The Contract and Beyond
SBAC identifies collective power as key to success

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Local 1000’s Statewide Bargaining Advisory Committee (SBAC) met on November 14 and 15 in San Jose to plan, train and outline visions and strategies to ensure our members’ priorities are moved forward at the bargaining table and beyond. Central to the gathering was the challenge for members to come forward and present a strong, united front to secure the best contract possible.

Our bargaining team consists of nearly 200 member-elected bargaining representatives who act as liaisons with our members up and down the state. Of those, 63 are members of our Bargaining Unit Negotiating Council, who represent Local 1000 at the bargaining table. Their efforts are supported by more than two dozen professional staff in legal, research and contract departments.

Strategies for success

Three strategies were identified as crucial to bargaining table success: growing membership, building worksite action teams and mobilizing those teams to act for the contract. Drilling down on those strategies, this fall’s SBAC focused on intensive trainings in structure, project management and how to have organizing conversations to draw people into the work of their union.

“When we speak in one united voice, we show the State a collective power that can’t be denied.”

—Margarita Maldonado
Vice President for Bargaining

“The difference between getting a good contract and a great contract is getting as many members involved as possible,” says Vice President for Bargaining Margarita Maldonado. “We need to work together if we want to be successful at the bargaining table.”

The tools SBAC members learned will prepare them for bargaining but will also help them build power and unity in their worksites by creating strong networks that will sustain our union through all the challenges and opportunities of the future.

“When we speak in one united voice, we show the State a collective power that can’t be denied,” says Maldonado.