Think & Drink (Wgtn) - Kris Rondeau

Think & Drink

Wednesday 29th November
5:00 - 7:00 p.m
NZCTU Boardroom, Seventh Floor, Education House, 178 Willis Street, Wellington

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

The campaign to unionise Harvard began in 1973 against vehement employer opposition, and after a decade of struggle, in 1988 the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers negotiated the first Union contract at Harvard. 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 used a new organising strategy. Believing that standard organising approaches are often contrary to ‘women’s ways of organising’, she 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 AUS Organisers Lawrence O’Halloran and Kevin Aitken talking about using Relational Organising at Massey University

A Cash Bar will be available

Don’t miss this opportunity to debate & explore new strategies        

RSVP Nanette Cormack nanette.cormack(at)psa.org.nz