On Sept. 2, PROTEC17 members from across the Pacific Northwest joined a virtual meeting to talk about the creation of a union-wide group to share ideas and inspiration on how to to advance worker issues using a racial justice lens, and to elevate critical issues in the community. Over 100 members from a wide range of PROTEC17 chapters registered for the session.
During the meeting, members from the City of Seattle, City of Portland and King County’s Young Members of PROTEC17 group shared their experiences launching chapter-centered coalitions to take action on issues of racial justice, public health, the economic impacts of COVID-19, and more.
There is an interest in the group in developing the ability to communicate union-wide in order to build power and work collaboratively across employers to tackle many of the same issues. PROTEC17 staff is helping assess the needs of the group, and looking into integrating new technologies – like Hustle, Signal, or an online discussion board in our member portal – to stay connected.
While they don’t have a name just yet, the group was in agreement that they want this to be a group of action, not just talk.
If you would like to get more involved, please connect with your Union Representative to learn more about the group. You can also take our open survey to let us know your interests and to get added to the email list: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/W7ZQ57Z.
The group will be meeting quarterly to start, with the next meeting scheduled for Wed., Dec. 9. To pre-register for this meeting, visit: http://bit.ly/protec17-zoom-12-9-2020.