I'm Somebody!

Summer is over and school was slated to start August 31, but we are on strike. This is big, becuase our district has never been on strike. Teachers here have been lied to by both the district and the union for years, and it has just been the last few years, with new union leadership, that teachers have become informed about how badly they are paid, and how good teachers in other districts have it. So with our three year contract up, and bargaining not going well, or even close to going well, we voted at a General Membership meeting to go on strike. We have officially been on strike since last Thursday, but students have only missed 4 days of school so far. Many districts in our area are not starting until next week, after Labor Day, anyway.

Anyway, I came to this district 5 years ago and saw how badly teachers had it here. I began to get involved in our union right away. I figured it did no good to complain if I didn't do anything about it. I became our building alternate union rep, and last year became the main rep. I enjoy it. Also, last year I worked on the Bargaining Support Team all year long. Every Monday we met for 2 hours after school. It was a lot of time and effort, but I enjoyed working with the group of people there.

Being on the Bargaining Support Team gave me lots of jobs to do whenever we had rallies or meetings or the like. I was always involved and helping to run things. Yes, I felt important. The height of my feeling of importance was when we had a rally in August at one of the middle schools. The district had taken a halt to bargaining sessions, as they said they were at an impasse. So a State Mediator was hired. We held a rally before the fist bargaining session with the mediator. When I showed up to help, all the people there from WEA who have been helping us prepare for a possible strike were there, saying, "Oh, good! You're here! We need you to do..." And I'd do it.

Once we started to actually strike, my sense of importance disappeared. Every school has a Picket Captain, and we were encouraged to get someone other than ourself to be in that role, so I did. But our Picket Captain now became the important one-not me. I felt sad.

Then the other day our members of the Crisis Team came to our school to deliver items we might need like bubble wrap and tape to pad the bottom portion of our sign sticks to make them more comfortable to hold for hours on end. One of the items they delivered were plastic coverings to slip over our signs to keep the signs dry in inclement weather. They actually call these "condoms."

When the Crisis Team was leaving, one gal said to me, "Will you be here first thing in the morning?"

"Yes," I replied.

She hands me the rest of the plastic coverings. "Then I'll just leave these with you, and you can get them out to anyone who didn't get one," she said.

I was overcome with joy. "You mean," I said, "that you are making me CONDOM CAPTAIN?"

I began right away to take my job very seriously. I made myself a button with "CC" on the front, and then around the edge I wrote my motto: Keeping You Protected. I started to make sure everyone was protected. I found that the male teachers were the most resistant to wearing a condom. One wanted to just fold his up and put it in his wallet. As if trying to give the impression that he goes on strike a lot...I could see right through it. I was pretty adamant that everyone wear their condoms.

The younger teachers also were embarassed to put one on. I don't think they were comfortable hearing me talk about the importance of wearing a condom. I think perhaps they thought I was too old to know much about condoms, but I actually had lots of pointers to share with them. I like to believe that I'm helping them to be much more responsible now and in the future. Condoms are important.

I myself am so happy to have such an important job once again. I emailed some of my friends from Bargaining Support Team who, like me, were feeling bereft of an important job of late. They were jealous; they wished they, too, were Condom Captains, but they hadn't been appointed by their Crisis Team. I did stop by their school on my way to mine, just to make sure that they were protected. They were. I knew they would be.

Sometimes I get worn out, since I have this added responsibility of being Condom Captain. But I wouldn't trade that responsibility for the world!