Council 20 Local Union Leadership
Workshops Hit the Mark

Leadership is neither a gift bestowed on a chosen few nor beyond the grasp of ordinary working folks.

It is a set of skills that can be learned, practiced and regularly updated to handle new developments. And certainly, given the current political and economic conditions that confront AFSCME members in the District government, Council 20 local union leaders have no choice but to raise their game.

So right on cue, Council 20 AFSCME has conducted intensive leadership training workshops for its staff and local union officers.

Workshops Cover Much Ground

Between February and July, six council staff members and nearly 80 executive board members from the 16 locals affiliated with Council 20 participated in four leadership workshops at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland.

The workshops covered how to identify potential leaders among rank-in-file members; understanding union terminology and procedures, such as how to conduct orderly, productive local meetings; how to form MAT Teams to mobilize activists in each local on short notice for union-related activities; and explaining the importance of AFSCME’s highly-respected political action program, PEOPLE.

Training Pays Off for Union Members

Sessions were lively. For example, each workshop concluded with a session called “Mission Impossible,” where participants first identified critical issues in their local and then brainstormed to develop projects that would address those concerns. Board members made commitments to projects such s increasing union visibility in the workplace, improving communications with members, forming a MATT Teams, and signing up non-members who benefit from union privileges. Locals presented the outcome or progress of their projects at Council 20’s leadership conference in October.

Council 20 Executive Director Geo T. Johnson said “This intensive training will payoff in better-run locals, better communications and more respect from managers because they will be dealing with AFSCME leaders who stay on top of their game in the workplace.” 

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