MEA member Laken London loves to solve puzzles, so she’s a go-to person in her department at Saginaw Valley State University when people have a problem they can’t figure out.

London is a senior accounting clerk in Scholarships and Financial Aid at SVSU who earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting fraud investigation from Davenport University in 2018. “They call my desk the dump desk,” she said.

“Someone will say, ‘Hey, Laken — I can’t figure out this student account, but something’s wrong.’ And I’ll just tear that account apart and be like, ‘This is what happened.’”

Last year, London had a personal puzzle to solve when a temporary financial setback caused her to take on two additional part-time jobs. Mornings and weekends, she delivered food through a delivery app, and evenings and weekends she worked at a hardware store.

“I was able to get myself out of that situation, and it was only about a six-month stint of having to go through that, but I was working 16-hour days — and it was miserable. Just because you can work three jobs doesn’t mean you should.”

The experience motivated London to become a captain in the ESP Bill of Rights campaign in addition to serving her local union as philanthropy chair and webmaster for the communications committee.

“I’m hoping this can stir conversations about how employers can give back to the people who do a lot of the day-to-day work,” she said. “Employees want something to look forward to — something they can work toward and build for the future.”

London grew up in rural Cass City and moved around after college to jobs in a brokerage firm, hospital and manufacturer before settling in the education sector. “Higher ed is where I feel at home, helping students grow and become well-rounded humans.”

What she loves best about her job is the supportive co-workers who have maintained stability through leadership changes in her department and higher up at SVSU. She’s fascinated by what she calls “support cricket talk.”

“Our support staff are the silent communicators between departments who keep things operating smoothly,” she explained. “You go to someone and say, ‘How does this work?’ or ‘Why do you guys do that?’ And we get our ducks in a row.”

Support staff often perform critical but unrecognized labor that the Bill of Rights campaign can highlight, she said. “I hope it mobilizes us to understand the power we have.

“I hope it opens companies’ eyes to treat employees with the respect and dignity they deserve. Just because you can give us less pay or cheaper health insurance and save a couple bucks doesn’t mean you should.”

Related overview: The Michigan ESP Bill of Rights: an engine for advocacy

Learn more about the six elements of the Michigan Bill of Rights campaign through the stories of our featured captains: