⏳ Planning for Tenant Union Workshop

If you have questions about any of these action items, please schedule a quick Zoom meeting with a member of the Steering Committee here. We were elected to help members achieve the goals you voted for, so don’t hesitate to book a meeting!


Planning for Tenant Union Workshop

Phase Two: January 17 – January 30

Discussion Thread

At the General Meeting, we planned to organize a Tenant Union Workshop. Before scheduling a date for the workshop, we need to address several questions.

What Are Our Goals?

  • Inform tenants about the local and state laws we’ve collected in the handbook.
  • Explain the purpose of a tenant union, perhaps using the presentation from the initial CalVilla TA meeting.
  • Provide tenants with tools like letter templates to help them advocate for themselves.
  • Should we replicate EWOC by offering a guide to help tenants form their own Tenant Association, where we assist but do not dedicate time to weekly canvassing?
  • Is our goal to find a building or apartment complex that we could help organize next?

Workshop Preparation

  • Who is our target audience?
  • How will we do outreach and promotion?
  • Should we reach out to the Sacramento Tenants Union, who often hold these workshops in collaboration with a nonprofit?
  • Should we partner with a tenant lawyer to help answer questions?
  • Can we prepare our material early enough to have it translated?
  • If we collect RSVPs early enough, should we ask people about issues they’re facing that they want to learn more about so we can incorporate it into our presentation? We might need at least a week’s lead time for this.
  • Should we invite CalVilla residents? If they are already in the WhatsApp group by then, should we offer them a ride so not only unit owners show up?
  • Can we offer childcare?

Are there other questions or concerns that we need to address first?

We have until the end of January to figure this out so we can vote on whether to hold this workshop during the February General Meeting.

Update: Tenant Union Workshop Planning

Based on our 2025-02-15 planning meeting

We created a meeting structure that addresses the Tenant Union directly. We thought it would be best to use an approach that avoids distractions about codes and laws. Instead, we present tenant unions as a primary tactic rather than having participants default to using a lawyer, that we would then have to walk them back from. You can read and edit our the working document here.

You can also see the outline below:

INTRODUCTION

Welcome and Purpose

  • WCU introduction and participant welcome
  • Event agenda: Two-part structure
    • Vision and history showing tenant union achievements and necessity
    • Time for sharing housing struggles and developing collective solutions
  • Brief grounding exercise

PART 1: What is a Tenant Union?

  1. Core definition of tenant unions
  2. Tenant union structure and function
    • Meeting immediate housing needs
    • Building collective power against wealthy landlords and the politically connected
    • Centering tenant protagonism (but we can use a different word)
  3. Historical context of tenant organizing

PART 2: Purpose and Impact of Tenant Unions

A. The Importance of Tenant Unions

  • Moving beyond NGO services and towards a larger political vision
  • Shifting from lobbying to tenant leadership

B. Tenant Union Achievements

  • Securing immediate demands
  • uilding long term structures that are not just political demands
  • Case study: Effective rent strike tactics

PART 3: Strategy Development

A. Community Discussion

  • Small group breakout sessions
  • Planning for future organizing with connected tenants

PART 3: Listening to issues and building a strategy

A. Discussion and break out groups

  • Plan for future events if there is a tenant that is connected to people