Think & Drink (Akld) - Kris Rondeau

Think & Drink
Thursday November 30
4 -7pm
Trades Hall, 147 Great North Road

GUEST SPEAKER
Kris Rondeau.  Activist and workplace leader in the campaign to unionise Harvard

The campaign to unionise Harvard began in 1973, and after a decade of struggle, in 1988 the HUCTW negotiated the first Union contract. This was ground-breaking in the US context, establishing ‘Joint Councils’ in the different areas of the university, where union and management work through workplace issues together.

Kris Rondeau and her fellow activists employed a new organising strategy. Believing that standard organising approaches are often contrary to ‘women’s ways of organising’, Kris rejects the idea that organising should centre on arousing anger and be solely focussed on ‘issues’, believing instead that organising should be based upon establishing relationships, common values, and building staff communities. This type of organising, known as ‘Relational Organising’, is being seen within the labour movement as an alternative to the more traditional ‘Issues-based Organising’.

Kris Rondeau is currently a lead organiser in the tertiary education division of AFSCME where she has successfully organised the University of Minnesota, the University of Illinois and 1200 nurses in Connecticut, campaigns based on the relational organising she pioneered in the Harvard campaign. She is currently overseeing the campaign to unionise Tufts University.

Also Kevin Aitken will talk about how he is using Relational Organising at Massey, Palmerston North

Cash Bar will be operated by Working Women’s Resource Centre
 
Don’t miss this opportunity to explore new strategies

RSVP Karen Newson email: karenn@nzctu.org.nz