By Brenda Ortega
MEA Voice Editor

Monday’s event at Orchard View High School in Muskegon looked like a party, but it was the annual general membership meeting of a wall-to-wall support staff union representing custodians, office staff, paraeducators, maintenance employees, transportation workers, and food service staff.

Goodies for giveaway lined the front of the community meeting room where dozens of MEA members sat at tables eating salad, pasta and cookies, talking and laughing. Two screens projected a spinning wheel which landed every few minutes on the name of someone who could then choose a prize.

Having the union’s annual membership meeting on the staff professional development day right before school starts helps to boost spirits and kickoff the year, even for staff who work all summer such as Mike Swiatek, a 27-year maintenance employee.

“It’s a nice thing, and I think it’s good for the new people to get to meet everybody and put faces with names,” Swiatek said as he picked a handmade wooden cribbage board after his name came up on the wheel. “And it helps to have door prizes!”

Earlier in the meeting, leaders worked through an agenda that included officer elections, information on bargained pay and benefits, discussion of the union’s role and offerings, updates on district and contractual policies, an MEA-PAC drive, and a drawing for a Weber grill and accessories.

The 90-minute meeting is the brainchild of longtime leaders Brenda Brewer and Trude Bushaw, who wanted to find a way to both celebrate support staff and build union strength and solidarity. As they walk in, members gets a t-shirt with the unit’s acronym worked into a new design every year.

“Too many times, support staff gets left out,” said Bushaw, an administrative assistant and accounts payable in the central business office who has worked nearly 40 years in the district. “People need to be involved; they need to know they’re part of things. This event lets them know we’re hearing them and their voices matter.”

Bushaw and Brewer have alternated between president and vice president in elected two-year terms for many years. Since first holding the meeting in this format a decade ago, they spend hours gathering donations and supplies for the meal and giveaways, planning the agenda, and coordinating activities.

Prizes included themed baskets, craft items and décor, gift cards, rounds of golf, a family pass to school athletic events, homemade baked goods, and more – all donated by local businesses, school administrators and other employees.

Folks were waiting outside the door before the meeting started, said Brewer, an administrative assistant at the early elementary and 23-year employee. “Some years ago I went to some of the MEA conferences and got a bunch of ideas and thought why can’t we do something like this?” Brewer said.

“It just seems to be getting bigger and bigger. Yes, it’s a lot of work, but it’s only once a year and it helps people see what MEA does for them.”

Beth Johnson, an elementary school special education paraeducator for six years, took home a Christmas decoration as her prize. “It definitely boosts morale and brings us closer together,” Johnson said. “It takes a crazy amount of work, and it’s wonderful.”

MEA UniServ Director Keith Sauter said the unit has high membership and engagement. “I had a member who was not in good standing call me this morning and ask how they could get in good standing so they could come to this event,” he said.

As a result of the unit’s strength, the bargaining team has been able to secure items in the contract that he hasn’t seen any other support staff unit achieve, such as the same paid time off for holidays and winter and spring breaks as teachers get, Sauter said.

Brewer and Bushaw have presented their unique approach to the general membership meeting at MEA Winter and Summer conferences, and their sessions always generate interest and excitement among their peers. “But you really have to see this event to believe it,” Sauter said.

Brewer said she and Bushaw make a great team: She is the creative and quiet thinker, and Bushaw is the more brash and outgoing talker; together they demonstrate why the union matters. The last contract negotiation took seven months and mediation to settle, and the bargaining team held firm on key issues.

“If you don’t look out for yourself, no one else will do it for you,” Brewer said. “We’ve accomplished a ton, and we wouldn’t have gotten what we’ve been able to get without the strength of our membership and the bargaining experience we have.”

Recently the two leaders were able to get time for the annual meeting guaranteed in the contract, which includes 60 minutes for information and activities plus 30 minutes for lunch.

“The most important thing is it gets people talking to each other, and they get to hear from us about what’s going on, so they know we’ll support them whenever they need it,” Bushaw said. “That’s important.”