In the last meeting Okay, well, are we recording? Yes. That's also a good question. Yeah. I'm assuming we don't have any corrections or additions. No. Okay. Cool. Prove it is posted. Okay, awesome.
And Sam says, Hi, everyone. I'm Sam. And he's new to zoom.
Yeah. Okay. Well, I guess that would be Chris because he's sick. And he's out today. So that's it. Right. Okay, we just want to make sure everyone's healthy and capable of engaging. Yeah,
yeah. And we're also okay, just talking if you have like, close family members, or anything, just as a part of the community building exercise why we do it? Yeah. Oh,
yeah. My mom recently got COVID. It was her first time getting COVID ever. And but yeah, just sharing that as a, you know, just been getting people close to me getting COVID either again, or for the first time. So she's in, she's doing better. She doesn't like isolating. So that's that's a trouble with me. But I'm doing doing fine in my neck of the woods.
Right. That sucks. But also, I can totally relate. I used to convincing my grandma to not try and get COVID was. Yeah, that was fun. So I understand where you're coming from? Anybody else? No. I mean, I'm in distress because I'm doing public speaking. So all right. Reports of officers and committees, Secretary mail and correspondence.
Yeah, we just got one more email from DSA, North Central Valley about participating with their Ewok campaign. It's kind of a labor organizing thing that DSA set up where if there's someone in the area that wants to form a union, you have like someone who has experienced labor organizing that can talk to them and basically just be a sounding board. I'm going to talk to them sometime this weekend or next week, and just see kind of more details and then I'll bring it back at the next meeting.
Are we are we going to talk about the International to know? Okay, let's see. Membership, number of members and introduce any new members. So I don't actually know who the new members are.
Can I have a question around this already? I don't. Is there a clear way about how and when to pay dues? What is the deal with that?
Yeah, so we just got the tax stuff done. So we're in the process of making that happen right now.
Okay. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't not doing it.
You'll know when when we know when we have it set up. You'll know
your money. Oh, yeah.
I was like, maybe they just don't care.
That would be great. You amazing world. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, no problem. Okay, so let's see a new member wise, I don't think since we don't really have any official members, and they introduce themselves at the beginning of the meeting. So I think we're good on that. Probably. campaigns. So that would be you, right?
Yeah. So we did do a, we canvassed one of the neighborhoods that we want to do tenant organizing in. It was an okay experience. We learned violence is kind of the, the current main priority. And, and some of some of the people have trouble with their current landlord, but it's like an HOA, and all the different landlord, like all the different units have different landlord. So it's a little complicated. But I'll go into it. I will talk about at the end more slides on it, so we can talk about it then.
Okay, great. So I think that we got we're good on that. We had a cleanup. We had two cleanups, right? Did we mention the first cleanup at the last meeting? Yeah. Okay, so we had a second cleanup at Weber's town, which I also had a headache for. So there's a lot of headaches going around maybe? Yeah, I can't really comment on but it sounds like it went pretty well.
So many little balloons
from parties. I'm hoping it from parties,
balloon water balloon fight. And so they were like clusters of like torn up pieces everywhere. So that, you know, as long
as it's party balloons and yeah,
I mean, we have talked about using like using water balloons as a community get together event.
Biodegradable ones. Yeah, we found
about Yeah, we need to make sure we buy those otherwise we're just increasing our workload. Yeah.
Okay, unfinished business. I don't think we have any right. Yeah. No. New business would be for that's from the steering committee. Right? Yeah. All right. 10 an organizing conversation over. Yeah, that's what this thing, right? Yeah. Okay, cool. Okay.
I have to drop a link real quick into the, into the chat. And then I'm just gonna ask everyone to just keep it open. And, sorry. Let me get to it real quick. Nope, stop. So we're gonna go over organizing conversations as basically like, how do we talk to people while we're knocking on doors or while we're up, that's a blank sheet of paper. Or just when we run into members, or run into tenants, wherever we're organizing, so even if we're holding up a part cleanup event where we've invited potential tenant union members, this is kind of an attachment. So just feel free to open that as we go through this. I'll point out the sections where, you know, I want us to look at it. Okay, sorry, I have to go back to screenshare.
Okay, so,
yeah, so there's a bit of a science to doing organizing conversations, but at the end of the day experience, and so, experience organizers have kind of a methodology on how to do this. And it's kind of tried and tested. But it still takes practice to make it work. So we're not going in this meeting, feeling like we're pros at having these conversations, we're gonna still feel like we have a lot of questions and uneasy about it. But the expertise comes with experience. And so the more we keep canvassing, the better, we're gonna get at these things. And it's kind of the really the only way to improve. So before I go on to actually talk about it, I wanted to hold one example conversation, just so folks have kind of an idea of here, Riley, since you're leading Do you want to be?
Can I be the bad listener?
You can be Joe.
Your ex girlfriends?
I didn't know that. Oh, yeah. All right. Okay. So this is in the packet. But yeah, we're just gonna go back and forth. And this is kind of an example of a conversation where we're just knocking on doors. You know, we haven't really been present in the building yet. And Angeles is answering your door, not really knowing who I am or what I'm a part of. All right, go for it.
It starts with John James. Yeah. Okay.
Hi, I'm James, I'm going around your building talking to folks about the conditions here. I've been organizing with some folks nearby in the neighborhood. And seems like a lot of buildings have similar issues here. So we're just doing some outreach, seeing how things are being things are going here and wondering if you have any issues with, you know, maintenance, or rent increases or anything like that.
Sorry, do you do you live here? Oh, no, I
don't live in this building. But I do live in the area. And actually, I'm gonna tenant union. So you know, we get tenants together, and we kind of face issues together and just help each other out.
Oh, are you as you're with the city councilors office?
No, I'm just the volunteer, you know, just like a tenant like you just a neighbor. Oh, okay. Um, do you know anyone else in this building? Who has an issues? Or have you heard any complaints seen on the laundry room or the lobby or anything?
I know there are mice on the first floor. But I don't know people are getting rid of the trash on your
Oh, is your landlord generally like responsive to things like that?
I don't know the landlord. I know the property manager. And actually, if you go knock on his office, he's pretty nice about it. But you can't really call him Apparently, they're going to install some traps. I just know that there are mice down there because I heard about it in the laundry room.
Oh, and you haven't had any other issues. Even just things you might have forgotten about, like mold or anything? You know, you just got used to because it's been broken so long.
Oh, we haven't had our screens replaced yet. And I did ask it's just been letting some bugs in. But I mean, it's not a big deal. Are you going to talk to the property manager? Like, I can tell you where his offices?
Sure. I mean, if they're responsive? I mean, you could go but you could also think about doing something like, I don't know, like replacing them yourself, and maybe taking the cost of that off your rent next month?
I am not particularly handy. On all I mean, I
I totally get that. Is there something that you shouldn't have to deal with? Especially going into that something you shouldn't have to deal with? Especially with, you know, bugs coming in? Are you talking to him? The property manager? No, I don't know right now. I think the the idea for us is that we get tenants, you know, talking to each other, figure out what the issues are. And then we can all decide on what you know, improvements and priorities that we want when we can all go together to talk to the property manager, you know, and it's not just about repairs. We're also just here to, you know, encourage everyone to get to know their neighbors and stuff.
Yeah, I feel like nobody knows each other here. I know. There are some scattered site tenants who have a hard time getting things done that Do you know anybody here?
No, not yet, actually. But I'd like to meet more people. If you have to. time do you want to go knock on a few doors with me? It'd be great to have someone from the building to chat with folks. Do you have a few minutes?
Yeah, let me get my phone. I do have rehearsal in like half an hour. Oh, cool your computer. We actually do play bass. Holy shit. Wait. I play bass just jam sessions for now. But yeah, okay, can I get your number? Was this a dating thing? We thought this was a tenant?
Sure, I really, I really appreciate you taking the time to help me out. Having some someone from building will help a lot. Let me know if you. And then yeah, Nikki's doing it. Yeah. And so that's kind of the example of, you know, as the person out the door you got, you got to keep the conversation flowing and just not have like an awkward pause. Because when there's the pause, people are gonna say, Okay, I'm done. And then just close the door on you. And really the ask at that point, we'll talk about like different things like signing a petition, or going to a meeting or just going out, you know, with me to come canvass. Those are the kinds of things you end up wanting to ask them at the very end, and getting the number. I mean, in that example, like, she asked for the number, but usually, it's the other way around, and people are pretty forthcoming with their phone number. So at the very end, you want to ask and be like, I just want to text you updates or whatever, they're pretty likely to give it to you. So it's kind of important to get the number because that way, you have an in back into like the apartment complex, right? Like, it's much easier to be able to text someone and be like, Hey, we're having a meeting, or we're going to start organizing, you want to meet us up by like the barbecue pit or something.
Or I was going to comment, even if they're not willing to give you their number because they find that to be too invasive, or whatever, an email or basically any way of contacting is better than nothing.
So yeah. Okay, we will have time for questions, just want to keep going because it's gonna run long. Okay, so the organizing bull's eyes kind of a resource from union organizers that often look at how an organization is structured in terms of involvement, and you want to be able to grow and develop. And each rung of the bullseye indicates a level of participation within the organization and inner rings represent deeper involvement. So at the center is the core, the core group would be basically everyone here. They're the people that are thinking about how to get organized and how to get pull people back towards the center of the bullseye. And then there's the activist, to the folks that you can count on, like, maybe they don't come to meetings, but they will be willing to, you know, take responsibility, they get their friends out, get their neighbors out to come take an action. And then their supporters were slightly on the other side. Those are folks that, you know, might go to meetings might go to a protest or sign a petition, but they don't want to take any responsibility for anything, right, don't try to do to help where they can basically. And then on the outside are people who are disengaged, people who don't think any of this is relevant to their lives. And then outside is like the hostile group. And kind of the goal as the goal is organizing conversations to move people towards towards action. So you kind of have to know who you're talking to, like, are they kind of supporters or activist and move them towards the center as much as we can? Stone on to the technical intelligencia? Sorry, can you say that again?
Oh, sorry. I was talking to somebody else. I think he got his mic working out. There we go.
Okay, and it's a slow process, especially with tenants, you know, you might take three, four conversations with someone to start actually getting them to engage. But that is kind of we have to go through we have to go through that process. Okay. So, how to be a good listener? Has anyone heard like the 8020 rule for conversations? Anyone know what that is? You can raise their hand or not you rarely?
Okay, 80% listening 20% talk?
Yes, perfect. So we should be listening 80% of the time and talking 20% of time. It's one of the most important parts of having these conversations. And usually one of the biggest pitfalls is people end up talking way too much. And so organizers need to understand the issues that people care about, but it's through asking questions. And and the aim is to make the other person understand that you care about their problems, that you empathize with them, and that you can relate to their experiences. And that you know, that you know, that if we can all work together, we can actually fix those problems. So just to quickly go through this list some of the some of the don'ts are, don't assume that you know the answer to the questions, but people tell you what they think is important. It might not be what you think. Don't ask questions that are really statements like don't say, don't you think we're willing to go on a rent strike? Like that's a statement? Don't go fishing, running through a laundry list of questions or issues that make you sound like a salesperson, you know, so don't go up and he's got all you want lower rents. Don't you want the common areas cleaned up? Don't you want maintenance to actually fix things? And for dues like do listen more than you talk and slow down so don't rush through it? conversation just to get to the ask, and do show that you're actually listening by acknowledging what the other person is saying. Like, we tend to think much faster than we actually talk. And so while the other person is talking, like we're trying to think three steps ahead, don't do that, just really focus on our words, and then repeat it back to them. So they know that you're actually listening. And even when we're disagreeing with them, we got to show that we're listening. So you can acknowledge differences, you can, you know, say I, you know, I disagree with that, or I don't think that's right, but then returned back to the areas that you're agreeing on. And you should be genuinely trying to learn from other people's views or experiences, their conditions, and then explore where both of you can create something together that will make things you know, better materially, for them. Okay, Alex, do you have any feedback on this portion? Since I feel like this was your area of expertise?
I don't I've done this. For a number of years. I did this for a number of years. It's been years since but the principles are still the same. It does work. It just takes a lot of time.
Yep, and sorry, in your attachment, this was kind of the first page we go into more detail on the attachment that I linked. Okay, next is well, I guess any questions on this before we move on? Okay. This is the second page of detachment. I actually don't know how to say this. Holy.
Who Hui? Oh, boy.
Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Let's go with Oh, boy. Sounds better. Yeah. Okay. So this is the second page. Basically, this is kind of the steps you want to go through when you're having a conversation. So nobody should follow a script mechanically, right? You're not there just to check a box or check off lines that you're supposed to say. And you're like the organizing conversation has specific goals is to identify the issues that the person cares about, connecting them to a plan of action, and then getting this person to commit to participating. And so that's kind of the wrap that we're trying to follow. And so, so long, I want to keep talking. Yeah, so basically, you're trying to understand the issues, you know, how's your day, you're just trying to start strike up a conversation, right? Like, how's your day going what's like live in here. And then later conversations, you're probably gonna be organizing around a set of issues that you already know about. So you know, as we keep going, let's keep doing this at a location and gets a lot easier. Your questions might become more specific or direct. For example, if there's a general maintenance issue that we've noticed, while we're canvassing, then we could ask if they're having trouble getting repairs done, or dealing with rent increases, it's also important to share struggles that specific tenants are having so even in the same building or a separate one. So you could always try to relate their specific troubles to what you've heard from other tenants and get the issue on the table before suggesting any action. That way, when you do suggest an action, and you're putting together demand for delivery, that person knows you're not acting alone, there's other people that have the same problem, and that they'll be more willing to cut out that data and then once the issue has been broached, you can ask follow up questions. And this is kind of the the agitating part of how does that make you feel, you know, how long has this been going on? Like you do kind of want to piss people off and get the man. And so by listening and by reacting to the responses, you're agitating in a way that allows folks to vent and really feel emotion. And this process is important, because many times tenants feel like their problems can't actually be solved, right? Like we're going in and asking them to state the obvious, like, yeah, okay, your roof is leaky, or there's mold or whatever. But really getting them emotionally charged, helps them you know, have the have the will on anger to kind of take steps to actually fixing it. And then now that tenants have identified the problem, then it's time to offer hope, right. And this is something that I'll talk about again later, that we need to do more research on. But you know, hope comes from having power numbers and from having a practical plan and strategy to win. And you may arrive at a point where you're capable of moving tenants to act. And there's general unity on a lot of demands, but some people might still be apprehensive. And it's important to acknowledge kind of the fears that they have, and the concerns they may have and kind of inoculate them from the ways of landlords tend to retaliate. But once you do all that, once you've hit them off, you've given them some hope of like case, some other examples that we've succeeded on that we've seen succeed before. And they feel like you know, to act, now they can all act together, then you do the act, they ask. And so they're, they're committed. And then the ask, again, can be a variety of things that we've talked about at previous meetings, but at a certain point, I think, well, we're gonna have to put all these resources into a handbook. So then it's very easy to just say, see what kind of techniques that we have that we can use in the future. Okay. Any questions before we move into kind of group activities? Okay, Alright, so this is for the attachment like write your own organism questions. We're not going to write them down. But for online, we'll see how this works. So we're just gonna ask everyone to kind of split into pairs here or find we'll pair you guys compare online, just take turns, you know, one by one, whoever is on screen. So you're gonna, this is basically the script, you're going to start a conversation and get to know this person, try to identify their number one tenant issue and find out as much as you can, only by asking questions, so don't tell them anything. Oops, sorry. Okay, Sam at split. Okay. And Paulo. I don't know if you got the link, but we're just going to paste that there. Okay. All right. Um, so yeah, you're just someone that's knocking on their door, and you're just gonna ask open ended questions, right? Don't ask. Do you like where you live? That says yes or no, ask. You know, what do you like my living here? And so we're just gonna do this for a quick three minutes, and then we'll come back for a mine. Yeah, Christina and Adri, and Paolo. If you want up on, you guys can use take turns asking yourself questions. And just do three minutes each person and then we'll switch collection on three minutes pass. And then we'll come back. Okay. So all right
now like Yeah.
Oh, now let's just as to Okay, well, um, so I guess we can start.
How's your day going?
So we're, we're working with, we're trying to inspire hope, create urgency and call in calling the question. We're supposed to ask some questions here. We're post practice with each other. asking some questions that inspire hope keep them, get them involved. Get them talking. Get them mad. Is that correct?
Yeah, so I can try to I can try start being by like being one of the canvassers? I guess. So. So um, okay. Let me just
are you looking at the document as well?
Yeah, yeah. So, you know, a little cheat sheet for now. Um, all right. So I've knocked on your door and had the chance to, as you've opened your door right now. So. Hi. My name is Adria. I'm with Working class unity. And we're part of the tenant union. What was wondering if you had a couple of minutes to speak today with me if that's okay.
Yes. Great. So
I would say what's 10? Union? Yeah, so great question. The tenant union is an opportunity within this organization of working class unity to gather tenants within the Stockton area, to kind of build a union as a way to kind of gather and strengthen tenants in a way it's under a one kind of group in name. And it's also a way to kind of build community and share concerns that you've had as a tenant, you know, someone who could be renting and maybe some of the challenges that can come up from that experience. Would you say you've experienced any hardships or any difficulties with your own tenant experience?
You mean like with my landlord? Yeah, I
mean, your landlord, the property manager, or you know, if you happen to have an HOA
um, sometimes, like, if I have a plumbing backup, sometimes they, they they tell me they're gonna come fix it. And it takes a few days and then I have dealing you know what I mean, my I can't wash my dishes are constantly having to plunge my toilet. So I would say they're slowly fix my problems when I have problems.
Yeah, like me super frustrating, right, like kind of halts your ability to do things. Does that happen pretty often, you know? Yeah. All the time. Yeah. Okay. Um, so yeah, I mean, anytime our lives are disrupted like that, that can be pretty upsetting. And that's kind of the reason why we're trying to encourage people and find an opportunity to see if tenants might be interested in joining us and kind of
if you didn't already
so now I'm the canvasser.
Yeah, Sure we can do that. Yeah.
That was we're supposed to do now? Yeah, yeah. Okay. Um How long have you lived in this particular building?
Um, I'd say it's been a couple of years. Do you like living here? I mean, it's, it's what I can, that's what I can get at the price that I can afford, you know, it's not, I'm not super satisfied with it. But you know, I'm glad I can at least afford it.
If there was one or two things, that you could change that if you could, if your landlord, if you could ask your landlord to take care of one or two things that that is really getting on your something that has made your life miserable. If you could change those things, what two things would those be? Whoo.
That'd probably be like, all the weeds that are growing, you know, in the backyard, you know, like, that shouldn't be my responsibility to take care of, but it's also a risk, you know, to my safety if the fire breaks out. So I feel like that's one thing and also, probably the the leak that we've been having with the in with the sink, the kitchen sink.
Yeah, I think that's, uh, the weeds are also a fire hazard, especially up here. I agree. I think that's, and also let's just be honest, there's critters that hide and tall weeds. I agree. I think that's you shouldn't have to live with that can be kind of depressing, too. Sometimes not everybody has tools to take care of landscaping. I agree. And the leak is ridiculous. We're, we're finding as we knock on doors, that that is a common complaint of the tenants that live here. And I think if we all got together, and we went to the landlord, and we took these complaints to the landlord together as a, you know, a large unit, those things could probably get addressed. How do you feel about, you know, getting together and talking with the other tenants that feel same way about this? Yeah, I think that would be making a change.
Yeah, I think that would be helpful. Because I don't really know a lot of people anyways, and, you know, it might be a chance to get to meet people. And then, you know, you just said that a lot of people are experiencing that as well. So, you know, it could definitely boost our you know, what's the word? Our plea, I guess? Yes. You'd have.
I agree with you. I feel like it's easier to easier when we're all together. Asking the same asking the landlord for the same thing. They tend to listen when everybody's together. Right? Why shouldn't we all get together and know each other? I agree. Yeah.
Okay. We're turning your speaker back on our remote.
Well, I'm glad I didn't have the mic on for that.
Sorry, I hope you weren't able. Yeah, it was off, right. Yeah, no. Okay. We'll do breakout groups. Actually, I don't want to do that on his own. So we weren't doing it. But yeah. Okay. Now that we've done that, let's discuss on feedback. How did it go? What did we learn? What were some difficulties with doing it? Anyone want to answer online first?
I think if you're called knocking on doors, I mean, in this day and age, people don't knock on anybody's door anymore. People don't like to answer their doors. Let's be honest. I when people knock on my door, I'm like, Who is it gonna be? It's gonna be the FBI. And I'm just, I feel like if we're going to cold knock on doors, I think that a T shirt. Someone should be wearing a t shirt. And there should be something that you can hand them that they can keep because some people might want the information in the privacy of their home, they may decide that they would be interested in meeting, but maybe they don't want to talk to you at their door at first. There should be some kind of innocence with just me if someone came to my door. I was having union Yes, I'm willing to talk but a lot of people might want to look into it first. Just to kind of a icebreaker. Let them know what attend union is on paper, some kind of handout they can keep and what the goal is is to all of us to what is it? What is it? I forget the there's a meme. Anyway, this is also a good thing, maybe to incorporate to some kind of meme or comic. All of us together are strong. And we all have similar complaints of this building. We'll have the leak that won't stop. We all have blight like weeds and we don't have lawn mowers or edgers because we're renters you can't clean up the yards ourselves and pick up all to trash ourselves, maybe together, going to the landlord, you have to convince them that somehow all of us together can make. It's worthwhile. I don't know, if we need to give them some kind of handout that, that has pointers, you know, brief points, they don't have to do a ton of reading, but just to let them know who you are. That we're not trying to like. I don't know. We want them to join with us to make their own lives better as tenants, some somehow educate them what we ought to what the whole point of us knocking on their doors about
like a mutual aid thing you don't I mean, it's it's a, we're here to make your what do you call it your material conditions better? With your help, with your help not doing the work for you, but getting you to join with us to make your experience living here better?
Yeah, I agree. Oh, yeah. Someone came to my parents house and to talk about solar panels. And immediately, I was like, No, we're not interested and then close the door. I really agree with you. You don't know who these people are? And I felt like had he just like left a flyer? I would have been like, okay, cool. Thanks. Looked at the flyer, maybe I know, like that, you know, might get, we'll probably get tossed. But then, you know, like, We'll come again, knock, do it super briefly. So then they can get familiar with less. I'll glance at the flyer again, you know, like, I feel like those instances over time can be helpful. So maybe something to think about.
That's actually so my, we have had the Lake County come out to the, to my house before. And that's exactly the way we did it with my brothers, we had them introduced. And then they left immediately. And then they came back for a few minutes, and then they left again. And then they came back for longer and longer each time and just get people acclimated to who they are.
Oh, posting a poster or a flyer, some kind of flyer, like going on the property, going to lunch rooms, even as the outside of the lunchroom doors and posting a flyer somewhere where maybe you're on the landing of the stairs, or even passing out a flyer door to door for the first, you know, attempt. So that they know, the tenant you use, you know, what we are what we're doing. And then when you come and knock on the door, you can say we actually posted some information about the tenants union, this is what it is, we noticed that there's these things going on and want to know how you're just basically kind of warming them warming them up to us so that we're just not at their door. You know, people are so wary these days about strangers at the door, you know, even if we're there to help. Anyone else?
Okay, well, I know I definitely had some issues, because I, so I'm not used to I'm quite used to like leading people, right? If they have not leading people in the leader sense, but like, we're having a conversation, and they don't they say something, and I'm like, I know the answer to where this is going. And I just want to give it to them. And one of the issues I was running into was that coming up with a question that wasn't a leading question was actually pretty difficult to me. Right. And that's, I think that like, at least for me personally, right? That going out and having these kinds of conversations in a way that's not going to like make people feel, you know, like I'm leading them down a path is, it's going to be a little bit of a trick for me, but I That's why we need to do practice, though.
Okay, yeah, I think, like a good trick is just to not think about where do you want the conversation to go? And just genuinely ask, like, I think I forgot what well, Riley was even talking about when I was asking questions, but it was just like, oh, yeah, I want to know more about what he just said. And then you just keep, you know, asking questions. And eventually you can, once you're actually able to like hat say a sentence, you can kind of direct the conversation, but it's good practice to just be interested in the person, you know, not just like I'm here with a goal and I want you to get to a place okay. And I'll type up or I'll get the notes for what everyone's saying to Robbie and then he'll post it on the forum later. On Um, okay. Oh, I'm sorry, Christine, do you are on the farm? Right? Yeah, we placed an order for shirts. If you want to like DM me later shirt size we can get you a shirt.
Okay, just let me know. Do I like to pay for that?
Yeah, it's on the farm. You can see the yellow on the black one. So yeah. Welcome power. Sorry in this like the first group session, I think. But there was more group activities later. Okay, so types of questions. So we were just kind of asking whatever questions trying to get more info from people and learning how to ask questions. But no one likes the, you know, just being talked to or told what to think. And you can go pretty far in a conversation just by asking the right questions. So let's review and brainstorm some types of questions that are useful for having organizing conversations. So intro questions, like what are some good questions to start a conversation? You just knocking on their door? What are some good ways to start the conversation basically,
I'm just going to, I wanted to say that Christine actually had a great kind of segue of like, if there were just narrowing it down to two things. So if there are two things that you could change right now, like, or that you'd like to be changed by your, you know, some find solutions to from your landlord, Major, etc. Like, what would those things be, like starting kind of like a very small and very specific thing for that individual. It reminds me a lot of about what I do in my clinical work, do, like trying to think of solutions for someone and get them to that, and then kind of taking that energy towards like, Alright, you've thought of those things. Let's keep moving. So I think that that could be a good, just general segue.
Robbie, and I also kind of came up with something similar because like, he asked me, you know, like, also, what are the issues you're facing? And I was like, what I have no issues like, even though I have a lot of complaints, but you know, like, they don't come up off the off the top of your head when you know, you're seeing like a stranger guide or door. So then yeah, that was the other thing we were thinking about, like, well, you know, like, maybe things aren't bad. But you know, in an ideal world, what kind of like, place would you want to live in? You know, like, you know, even fixing the windows, for example, you know, that's something that you would think, Oh, you know, like, It's so terrible. I can't live here anymore. But yeah, ideally, it would be better.
One, just for that intro question for getting there. I think that we said like, Okay, how long have you been here was a good way to get into it? Just like, Okay, how long? Have they raised rates in that time? How many times that kind of stuff to? That's a good opening? Maybe?
Yeah, those are all great. Well, way better than mine?
Yeah, I mean, you can just say, you know, how's your day going? Or, you know, I've talked to other tenants about what how things have been going have things changed since you moved in, you know, what, are we just trying to get the conversation started? And then agitation questions or questions. Now that the person has mentioned some issues. So, you know, I think we've, Christina is example and Robin join us are great ways to bring up issues that people are actually concerned about. But then you actually want to get them agitated enough to, you know, try to figure out, you're trying to figure out how much they care and if they're going to be willing to act. So some example questions would be like, Is that okay with you? You know, how long has it been going on? You could say, just to kind of flip that other question of like, if you were in charge, I would like wouldn't Is that something that you'd fix? So, any? Let's brainstorm questions like that. I guess.
That sounds good. Any other ones? More? Oh, yeah. Great. Um, I mean, as far as like issues that people are usually angry about, right. Harpreet had like vegetation that's messing up the yard, basically, or your car rent, obviously, repairs that need to be done on the building issues with your neighbors slash issues, like or not knowing your neighbors, right. Yeah, I don't know. It's a few.
Yeah. And then well, how would you move people to act after they give you those issues?
Well, I mean, you would, so you would have to get them to verbalize their own issues right. And then give them or at least lead them in the general direction of a solution to that problem, right. So that would be like the hope from the avoiding.
Part of me wants to like say like How does that make you feel kind of thing, but kind of let it kind of like that, you know, like, oh, like the fact that your, your landlord is neglecting these things, right? Time and time again, right? That must make you feel really frustrated. And I'm sorry that that's happening view, or trying to put yourself in that place, kind of like the empathy part. You know, like, I know that if I was having to deal with that, like, that would make me really upset. And just kind of putting it in a way that it kind of lets them feel like their feelings are valid, you know, but like, literally like that, it's, you know, they have a right to be upset.
Yep. And I was gonna say that, like, so yeah, if they do bring you like, oh, the windows or something, but you can say, oh, have you brought that up? Have they been neglecting to fix this? Or is this just a thing that they don't care? So why even bring it up? You know? Or how are they paying attention to the problems in the place or not?
I think that goes into the whole lay the blame part, like in the in the notes here, because it kind of even letting them know, or reminding them like, hey, this isn't normal. This shouldn't be normal. This isn't okay. Um, it's kind of remind them of like, you know, what, yeah, this isn't, I shouldn't have to deal with a leak in my sink for so many weeks where I shouldn't have to deal with no running water, because my, the landlord doesn't want to come and repair this right now. Because it's inconvenient for them. Or because he just don't feel like it. So letting them know like that it shouldn't be normal. And also be another way to then putting it well, you know, your landlord shouldn't be doing this. And maybe not putting up like, codes or laws so much, but kind of letting them know, like there is an obligation, like a certain legal obligation that needs to be done, and it's not happening.
Yeah, that's kind of the polarizing part is where you want to polarize them, like you want to ask, kind of, you want to get them to blame the landlord. So you can take one step back a little bit and just say, like, so who's, like, who's supposed to fix that? Right? I mean, in this case, I was the property manager. But you can ask like, you know, have you brought that up to someone where you leave it super vague? And then they're the ones that will tell you? Yeah, they, you know, I was like, I emailed the property manager or whatever. That way, they like they themselves have identified kind of the source of the issue. And if they're not getting it, then you can do what He said and be like, oh, you know, actually, they're supposed to pick for her? Like, do you know who's supposed to pick that for you around here? Like, you basically want to get them to name a person? But yeah, and then the other examples I had was, uh, how much longer? Like, are you willing to put up with this? And you know, who's in a position to fix this for you? I'm like, Who do we have to go talk to? Yeah, it's clear that. Okay, so now that you've made everyone very upset, and at like a certain person, about a specific thing, now you actually have to, you know, inspire hope, create urgency and get them to, you know, answer the call. So a great way to inspire hope is to have a plan, it's the difference between praying it doesn't rain and having punch with umbrellas ready to go. So having a plan also inspires confidence on the part of the tenant, that you're not just here, like getting them upset about the ship that they tried to forget about that they have to deal with every day. And it also makes an organizing conversation different from a gripe session. And so what examples can we share to inspire hope? Think I said this earlier, but hope comes from having power and numbers and from having a practical plan and a strategy to win. That also means we have to learn, like we all have to get together and learn from other tenant, tenant programs, we have to learn some tenant rights. So at this point, like we should know some basics. So if someone's like, there's mold all over, we should always say like, yeah, that's illegal. And that you have the right to a habitable environment. You know, we don't need to be lawyers, but we should know the basics, at least. So and then. So once we get to that, we're trying to connect them to a plan to when, you know, we can't sit on these problems. And, you know, we should have a timeline in our own heads about kind of one, we want to show the landlord that we're serious. So while we're organizing, you know, we all need to come to meetings to make sure what the plan is actually for the building. And so back to the Hoyer, the whole thing. The last thing is asking a or getting them to act. So what are the kinds of questions that we can ask for a commitment? Right, let's just say it's signing a petition. And that's basically the only ask you know, some basic things are just like, you know, can can we count on you to sign this and, you know, join Join your neighbors. Are you on board? Yeah, yeah.
Even if they're not super willing to commit immediately just asking for or contact information, you know, where can I leave this flyer with you that kind of stuff? It's good to keep just to keep them going, basically.
Yeah, but this is the part where you want to be a bit of a hassle. Yeah. And like get them to commit. And so yeah, so an example of kind of questions are ways you can, if they're being reluctant to try to get them to do the ask.
So this isn't, this isn't a way to get them to convince, but the only thing I can think of is, what if an individual says, Well, I'm afraid that I could get evicted. Even though that's not allowed, right? It still happens in a lot of people don't have the time or energy to like, challenge those things, right? They kind of were just like, well, I guess we're just gonna have some find somewhere else to live. So that's the one thing that I can think of, of like someone, maybe not feeling willing to commit to that.
Yeah, for sure. And there's also concerns for Yeah, if you have a family, or if you're a lot older than getting evicted, is even more of an impossible situation for you. It's not in the slides today. But that is learning a bit more about the rules. And then like inoculating the person against the landlord, that's also kind of training that we're going to have to go through with each other. Some videos with all of us are signing on this together, like they can't do the everyone in the building for signing on to signing onto this thing. Yeah, I
was gonna say part of the reason that like solidarity, and like getting people to know each other is like, really important is because once they trust the rest of their community, and the rest of the, you know, the rest of the apartment complex or whatever, they're going to be much more willing to take those risks, because they know everybody else has their back. So
yeah, that's and that's also why all the socializing aspect of organizing, like also getting people to use hang out and have food or whatever together. You know, the fear goes away when you don't feel like you're depending on strangers, but you're depending on people that you know about.
Yeah, I was gonna say is maybe like, once, if we were just if they're, I mean, I feel like it would help if it's like, oh, well, we, we've been able to get your neighbor to commit with us. Or we have, like, so many people from your complex, that have decided or committed, either today or recently, right? And are registered in as a way to kind of maybe encourage, like, hey, there's, there is a small community that we're building, and you won't be alone, in these efforts can maybe be a way to encourage other people. But that would mean having to have some people committed already.
I'm gonna say that one of the, when we were talking about the union stuff before was that one of the potential things that we could do is have a member be in one of the communities that we're doing organizing in, because then we just automatically have a, hey, we already have somebody and we can do that. Like, here's an example of the kind of person that you can meet basically.
Yep. And if someone's super afraid, just find a different way, right? Just like you'd have to sign this if he was going to come help out with the potluck or whatever, like that still supporting the union and putting you at risk at less of a risk. Okay, so we're gonna run a little bit, we're gonna run long. So I think for the next part, is kind of the actual kind of roleplay of, and I think there should be a page on the attachment for this. Yes, boss page, or no. I don't actually know what's
the last page of an exercise and they remember the steps.
Yeah. Okay, so, let's do let's do exercising this kind of conversation. Again, we'll split offline in person. And I'm just gonna put you guys on mute. So let's just go through the whole process of not just asking questions, but being able to direct someone to ask and to keep this kind of basic are asked is just going to be that there is a like mold problem that basically is investing like every unit. And so we're just asking people to sign a petition to the landlord saying, hey, you need to take care of this and it's violating health codes that they can get in trouble for so you kind of have the legal backing and all you're asking for the signature. So for everyone okay, was putting up to work on that. Okay, and then after that, we'll come back and then we can either end the meeting there or we can vote on like an extending it for like another 15 minutes. Okay, online folks, I'm gonna put you on mute. And then we'll be back in five minutes. All right, thank you I'm sorry, there's like three of you. Hello. Are you online Oh, okay. Well, if he does come online, just do like a trade off I guess. Okay, okay. Thank you.
So we aren't where are we in? And looking at the email myself the document?
Yeah, I so I feel like we kind of were doing some of this or Ready, where we were trying to get the the other person, you know, to kind of get involved or agitated kind of, and then inspiring the hope. Right? And the urgency? Yeah, I don't know, if you want to specifically really practice a or if you just want to like talk out other things that you thought of that might be helpful. I'm okay doing that.
I just think people who read, I mean, especially because we are selecting specific location, we are going to be selecting a location that definitely, you could tell that there needs to be some landlord attention. So we already know there will be probably some issues when we talk about things like the landscaping, and if it looks like the way it does, you can probably tell them other issues like mold or broken this, or leaks that that just go on and on. I think it's important to let the person at the door know, with the tenants Union, we are trying to organize your apartment complex, because we we have you see that there are many problems that go unfixed by the landlord here. And we're going door to door. And we are trying to get everyone involved so that they so that there's all of us together can get some of these problems addressed. And then we talk about for example, if you could choose two things to fix, you know, what would they be. And then the goal is to put pressure on the landlord all of us together so that we're protected together. And of course, taking the conversation or following the conversation wherever the person takes it. I guess at that point in time, we would be like we want to get together we want to have us to discuss, can we get you to commit to come to one of our meetings. If you're not comfortable giving your phone number, how about an email address so that we can contact you the next time we want to get together and discuss what the next action will be with your landlord? Something like that. Or if you ever have any questions about it, you can always contact us something like that, that allows them to make a decision at the level that they're comfortable with. Yeah, and the phone number because then they might be getting a phone call. But email you can always ignore. Do you know what I
mean? Right? Yeah, it's kind of you know, it's that one is definitely more like you have you have to decide a lot more on how much you want to participate. Yeah, I think the other thing I would probably add is, like, if I were to say something specifically is like trying to find words or things that would empower, make them feel empowered, letting them know like, like, yes, one person against a landlord can be very challenging, but at the same time, like if we were hoping to encourage you, among other people in your neighborhood and complex for example, to to feel empowered, and know that you you can do this. But ignite that to
I'm sorry, interrupt, what did they say? Why are you doing this for us? Or why are you helping? If you don't live here? Why are you helping us?
Yeah, I think I would say because, I mean, for me, I personally say it's something that matters to me. Um, you know, just because I don't live here doesn't mean I'm not impacted by it as well. And so by supporting another, you know, person in my community, my greater community, you know, can hopefully, you know, improve the situation for myself or people in other areas, right, as they start to see that individuals are starting to take back, you know, in terms of like, their rights to what they want the rights that they have as a tenant. Yeah.
I like that. I like that. Something along the lines of this is just what tenant unions do. They get together, and they forced landlords who don't necessarily follow law, who collect the rents and the monies and don't live up to their end of the bargain. And this is kind of what humans do. And it takes everyone involved at some level at some level, whether it's petitioning or knocking on doors or going to meetings, to make the Submit turn the words into action and to get the change, something like that.
Yeah, I can even help with people who are has 10 You know, the ones that are maybe a little more afraid, but just knowing that they can hear from someone who doesn't even live in their neighborhood? Like, for me, I would be like, Wow, someone who doesn't live here is still trying to, like, vouch for me and look out for me like that, that speaks that has to speak to something, you know, and so that can maybe, hopefully get them kind of leaning towards the other side of wind to be like, you know, what, if someone else is going to do this for me, why why shouldn't I be able to? Or why? What's me? Maybe. But by sharing that part of just knowing like, you know, at the end of the day, we're all in
helping to empower tenants. Yeah, like you, and helping to empower tenants. So they don't have to sit and just accept blight, or mold or lease or whatever it is. Yeah, that
was five minutes, please, switch?
We're done. Okay, yeah.
So I'll have to, I'll have to read through the document. And maybe I wonder if there's any kind of video or YouTube of watching this go down, that would be interesting. This is my, this is my first I know, I was here for another meeting. And they there was a discussion about doing this. But I'm picturing myself at the door, and what it would be like, and my biggest fear would be that the landlord be like, you're agitating, you're causing me problems, and I'm going, you know, I'm not going to renew your lease, or, and because of the culture or time that we live in right now. It's very difficult to find affordable housing. And if you could afford more you probably believe and so you put up with this crap, because this is what you can afford. And so I don't want to, you don't want to, or at least I wouldn't want to upset someone terrified to like be kicked out by their landlord, even if they deserved and deserved a better building. Somehow wouldn't want to get like my door slammed in my face by someone or put them off, I'd want to make sure that they understood that we're only here to help organize the building together to help address some of the problems that people all seem to have in common. And they don't necessarily need to know I guess, right from the start that we we don't haven't talked to everybody and no with all those problems are, but just that they have the illusion that everyone agrees that there are some unaddressed issues the landlord has slacked on and that's what we're here to do is to help make sure we're all together. I'm not sure. Am I on the right page here?
Yeah, I get what you're saying. I think that that's kind of where that, that maybe not counter argument. But like that counter thing could be where it's like, well, you know, this is why we understand that the strength is in numbers type of thing, you know, it's not, you know, one person against the landlord that does have, you know, real, let's be honest, they do have, they do, and they feel like they have a lot of power, you know, so they use that to their discretion sometimes. So knowing that there's other people, you know, like, let's say, your neighbor knew that you were getting evicted, because you were, you know, canvassing, then maybe something to say, like, you know, our didn't, let's say, let's pull these neighbors or let's pull these people in the union to kind of come in support come out for to support that person. And hopefully, you know, stop that eviction from happening. You know, knowing that there's enough people aware of the situation or of the problem can hopefully, either stop or improve other other issues. Yeah, I
mean, I would feel super bad if I if we, if someone was helping, if we were, if we were doing this and someone was getting infected for it, it would be pretty rough. But
yeah, I guess that's where it comes to, like, you know, what, then the law, I guess, you know, like, are there things in the law that say, clearly, you know, like, you can't evict someone because of that, right? Just like how you can evict someone because of their political, you know, ideation or orientation, their, you know, just the identity in themselves, you know, like, there's so many things that it's likely you can't be evicted for, but sometimes they're still using that as a way to evict people. So then that could be an opportunity to be like, Well, hey, like, we know the law, and we know that you can do this. So If you if you move through with it we have, you know, even empowering people to sue their, their landlord, you know, I know that that can be a very grueling or time consuming thing, but it's possible and people have gone people have won from doing that. But at least knowing that there's that support, I think would be is like the biggest difference for someone in terms of knowing what if they have a community or not, you know, right now a lot of people rent, and it's kind of like you don't even really know your neighbor. Next to you maybe so much. You know, changing that would really change the whole makeup of renters if you actually knew and built community with your, with your neighbors that way.
Okay. Sorry. Currently goes back on. Okay. Sorry, there might have been more than five minutes, we forgot to set a timer. Okay. So we all did that. Let's be brief, real quick. So this was okay, so what was like the most challenging part of that conversation? Now that we're not just asking questions when you're trying to get to a direct ask?
Immediately thinking about the ask and going straight to it. There's no build up.
For me, it's mostly just getting my like making sure that the next question that I have in mind is like smoothly follows from the previous one. And isn't like, again, not leading people anywhere. And also asking in a way that is like assertive, basically, because that's just not the kind of person I really like, No, but that's a really critical thing, have making sure that you're assertive and like, asking, even if it's feels like really uncomfortable or important. So
Adri, Christine,
um, so we had kind of started doing some of this in our previous roleplay. So we didn't focus too much on it. But we did talk about Christine brought up just generally the the fear and concern of, you know, hey, we get someone active or no actively wanting to make change in their with, you know, with their landlord, and there's still that risk or concern that they could be evicted for it. Right, you know, are? And is it you know, are we there, just that we in a way that we can still support them? Right? Or even stop it from happening? I think we were thinking, like more like kind of future thinking, but you know that that's something that
okay, yeah, just to like respond to it. I think as we grow, then you do, then you're capable of doing things like eviction defenses, right? Like after getting evicted, and it's like, 20 of us I show up to stop, especially if they're getting targeted and harassed, we're trying to organize, then that becomes much easier, but I think definitely, in the short term.
Yeah, I was gonna say having something that they can see that they can get angry about is going to make our job way easier. Like that is bad. But also it just makes doing this much easier.
Yeah, so I think you're in the short term, I think we have to be upfront about the risks. And but that's basically all we can really do at this point. And even with like eviction defense and stuff, like, you should be honest with folks, but there is an inherent risk we're trying to organize, right? Same thing with trying to organize a union at work, you have the risk of getting fired, but you have to have people believe like in themselves and have the solidarity and have the Yeah, the anger of like the issue where they're like, it's worth it. To me, the reward is worth the risk to me, which is sometimes harder for certain folks. But that's just like a mountain that we have to overcome.
Yeah, well, when we were talking about getting the ask, part of the problem that I didn't know, we were discussing, was that, okay, so you get someone that, you know, has acknowledged to the problem, and we have a survey or I mean, a petition or whatever, it's that. Okay, yeah, you got to know like, there's the gradations of, okay, I just don't I'm not interested at all just go away. I'm kind of interested but I'm a little apprehensive, you know, I, I'd want to do that, um, do it and then just okay, here, I'll sign so it's yeah, it was we were trying to figure out how do you not monopolize a conversation while you're trying to reinforce or reassure them that collectively that there's more strength? Such
Yeah, emotional intelligence is like super critical to being held.
Yeah, and I think some of those, like some of the, you know, branches of the conversation can go in will be easier as we do this. Because, you know, one response might just be, oh, well, we're just having a meeting about this. You know, next week, do you want Just come by and like, stop by and talk to your neighbors there. You don't have to sign right now. But you all that stuff will come as we like actually engaged in this work. Okay, we're over time. Is everyone okay with staying for like another 15 minutes? Online? Yes. Okay. I feel like we should make the meetings an hour and a half because they run late every time.
Yeah, well, yeah. Okay. Okay, we did that we did that. We might want to do it so that we have the general meeting stuff that just covers, you know, bureaucratic things, and then whatever kind of business Yeah.
Okay. So super brief apathy, one big thing that people always complain about, especially when you go knock on doors the first time and it feels like no one really wants to do anything. But apathy isn't real organizers have conversations with neighbors to identify the issues they care about, and tap into the anger at the injustice to overcome obstacles that the landlord relies on to disorganize us. And we have to identify issues that enough people care about that they're willing to take the risk of collective action. Okay, this was super long slide, I'm just gonna skip it. You guys can check it out later. Okay, so for actually doing WT t you work. So the feedback that I got on kind of how to organize this was, so we still have our Calvillo location, which I think we all decided that we at least put another month into it is a weird kind of organizing space. But it can just be a good starting place to get experience from, especially since we already went there once. So we should start researching looking for eviction hotspots are a place where they get a lot of tenant complaints, chart out those buildings, whichever ones have the most complaints, and then target those buildings or buildings with like the same landlord. And again, having a tenant already in that building with issues is the best place to start. Sam, who I wish could have stayed longer. His building is someplace where he talked that he might be interested in starting to to you. There's also one other person that I talked to who
Yeah, wasn't there, one at the general meeting, and one at the cleanup to,
oh, I don't remember, at the last one, I feel like there was. But there was another person I met who said that their rents are going crazy. And so they were interested also. So he's basically, you know, in our own network of friends, and people that we know finding folks, that may be a good place. And then we can practice this at Cal villa for outreach plan. So we went there as just kind of, hey, we're WC you, we have a community cleanup event. But now going back as WC you to your members, we can try setting up just like a table. That's kind of a small place. So we don't really have to table for that long. Just talking to folks that are outside, knock on doors again, for this time, introduce ourselves as members of WC you to you know, bring the posters and the pins and the flyers, like Christine was saying, and then, you know, cover the neighborhood with flyers and posters, basically. So even, you know, people say you need three to five touch points to really activate people. And the flyer is kind of like a point five touch points, you know, it's not a real conversation. But, you know, like you were saying, it's, we show up with their shirt. They're like, Hey, I saw that sign the other day. And you can put it you know, at nearby bus stops at nearby grocery stores, just wherever they're going to see and recognize it. And then again, we have to show consistency. Like it's it's not easy, especially the first couple times you go and no one wants to join. But it takes time for people to actually trust you and actually come out.
Yeah, I was gonna say the exact Oh,
go ahead. Go ahead, Riley.
Oh, yes. That's the exact same issue that I was talking to you about when we're doing this right is that just like doing it over and over and over again, is super critical since hammer, you know.
I was just gonna briefly say we're in a social media world and people. If we put up some flyers, or we paste or whatever we want to do, we put on the Instagram, how they can look you up. might want to consider a tick tock for working class unity. Something like that. memes. Memes brought me here and memes are 100 telling you use or are underrated
memes. Memes will set you free.
Yeah, we definitely need to get a tech talk. Okay. Anyone else? Okay. Okay, so we're actually supposed to elect like a campaign leadership. So that's not me. It can't be steering committee. I don't know if anyone on this call wants to take that on. You'd be like, basically the main person in charge of tea stuff. I mean, I also be there helping you. And I can, you know, be co leader or whatever, depending on capacity issues. But does anyone wants to do it and if not, we can vote to just hold off until next meeting. But yeah, anyone wants to raise their hand and take this on? It would be a six month stint, after which you can either step down or get rid You're approved by the membership. Keep looking me up. You can do it. I
know. I can't unfortunately, I literally have like, four months of school. So, yeah, it's not gonna work. Unfortunately, what
I was gonna say let's vote to hold it off. Yeah. I don't think we have
enough PPE want to start the vote. Yeah,
sure. Okay, so all in favor of holding off until the next general meeting to vote on a election. On campaign leadership,
I started what was that? Is there need to be a motion? First? Oh. Okay.
Well, okay. Yeah. Can you move?
Sure. I will move to vote to put it off. Second. Cool. Okay. So all in favor? Aye. I oppose. Cool, the ASAP.
Okay. And then we don't have a budget yet. But we'll eventually have to approve a budget for this once we actually have financing.
Yeah. We, we got to do several steps.
I want to collect some data
out something that's an that could be another question is I mean, is this something as far as holding off to the other question of you? How long would it be held off? And does it? Is it best to hold it off until we have specific financial budget cleared out? Membership Dues, etc, etc? Like, is there more groundwork that needs to be done before? Is my question I guess it's kind of what I mean.
I think by next month, we'll have the finances but I don't know if I'll have someone to stepped in.
While I was gonna say also that it would be good to have leadership, like involved in that, because we if once we have it, we want to hit the ground running as much as possible.
Yeah, I mean, so we're not going to pause between now and getting leadership. But so whenever we find someone, whenever I find someone to like, take over their life, they will become any leader.
Yeah, basically, okay, like a brain? Yeah.
Okay. So meetings, we have to set up a lot more meetings, because we actually have to get a lot more stuff done. So this is where the calendar go. Okay, this is the shoddy calendar. So let's just do this. And we'll go back to the meetings. So for the reading groups, the ABCs of capitalism, I would like to cancel those because of attendance reasons. And then change it into a socialism like group discussion that happens two times a month, and that can be online slash hybrid. And so that would be the new kind of intro to socialism would just be a one month stent. Instead of, you know, this three month. What is like 12? Course or six course thing?
Yeah. Or at least until we have, like a fully fleshed out education thing? Yeah.
Well, hopefully education committee can work on the course. But change it to that kind of course. Right now, the meetings are the second Wednesday and Friday, and the fourth one is on Friday. So there's four. But I was gonna say let's change it to the second and fourth Wednesday. So it cuts it down to half. Anyone want to do something different? Or can we move to approve? Or comment?
Any comments? Or objections? All right. vote to approve. All the are. Yeah. Motion to approve. I need a second. Okay, we have a second cool. Set up in Bangor V. Okay. Yeah. All in favor of canceling the ABCs. And setting. Yeah, setting the second and fourth Wednesday are the second and fourth Wednesday of every month to be a social and discussion group. Yeas and means nobody opposes. Okay, great.
Okay. Um, and the next was a selecting voting on days for the membership committee and education committee. So there's two separate committees. I do have slides further on about what they're actually about. Okay, good. But we need to set one per free to those. We can either take over the now Fridays that are free. Or we can set them some other time.
Yeah, well, let's, let's, I think probably just vote on doing it. And then once we have people, you know, interested in doing it, we can set the dates based on their schedules. Yeah. Okay, so motion to reappropriate those days for the membership and education committees and the campaign committee meetings. Got a second game. Very cool.
Well, sorry, no, those are just pay for the education membership, because those are two days. So A campaign committees need separate days.
Oh, no, I was just do our I was doing an all in one thing because we're just changing those
days because we have stuff to do. So we can we can set the days. Yeah, we can you can change it if you have to bless this kind of baseline day for now. So we can actually start meeting and doing stuff.
That'd be the first Friday and the third Friday of the month. The second
Friday in fourth reading. Second point. Okay. Yeah. Okay.
I'm all in favor of that. Yeah, the second and fourth Friday as the education the second Friday as a membership and Education Committee and the fourth Friday is the campaign committee meetings. Yes. Or the other way around? Okay. Sorry.
Maybe second Friday as membership committee and fourth Friday is? Motion committee. Oh, you wait, because you want those to be two separate days? Right. membership and education?
I thought so. Okay, real quick. We had four days a month of reading group, a reading group. Right. Yeah, we were cutting to those days. One of them for membership and education. The other one for campaign. Right?
No, one of them for membership, and the other one for education.
And then we're adding more days for camping. Okay. All right. Gotcha. Yeah. I understand. I understand that going on now. Yeah.
Yeah, sorry.
Okay. So all in favor of that thing we just clarified? Raise your hand? Sure. Cool. All right.
Okay. And then so the actual tenant union campaign meetings, which I mean, even if you have leadership, we still need to, like meet as a group to figure out what we're gonna do, including all the research and stuff. And then there's canvassing that we'd ideally like to do once a week, but you know, we can set the days for it, but then not actually do it, if we don't have anything. So this is still the calendar the days are basically the same, like with the events that are switched. So for the free days, for the T you campaigns, since I don't think we want meetings, like every day of the week that we want to move the two you campaign to, like a Thursday on the non event weeks. Or some other day. Yeah. What day? Well, whoever's interested in the TV stuff, what day works for you all, and time?
Thursday works for me. Anybody else? schedule wise? Okay, we got I,
like if I just be helpful to keep the dates on, like, if if someone is able to make the meeting on a Thursday, then it's likely they'll make it the next what Thursday, even if it isn't a meeting, but if it's for something else, so maybe keeping it the same day. It's also just listed on
Thursdays. Okay, so we have the we can do the third Thursday for team meetings.
Yeah, that sounds alright. Okay. They're Thursday.
And then for canvasing, we should. We should we should. We can pick two days Friday's bad
day to do it. For sure. We needed people to be home. So it was probably going to be Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm thinking,
yeah, we can do one weekend in one week. Day. That way we cover everyone that might be working one of those times. So like a weekday evening, and an afternoon weekend,
like a Yeah, like Saturday or Sunday or something.
So last Sunday, this was going to be about later it was going to be Park cleanup. And so do we want to do the? Sure. So like the third Sunday, and then the um, well we can do.
Where are we at? I can't read this. So I'm blind.
We can do fourth Thursday and third Sunday. If that works. Yeah. So this Sunday, I don't know if you can see the mess online. But this Sunday. And then this Thursday. So every Thursday, we basically have something either steering committee general, to you committee and then canvassing for to you
that I think that would be good. Because if we if we committed to like just a solid day, like she was saying, right, yeah, everybody would know. And we would always be able to hit something like yeah,
never socialize on Thursday. Thursday's belong to us.
Yeah. We'll just change our name to working class Thursday.
Okay. Can I get a motion to
IOL motion to approve it. I need a second. Got a second. And another second. We got a third. Wow. All right. All right. All in favor. All right. Nobody's opposed. Unless I mean, Paulo, c'mon man, abstaining constantly. Alright, the yeas have it.
Okay. Okay, so just as a quick overview, because I think we're hitting our time limit. Education Committee is like developing the new intro to socialism course and develop yet same thing and then maybe book club.
Yeah, I thinking probably the way we're gonna do it is instead of doing like lectures like we were doing before, we're probably going to do more discourse, discussion group kind of people who have a little bit of theory and like practice experience, just like leading conversations, basically.
And then for membership committee, we have the membership pipeline, but then also be responsible for like texting everyone to be like, Hey, we got a meeting coming up, or we got an event, collecting feedback from membership and then making the membership database. Yeah. recruiting events.
Yeah, we're,
we definitely do this. Yeah. So we do need to do this. Sorry, I'm gonna go back to the calendar. We can do tabling at Delta College, or that,
to me, that seems like the best because like, young people, at least in my experience, are very pro client. Yeah. And they have the time a lot of times to do it. So
yeah. And I think I'll reach out to some of the churches. I know just to see what you can the churches you go there. So do we want to set up this month, a tabling day that folks can come out to we can just do one thing this month and that's okay. Okay, well, right now we've added right now on the 20th. Right, this so this is done with event. So
Thursday is all set up, like login. Right? And we didn't next not this Sunday, but next Sunday.
Yeah, the Sunday is great. But we're not going to table we're not going to go to campus on Sunday. Okay,
well, yeah. But like, I'm just trying to Yeah, we got her. So Okay. Um,
and then meet not there anymore. Well, yes. It'll be a different meeting
this fourth week. Yeah, there are there's basically nothing in it. Right. Yeah. And that gives us time to be prepared. So maybe, like, Tuesday, Wednesday, something like that.
Okay. Is anyone else for you to like help table? Maybe Tuesday? Yes, it's a Wednesday, do you say? Sure. Okay, so the 20. What is that? 29?
What time was this? Yeah. Like how often because like, I'm thinking, how often are classes? Sorry, can you say that again? Just asking how what time it would be at? And if it would line up with like people being on campus?
Yeah, that's a good question. We would have to do it probably relatively early in the morning. If we did, so like, if we did it when I got off work, right? There'd be nobody there. Except for the high school people who I'm guessing probably are not super interested. They're busy. Maybe in the afternoon around lunch when people are actually out on campus.
Like 11 to one
what time What time is like the big lunch? Like break in a delta. Now? If they changed, it went from what I went through, like 10 years ago, so I don't remember.
Okay, sometime between 10 and two. Yeah, that works. Two hours between tenants. Is that okay with you, Christine?
Yes. So we're looking at I can barely see the calendar. But that's the 29th. And three, one of those days. Yeah, the 29th. The 29th? For sure. Yeah. Can be between 10 and two sometime?
Yeah, we'll pick like, two hours, somewhere between the ones to figure out when like the lunch hours.
Yeah. And location on delta by what bookstore library right in the middle of the pond? Let's see.
Probably Yeah, probably. I'm guessing by the library's good, like in between the pond and the library would be good, I think. Yep. Then we're not like super in the way but we're still getting good foot traffic.
Okay. And then I think we'll, we can probably go by like hatch, and hang up flyers or just talk to folks. That's usually like an evening thing.
Oh, sorry, that it would be good to do two separate ones. We could do one for like younger people or people who are going to regular classes in the morning, and then we could do one in the evening. Because then that way I can do it more easily. And because those are the kinds of people that we really, really would like to have, you know, the evening Yeah, the evening people because they're like, they're, you know, okay,
so you want to do like the 30th. Then II will have all the stuff already. That will be Wednesday. Yeah.
Yeah, that works for me. Okay. No way. Actually no, that Thursday. That does not work for me Wednesday. Wednesday. Yeah. Wednesday doesn't work for me.
Sorry, I'm really sorry. Sorry. I have a quick question just about the Delta. Is there? I don't know if Riley will look into this about the like, if there's a having to put a request in for that at all.
Oh, I was I was just thinking about that. I don't know for sure if we have to ask, but I'm gonna all go over to delta at some point and ask because I don't want to get kicked off.
The other one I was going to suggest is like, there's sometimes like, like, actually at the web, I'm on the visit Stockton and they have a saint. There's like a Friday night market every friday from four to 830. That could be a possible tabling. There's Stockton First Fridays now. So September 1, there's going to be another First Friday. That is what's hosted by reinvent South Stockton. So I don't know if there's something we'd have to request for
it. I would imagine they probably are. Because like the Lodi like street fairs and stuff, or they're usually like pretty strict about who they allow in so we can we can ask you about it.
He may not be allowed into that. Yeah.
So no socialist allowed. mudra.
Oh, yeah, no, I straight up I've had people will say that to me. So.
Okay. Well, I think we'll have we have one and I think we'll figure it out just on the forum. Like the second one. Just yeah, we can get there. Nothing needs a formal meeting.
No, it doesn't. The all the membership stuff is basically my purview. And I just can be dictator. It's fine. Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. So we'll talk more on the forum. Okay. Can I keep moving? Okay. The community park cleanup does need a vote though. Sunday, August 27.
Okay, motion. Second, okay. Cool. All in favor of the park cleanup on the 27th of August. All right, passes. Okay.
Last thing, this is kind of community outreach, Louise invited me at least to this thing, the corn cultural celebration that they hold every year. I wanted to ask if we could officially sponsor it and do outreach for it with our membership. So I just need approval for that. And Louise is someone we do want to like eventually get involved in the organization? He was interested when I first talked to him about it a long time ago. But I haven't like reached out to him about it.
Okay, as far as membership, I'm gonna I can approve it. Do we need an actual vote from the group though? Yeah, I think because we're reaching out. Okay. org. I'm all in favor of reaching out to Lois begonia and his organization. That can, and yeah, okay. Yeah. Is that what it looks like? Okay.
I had one more thing. I am writing the letter. That's going to be like the first article for the WC newspaper, basically, why we can't keep organizing the Democrats. I don't have it done. So I just wanted to authorize if we could just have it posted on the forum and have it approved there by at least three members and steering, if that can be enough to get it approved and posted onto the forum like what everyone's edits. So that's the motion I'd like to make. Harpreet. Where
can we where can we read that?
I'll post it when I'm done. Okay. Yeah.
Yeah, I think that, let's do a tentative motion to approve it so that as long once you posted it, and everyone's cool with it. Yeah. It'll just go through immediately. Sure. Okay, so all like motion to allow Harpreet to read the litter. And posted? Yeah, okay. All in favor? Yes. Yes. Great. Okay. Yes, I have it.
Okay. And then anyone else from any other member?
Bad sorry. Do we bring up the newspaper? Yeah. And some articles we want to write on the newspaper?
Yeah. Do you want to bring up your article? Or your idea?
I was I Yes. I had talked to Harpreet about this, what do you guys feel about his working class, we need to let the working class know why we need to support Palestine the liberation movement in Palestine. It's in our interests than working class interests. And I think it would be a good article to add to the newspapers first publication, something brief and not too deep. But just to let people know working class people know that it's in our interest to support the liberation movement in Palestine as people reading
that sounds really good to me. So, okay, do we so I I'm gonna make a motion to make a motion to not have to make motions about these things. Okay, because we need to streamline the
Well, no, the No, the problem is anything written by me gets kind of. That's what that's different. Yeah. But as far as my membership articles, yeah. Okay. I think we can just, if we just leave it to the membership committee or something shouldn't
Yeah. Okay. Like we just have What does have somebody vetted or like maybe the membership or the Education Committee vetted, and then they'll approve it. Okay. Okay, cool. That's all okay. This
is at the motion to like, Yes. Three members that do approve in the education committee before a member posts can go out.
Okay. What are Preet said? I'll make a motion for that. Second, yeah. So this is having the membership or the Education Committee approve membership written articles, instead of not steering committee ones, though. Just membership once again. Cool. All in favor? Wonderful.
Great. And yeah, just the concern with that was in power brought this up, was any articles written by steering committee? Yeah, get taken as official and therefore should go through for membership approval before being posted? Because it's the voice of the org. But we're not going to do that for like everything. I agree. We have no financial report. And announcements. These are these dates are wrong. The new dates are on the agenda. Ignore that. Okay. Please.
Okay. Oh, wait. Okay, we heard
I can't make it anyhow. But were we going to meet after the meeting?
Do we still want to meet for food afterwards? Or has the meeting run too long?
Oh, no, go ahead. I won't be able to join. Okay, well, who can
make it and if no one can make it then we don't have to do it.
Is anybody available?
I'm in Tracy about deeds and chicken right now. Okay. All right.
Okay. We'll do a live that. Okay. Yes. All right. For this extremely long meeting, I moved to adjourn.
Second. That's four people were out. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry. Yep. All right. Bye.
