#93 Say Cheese

400 members in our union, working without a contract for the whole year. The US economy is in the toilet so how can we strike? For me, the decision was easy - it was all about respect. Whether one is the boss or the worker, respect has to flow both ways. Respect in my little pea brain is free. Doesn't cost a thing except in the language - how we speak to others, and how we talk on paper....as in contract language. After picketing throughout our district, we all met in a HUGE Bingo Hall.....(felt like a sports stadium it was so big!).... we overwhelmingly voted to strike. Knowing the public wouldn't understand how we could possibly be standing up when hundreds of thousands of Americans are without a job at all. Bottom line: R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Something came out of that vote: One man stood up just before we voted and asked that no matter how we voted, that we remain together as a group with the common cause of being committed to the children entrusted to us; that we not be divided, that we treat one another with respect even though we may be voting the opposite of our co-workers. (It was an open vote where we had to stand up to vote.)

The bargaining team left to return to the negotiations table and guess what? Both teams worked through the entire night until they came up with an agreement.....giving and taking on both sides.. (duh).... and at 6:30 a.m. the next morning, they met in the middle.

The entire bargaining took over a year. That particular day, the teams on both sides were at it for just shy of 24 hours. Amazing how we can meet in the middle without hurting one another. Respect. I do love that.

So this old wanna-be-hippie, got to picket one afternoon and flash the peace sign and a smile at passer byers (???) and know that either way the vote went, I'd go with the outcome. I didn't want to be without the kids on a daily basis, but I had faith it would work out in the end.

(I told everyone to hide their faces because I was going to post this photo on the web...they did and I yelled "Say Cheese"!)