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New Year's Union Resolutions

by Brenda Shields

Happy New Year to all the members of SEIU Local 205 Memphis City Schools chapter!

I hope you all had time to rest and share fellowship with your families and friends. As we return back to our schools, we face the New Year with a new challenge. I’m talking about consolidation, of course. I, like you, have been following the issue closely and I can say there are a lot of unanswered questions out there. The question that is the most important to me is: will we the workers get a say? It seems clear now that we will only be heard if we demand someone pay attention. But before we get there, we must as one decide where we want to go.

We must protect the things we have built over the years, but we cannot bury our heads in the sand and miss out on any opportunity to make real gains for our families. The future will offer us some difficult choices but we as one must rise to those challenges if we are to be in charge of our destiny.

I remember the words of what newly-elected President Obama said in his inaugural address in January 2009: “Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends—hard work and honesty; courage and fair play; tolerance and curiosity; loyalty and patriotism—these things are old. Those things are true.” True for our country and for our union in these times.

Our union is only as strong as you the members, so that is why I am asking you to take the Union Activist New Year’s Resolution. Can you pledge to come to four meetings a year and participate in one union activity each semester? I know we all live busy lives, but those lives won’t get better until we stand together and make it better. Especially in these uncertain times we have to work together or we will all fall apart.

I wish the best for you and yours this New Year.

Clannon Williams

Clannon William

The Member Spotlight shines on a rising star within the local union: Clannon William. Clannon is the Supervising Building Engineer at Florida Kansas Elementary, he is also a shop steward, and he served on the Memphis City Schools chapter’s Bargaining Committee.

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