2025-03-06 WCU General Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes & Weekly Updates General Meetings
1

2025-03-06 WCU General Meeting

Meeting Minutes

Attendance

Campaign Coordinator: @chima
Membership Coordinator: @HipGnosis
Secretary: @Bozzii
Other members: @Adri_Martinez, @Joanna, @Robert_H, @SeanHun, @Tanner

Unfinished Business

Death of the Left: Whatever Happened to Medicare for All

Updated Agenda

Discussion
  • @Adri_Martinez : What is the goal of doing research on local hospitals, who owns them, and who’s involved in a union?
    – @chima : if people at the event want to do something with that information we can present it to them
  • @HipGnosis : we should start a series of townhalls on different topics

Ironing out other details

  • What unions/orgs should we reach out to?
  • Co-Sponsoring?
  • What other outreach should we do?
  • How do we do this outreach?
Discussion
  • @Adri_Martinez : Healthcare unions/organizations would be good. CMC, FQHC, SJ Health Centers, UOP health programs and clinics could also be good options to reach out to.
  • @Tanner : we should see how many flyers we can print before discussing where/who we want to reach out to. Delta also has a nursing program
    – @chima : should be able to get at least 600-800 flyers
  • @HipGnosis : if there’s elder/childcare organizations would be good as well
  • @Bozzii : would there be any drawbacks to asking them to co-sponsor this event?
    – @chima : if we present them with our agenda ahead of time its on them
    – @Adri_Martinez : can have them sponsor without taking a lead/speaking at our event
  • @chima : when we do outreach we should clarify that we are leading the event

Scheduled Dates :

  • Death of the Left: Whatever Happened to Medicare for All? : March 29, 2025 10-12pm
  • Working Meeting : March 13, 2025 6:30-8pm

Vote :

  • @chima moved to approve the updated agenda for the Medicare for all Townhall
    – unanimous yea
    – Motion Passes (A)
  • @chima added 5 more minutes but no official vote was taken

WCU Article: The Spinach Riot: When Stockton Workers Declared War on the Bosses

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

Discussion
  • @Tanner : thinks its a bit short and assumed there wasn’t much info on it, but it’s very well written
  • @Adri_Martinez : Should change wording about us not taking money from large donors
    – @Robert_H : seconds this. The statement begs to question what we rely on if not donors
    – @Tanner : Implies that we are looking for money
  • @HipGnosis : Should add pictures
  • @Adri_Martinez : modify sentence, “We do not claim we will fix everything for you.” Should include we want others opinion in how to create the solution
    – @Bozzii : reads as though we know exactly what we’re doing so we should add that we need everyone’s input. Well written and like that there are subsections.
    – @Tanner : replace it with “we make no promises of easy solutions, only that (somthing along the lines of through the power of solidarity we can fix things).”
  • @HipGnosis : could lead into another article about modern resurgence of red scare propaganda. The only thing missing from this is the role the government played

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.
Discussion
  • @Bozzii : article is a good appetizer into the subject but doesn’t go into much detail. Do we want to do an educational event/teach-in?
  • @HipGnosis : this is Pete’s domain, but if he has thorough enough notes we can put it in a teach-in. It would have to be broader than this topic
  • @Adri_Martinez : do a teach-in about other riots, not just this one. Don’t want it to end up being a history lesson
  • @chima : may be worthwhile to do a deep dive into the Spinach Riots: police enabling locals betray workers, workers hurting profits so far down the line that the governor had to get involved, how workers may have one if they got community support.
    – @Bozzii : we don’t want it to be a boring history lessor, but that was the point of writing an article about working class history. Asking people during teach-in to apply things we talked about to things that are happening today would help them connect the two
    – @HipGnosis : article is missing why union leaders betrayed them-they knew they would never make a deal. This is still an issue today with unions.
  • @Robert_H : Misses the quote from the police officer in Lodi “the only thing they [strikers] understand is the gun/club”

Scheduled Dates :

  • Teach-in Date: April 12, 2025 10-12pm
  • Planning Meeting: March 10, 2025 6-8pm & March 14, 2025 6-8pm

Vote :

  • @chima moved to approve edits + final draft
    – unanimous yea
    – Motion Passes (B)
  • Schedule a day to hold this workshop/presentation
    – 7 yea and 1 abstention
    – Motion Passes (C)

Labor for Palestine → Union of Unions

  • Note: The name Union of Unions is not concrete
Discussion
  • @HipGnosis : AFL, CIO, IWW, or any existing federations would be good partners

Vote :

  • @chima moves to approved modification of Side-Quest goals
    – unanimous yea
    – Motion Passes (D)

Putting together outreach package

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

DSA NCV Organizing Fair

  • no concrete timeline was discussed, event would happen during labor day weekend, going to start looking for a venue and creating flyers

Vote

  • @chima motioned to table the vote until next month in order to get more information (what are we doing, when, where, how, and how much resources will it take)
    – unanimous yea
    – Motion Passes (E)

New Business

Renew Tenant Union Focus Campaign

Updated plan for new aggressive tenant union campaign

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
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
Discussion
  • @HipGnosis : should hold generic tenant union meeting that every neighborhood we visit can come to
  • @chima : need to dedicate more educational resources for people we want to become leaders
    – @HipGnosis : leadership training + generic meetings would be good for those that show up
    – @chima : could even be a video
  • @HipGnosis : ed committee should have educational materials ready to post on social media
  • @Bozzii : first step for a workshop would be know you rights trainings
  • @HipGnosis : does the ask for them to come canvass happen the first time we go there? Its a big ask
    – @chima : its worked before for other tenant unions
    – @Bozzii : I can understand how it can build trust and get to know the other person a lot more
  • @Adri_Martinez : Would we put a cap on how many tenant associations we would work with at one time
    – @chima : would have to be max one a month because of the three week cycle of hyper activity
    – @HipGnosis : in three month period we do three different complexes, is it one per cycle?
    – @chima : per cycle per workshop we’d be going to multiple complexes to try to cast as wide of a net as possible to try to get people to come
  • @Bozzii : should we make a toolkit tenants that we pin in the group chat so they can access everything without us having to be there
    – @Adri_Martinez : good idea, it would still be good to reach out to them
  • @SeanHun : how will we choose which place to prioritize?
    – @chima : based on research on landlords we can gauge which tenants will be more pissed off. Choose whichever is easier
    – @HipGnosis : easier to succeed or people who are more committed?
    – @chima : we need to discuss what easier actually means
    – @SeanHun : super passionate people with smaller issues
  • @HipGnosis : sacvalley just opened up a tenant union, should we reach out to them?
    – @chima : yea we could have a vote
  • @Bozzii : if we go educational workshops like how to write a letter to code enforcement, those that show up would be interested in organizing
  • @chima : goal isn’t to help as many people as possible, its to filter through to find dedicated leaders
  • @chima : should also do conversation training for ourselves as well. Check back in 3 months and if no one has come to our workshops we should reevaluate how we do outreach
  • @HipGnosis : we’d be hitting around 20 different places a month, how many flyers would we need a month? 1,000 little flyers and 250 large ones a month
  • @chima : at the union print shop it would be a couple hundred for 200 big flyers. Around $400 for both flyers
  • @HipGnosis : so we’d be going in debt. Do we want to do one big generic order to see how much we’d go through?
  • @chima : put two months worth of dues its to and take $100 out of our savings. That should be enough for the order

Feedback and Reflections

Vote :

  • @chima moved to approve renewing Tenant Union focus campaign with these updated (and any discussed) guidelines
    – unanimous yea
    – Motion Passes (F)
  • @chima motioned for @SeanHun to remain a Focus Campaign leader
    – unanimous yea
    – Motion Passes (G)
  • @chima motions to put aside three months worth of dues for printing for flyers and $50 from savings for a table banner
    – 6 yea, 1 abstain
    – Motion Passes (H)

Coalition Meetings

Didn’t get to this

Standardizing WCU Terminology

See thread below:

Didn’t get to this

Upcoming Events

Voting Record

Notes

  • (*) means they did not vote; were not there for this vote
(A)Updated MediCare For All Agenda (B)Spinach Riots Article Final Draft (C)Spinach Riot Workshop (D)Unions for Unions Modifications (E)Table DSANCV Fair Vote (F)Renew Tenant Union Campaign (G)Sean For Tenant Union Campaign Leadership (H)Tenant Union Campaign Budget
@chima yea yea yea yea yea yea yea yea
@HipGnosis yea yea yea yea yea yea yea yea
@bozzii yea yea yea yea yea yea yea abstain
@Adri_Martinez yea yea yea yea yea yea yea yea
@Tanner yea yea abstain yea yea yea * *
@SeanHun yea yea yea yea yea yea yea yea
@Robert_H yea yea yea yea yea yea yea yea
@Joanna yea yea yea yea yea yea yea yea

Quorum for Meeting

[(8+8+8+8+8+8+8+7+7)/8]/2
= 5

1 Like