Survey of Members Shows Support for Ecology Local

By Paul Pickett

Last autumn, a group of Ecology employees petitioned the President of AFSCME to create a new Local for Ecology Bargaining Unit members in Thurston County. The petition is under review and we are still awaiting a decision.

As part of preparing ourselves for self-governance, we wanted to find out more about how employees viewed the Local, if it would increase their involvement, and if they needed more information.

We now have 52 responses to that survey!

Question 1:

Almost two-thirds of employees (65%) told us that if an Ecology agency-based local were created, their level of support and activity would stay the same. Another one-quarter said that it would encourage them to be more active and they’d be more likely to volunteer. Only two employees said that they would be less involved. This is a very positive result – it tells us that we are likely to see more activism, and in any case it can do little harm.

Question 2:

Over half the employees (56%) told us they understood the issues, didn’t care, or didn’t need more information about changing to an Ecology agency-based local. This is also a positive message, because it tells us that our newsletter articles and other information have been reaching staff. However, almost a third of employees want more information. This tells us that we need to continue communicating about the local proposal and its implications.    

We will be working on several ways to respond to the need for more information. The newsletter articles will be posted on the Ecology Bargaining Unit blog and we will work harder to distribute the blog address (http://wfsec28-ecology.blogspot.com/).

We are starting up monthly meetings of the “proto-local” open to all members of WFSE who work in the Lacey building. We will also be exploring other ways to communicate, such as better use of bulletin boards in the building. We welcome your ideas for getting information to our members.

Lastly we were very happy to provide the prize drawing of a $50 gift card to Hannah Aoyagi! Thanks to everyone who responded to the survey. It will help us build a better and stronger employee organization at Ecology.