12/4 GMM Report Back

December 9th, 2024

Steering Committee extends our thanks and appreciation to all members who attended our second fall General Membership Meeting this past Wednesday. We also uplift the work of Stewards and Organizing Committee members in exceeding our turnout goals: at 85 individual members present, it was our highest attended General Membership Meeting in the last year. Mass mobilization and rank-and-file engagement are instrumental for healthy union democracy, further confirmed by the high volume of member submissions: a record 14 items were submitted by members for discussion, 7 of which were proposals and 7 constitutional amendments. 

Two proposals were passed, both by overwhelming margins: RAs Deserve a Real Win, and Initiate Dues Reduction to Increase Representation of International Workers. The former outlines parameters guiding the RA campaign into the Spring semester, committing to fight for economic compensation; the latter mandates Steering Committee begin investigating a potential membership dues reduction, with the aim of removing cost barriers preventing international representation. Taken together, these two proposals establish a programmatic framework for organizing an accessible and inclusive union, genuinely representative of our diverse bargaining unit.

While the necessity of strengthening RA and International representation was a point of near consensus, lively and occasionally contentious debate unfolded on questions of constitutional reform and staff employment, as indicated by the following decisions: "Standing Budget Committee" (rejected), Staff contract proposal (tabled), Staff Hiring Freeze (rejected). We encourage members to continue to study and discuss these topics, and hope that future meetings will provide further opportunities to build consensus and mutual understanding. 

The meeting concluded with discussion of the "Spring Membership Drive" proposal. With broad agreement on the overall necessity of increasing membership in the spring, membership voted to refer this proposal to the Organizing Committee for further discussion. The receipt of this proposal by OC has already stimulated discussion on membership development: OC has planned an open meeting 12/18 at 6pm to collectively formulate a plan for increasing membership in the Spring, and extends an open invitation to all membership bodies to attend. 

Steering Committee will convene this week to reflect critically on the General Membership meeting. We will discuss implementing measures at the next membership meeting to further streamline discussion and rationalize our decision-making procedures. We also recognize that, due to the overwhelming volume of membership proposals, we were not able to discuss all proposals. Steering Committee will promptly formulate a plan to address the tabled proposals and share with members.