Third Organizing as a Steward Training focuses on building toward action

Organizing as a Steward Training (OST) wrapped its third session in early November with nearly 30 members participating. The focus of the third training was how members can work together to build a story that can lead to an action, be it a smaller group action in a single agency or a larger member-wide action.

OST is a collaboration between the Organizing Council (OC) and the Employee Rights Committee (ERC) with the goal of finding the crossover point where a steward can identify an organizing opportunity. "We wanted stewards to push their own boundaries to see what their role could be," explained Zac Echola, Organizing Council Chair. "There is a lot of gray area between what is in the contract and what the contract could be."

"We designed this training to be modular, not linear, meaning anyone can jump into any training, you do not have to take them in order," Echola continued. "The training was also designed to be very interactive; it is group facilitated discussion rather than a presentation and includes a lot of small group breakout time."

"This was my first OST and I thought it was great," said Melissa Newburgh, Local 1202 steward and a Virtual Court Navigator for the Department of Corrections (DOC). "I've been a MAPE member for about a year and became a steward right away. I was a steward for almost seven years at AFSCME before coming to MAPE, and I'm ready to continue representing members and taking opportunities to organize around important issues."

"When I was in AFSCME, I was non-uniform in DOC, which put me in a unique position. I realized quickly that the only person who could fully understand how the contract protects me is by reading it, so that is what I did and then, I became a steward," Newburgh continued. "This training provided great information for how we can organize within our locals to show our combined experience."

Felicia-Marie Wilson is a Local 1202 Steward and Health Equity Lead in the Direct Care and Treatment (DCT) program. Wilson attended both the first and the third training sessions. "MAPE is a broad union, and we face unique challenges to learn how to best engage the different types of groups we represent," she said. "The OST was helpful for me to understand more of how MAPE does their organizing efforts and how I can be more engaged."

"People feel helpless when they have a situation, and they don't know what to do," Wilson explained. "This training allowed me to collaborate with stewards from across the state who have different experiences and different skill sets. Learning from each other makes us all stronger."

"We want as many members to be stewards as possible because it brings us strength as a union to understand our contract," Echola said. "The more stewards we have, and the more who know how to organize, will continue to strengthen our union."

"The OC is planning other types of training for members, not just stewards, coming up in 2025 as part of the $1 million organizing campaign," Echola elaborated. "We want everyone to have an opportunity to get more involved in their union."

The OC and ERC plan to continue OSTs in 2025 so stay tuned for training dates. If you are interested in becoming a steward, you can take the Basic Steward Training. The next training session will be in January. Registration will open soon and will be available on the events page on the MAPE website.