town investors.
  • In that area, distribute informational flyers about tenant unions and upcoming workshop.
  • We can do bulk flyer drop off or post flyers in high-traffic areas
  • Use targeted social media advertising
  • Discuss additional outreach strategies at general meeting

Building a Tenant Association

At the Tenant Union workshop, identify a tenant that has an issue that could be a broader systemic problem. Ideally, they are already coming from one of our targeted properties. Also, since they are at a workshop, they may serve as the primary organizer in this community if we give them the resources/tools they need.

Pre-Engagement (Week 0)
  • Research landlord history and property records
  • Check court and county records
  • Verify there is no HOA :face_with_head_bandage:
Initial Contact (Week 1)
  • Visit neighborhood twice at varied times (noon and evening)
  • Post announcements for the upcoming tenant meeting
  • Knock on doors to discuss housing issues
  • Categorize tenants by participation likelihood
  • Invite tenants to the tenant association meeting
  • Collect contact information and add tenants to SMS group immediately
  • Ask for commitment to attend and bring another neighbor
  • Invite interested tenants to join door-knocking efforts
  • Set up table at building entrance when sufficient volunteers available
Meeting Preparation (Week 2)
  • Continue door-knocking at times different from Week 1 one more day
  • Follow up with interested tenants about the meeting
  • Call or text tenants reminders
  • Send meeting reminder with agenda one day before meeting
  • In group chat, ask if tenants
  • Include preview of potential solutions to common issues
First Meeting
  • Set up hybrid in-person/online format
  • Provide food (pizza, sandwiches)
  • Include Zoom access information on all materials
Meeting Agenda
  1. Introductions
  2. Discussion of resident concerns
  3. Collaborative problem-solving session
  4. Commitment to bring additional neighbors to next meeting
  5. Schedule follow-up meeting
  6. Clarify that we will not take action unless someone else joins us. If no one else helps with the next step, then our involvement ends there. Be transparent about our organizational capacity and need for tenant leadership
Follow-Through (Week 3)
  • Work with at least one tenant leader on action items
  • Hold follow-up meeting to implement agreed-upon plans
  • Address concerns from new attendees
  • Allow tenants to determine next steps and meeting schedule
  • Update flyers with new meeting information

Organizational Resources

Materials Needed
  • Branded table covering with logo
  • Flyers with blank space for updated meeting information
Communication Channels
  • SMS group for initial contact
  • WhatsApp group for active participants
Educational Resources
  • Guides for 101 organizing conversations
  • Benefits of tenant association participation

Voting

  • VOTE: Approve renewing Tenant Union focus campaign with these updated (and any discussed) guidelines
  • VOTE: If approved, vote for any Focus Campaign leadership
  • VOTE: If budget situation is clear, approve budget for flyers

Coalition Meetings (10 mins)

Standardizing WCU Terminology (10 mins)

See thread below:

Schedule Social Event

  • Movie Night
  • Social Event
  • Regular public meeting event