TAA's Core by https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb TAA/CLIP en-us 2021-04-15 23:41:04 UTC 2021-05-20 22:37:44 UTC hello@padlet.com https://unicornriot.ninja/ https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1423463095 2021-04-15 23:55:38 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1423463095 Spokescouncil srobertdennison https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1428990429 "The spokescouncil process enables consensus decisions with hundreds and thousands of people... In this process the whole group breaks up into smaller groups who then communicate with each other through 'spokes' (also called delegates or reps/representatives)."]]> 2021-04-18 01:32:30 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1428990429 https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1438624191 The TAA is committed: 
to cultivating the power inherent to all workers; 
to the liberation of all peoples from white supremacy; 
to restoring the products of workers' labor to ourselves and our communities; 
to holding ourselves and our communities accountable for our roles as perpetrators of racial capitalism; 
and to stand in solidarity and co-conspiratorship with all workers and collectives who share these goals.]]> 2021-04-20 16:00:03 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1438624191 Accountability https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1438649735 Ideas for Principles:
- build relationships strong enough to withstand harm
- check in with victims coming away from harm, assist and empower them to recover and/or take action 
- enable perpetrators to return power to the person(s) they have stolen it from, while introspecting for growth
- transform the conditions in our environment + community that enabled or encouraged this harm

Ideas for Practices:
- for every "just following orders", we must disobey the racial capitalist system (admin, govt, etc) in a way that benefits our community. Keep an accountability journal!
- whenever a Black person is killed by police, people write to every union in this town to ask what they’re doing about it. What can unions demand of each other?]]> 2021-04-20 16:04:37 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1438649735 The Dig podcast https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1439862647 Interviews with scholars on racism, feminism, electoral politics, criminal justice and any issue relevant for a new socialist movement]]> 2021-04-20 20:16:32 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1439862647 Citations Needed podcast https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1439954711 "A podcast on the media, power, PR & the history of bullshit." Hosts Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson do a really great job at breaking down implicit media frames about issues like policing, immigration, and U.S. imperialism (to name a few things). They also have really great guests on their show. https://citationsneeded.libsyn.com/]]> 2021-04-20 20:45:33 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1439954711 Practices that set up effective consensus decision-making (from Dean Spade's Mutual Aid) https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1440871458 1. Creating Teams
2. Creating a Decision-Making Chart 
3. Practicing Proposal-Making
4. Practicing Meeting Facilitation
5. Welcoming New People]]> 2021-04-21 03:16:25 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1440871458 Practices to Foster Community https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1443562251 It is important to connect to the communities which surround TAA. It is equally important to ensure that there is a sense of community for all members in the union.
 
1. Consider creating support groups inside of TAA for common Graduate student issues (Problems with advisors, changing departments, housing issues, lab/classroom concerns etc.). 

2. Consolidate information regarding important resources which UW admins may not provide. This could be as simple as knowing the correct people to contact for guidance with specific issues on campus (Graduate Handbooks are not always accurate or helpful in this regard). 

 ]]> 2021-04-21 16:58:10 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1443562251 https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1445176248 Our mission is to improve the wellness and working conditions of graduate workers through organizing (to pressure the university) and mutual aid (to lift the burdens placed on us by the university). Together we politically educate ourselves on worker struggle, antiracism, and organizing, and plug our community of graduate workers into struggles for justice in our city and in the wider movement.]]> 2021-04-22 01:32:34 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1445176248 Fostering connection to global movement https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1445197689 Proposal: to use the Stewards' Council meetings to discuss worker struggles worldwide, by supporting and asking stewards to submit agenda items more proactively and playfully!

1. Suggest a media diet for our community and stewards
4. Create a flowchart for kinds of support TAA can offer and actions the stewards' council can take to support!
2. Ask that all stewards weigh things to contribute to the agenda as they go about their day & read
3. Continue to directly reach out to stewards to submit agenda items about current events]]> 2021-04-22 01:40:18 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1445197689 Red Madison https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1445213073 Local Madison publication with a socialist perspective
https://redmadison.com]]> 2021-04-22 01:45:51 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1445213073 Building to our possibilities https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1445497069 I believe the TAA can be a space where people practice and experience accountability in community, not tied to carceral structures, and feel safe (but pushed) to rely on these structures rather than harboring harm. We want to center mutual care in big and small ways, support the most marginalized while connecting, play to everyone’s strengths, and avoid burnout and respect people’s boundaries. We need to aggressively combine class and race consciousness until they’re indistinguishable in the way the TAA talks and acts (because they are indistinguishable in people’s lives).]]> 2021-04-22 03:40:21 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1445497069 Solidarity and worker consciousness https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1445497689 We hope to make transformative action consistent with care and make our transformative actions themselves inclusive. The TAA can be a hub (in the least techy way) of connections to interconnected workers’ rights and antiracist movements (also feminist, queer, etc). Being in the TAA means you are also in these movements and the barrier to involvement (in i.e. CLIP, lectures, rallies, work) is super low.

]]> 2021-04-22 03:40:40 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1445497689 https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1445498601 We are a grad worker union here to build community and solidarity while working against exploitation in all forms, requiring abolitionist antiracism because race and class are inseparable. We believe the university works because we do, and accordingly choose to work together for justice, safety, antiracism, recognition, solidarity, and our shared dignity. 

]]> 2021-04-22 03:41:06 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1445498601 https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1446846116 As the TAA, we salvage our own worker power from the late racial capitalism of Wisconsin, USA post Act 10, using creative and co-conspiratorial approaches to get shit done for grad workers beyond typical labor approaches.

]]> 2021-04-22 12:26:32 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1446846116 Conflict, Safety, and Justice Officer Role https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1446850128 Some of us have been working on an abolitionist/transformative justice/nonbudsperson type role. More info here (very in process): ]]> 2021-04-22 12:27:44 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1446850128 TAA Co-op https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1448970974 A wild and crazy, very long-term idea - if we want to do more mutual aid and we know rent and food are issues for us, can we create a grad worker coop that specifically invites families and international students to live in it? And we cede the land back to the Ho-Chunk nation. Directly bites into predatory landlord culture, participates in landback, and makes the lives of some in our community instantly better, creating more community space where organizing can flourish.]]> 2021-04-22 19:01:12 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1448970974 Local News https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1449498169 Madison / Dane

Wisconsin

]]> 2021-04-22 21:37:57 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1449498169 srobertdennison https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1449502705 As a union, we work towards ensuring a University that properly compensates its workers on multiple levels, including financially and democratically, and acknowledges its role in the perpetuation of white supremacy on and off campus. Our role as teachers and researchers makes us central to the operation of the university, and our representation guarantees the freedom for our educators to nourish students.]]> 2021-04-22 21:39:54 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1449502705 Facebook https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1449507088 Local Activist Orgs and Groups]]> 2021-04-22 21:41:50 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1449507088 Clarify Decision-Making https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1449518631 Grad workers should know HOW decisions are being made, WHO is making those decisions, and HOW they can make those decisions.]]> 2021-04-22 21:46:51 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1449518631 Organizing https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1449525625 We must highlight that organizing—fostering intentional, personal relationships with other workers and community members—is essential for collective action and change.

If we seek to change the status quo, we cannot wait for others to come to us. It is our responsibility to provide political education and avenues for building collective power.]]> 2021-04-22 21:49:57 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1449525625 Principles Brainstorming https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1449558679 Another world is possible. Social structures wielding power at this moment are contingent and unnatural. They exist because of decisions and actions from those who came before. They can be changed with our decisions and actions.

Self-reflection cannot be done in isolation; self-care must center on transformation.

The union is the collective experience of the workers in the struggle. Workers are made of clay, not glass. We must love each other, but this also involves pushing each other.

Every interaction with others is a chance to learn. Ask questions: You do not possess the only answers. 

Our efforts for social and economic justice at our workplace are inherently connected to movements for social and economic justice in the broader community. We must act that way. 

We cannot take it as a given that broader community members will understand our fights within the university or that graduate workers will understand our fights within the broader community. If we believe that our fights are interconnected, we must work to make the connections explicit.

There is no salvation beyond our own power.
]]> 2021-04-22 22:05:39 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1449558679 https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1449560353 The Teaching Assistants’ Association is the union of graduate workers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. We are a volunteer-led, democratic organization seeking to educate and empower graduate workers in our fights against the corporatization of the university and global racial capitalism. Our power comes from our ability to work collectively against systems of oppression, to stand in solidarity, to support each other as we take risks. We must work within our geographic communities and across the labor movement to construct alternatives to imperialist, capitalist, white supremacist patriarchy.]]> 2021-04-22 22:06:30 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1449560353 Issues https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1449562898 Higher Education

Labor / Unions

Uncategorized
]]> 2021-04-22 22:07:45 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1449562898 Connections https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1449579995 We are a part of local, state, and national federations and organizations. We should intentionally use these relationships.

Labor
  • AFT-Wisconsin Higher Education Council
  • AFT-Wisconsin (through VP of Grad Employees / delegates to convention)
  • AFT (through AFTW President / TAA delegates to convention)
  • South Central Labor Federation (through TAA delegates)
  • Wisconsin AFL-CIO (through AFTW President / delegates to convention)
  • AFL-CIO (through Wisconsin AFL-CIO)
  • Coalition of Student Employee Unions (international)

Community Coalitions (Formal)
  • Dane Sanctuary Coalition
  • Defend Democracy Alliance (defunct)
  • Madison Left Rising (?)
  • 100 Strong (follow up w/ Damita)
]]> 2021-04-22 22:16:34 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1449579995 BIPOC Caucus https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1449591530 - "Constituency groups "ensure a mechanism for the voice of the most oppressed groups in the decision making process" of the union." (Garcia, 2002)]]> 2021-04-22 22:22:29 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1449591530 Notes / Attempts to Distill https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1449681230 Principles Next Step: Distill this down to 8 to 12

Accountability
  1. Collective Written Response


Transformative Action


Connection to Movements


Solidarity with Other Worker Efforts

]]> 2021-04-22 23:11:54 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1449681230 ccmcc https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1493914641 We are a union of UW-Madison graduate workers dedicated to caring for one another. We believe in care that simultaneously recognizes our roles as individuals, as a union, as a university, and as a local and global community.]]> 2021-05-05 14:06:59 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1493914641 National/Global News https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1545817484 https://www.thenation.com/
https://jacobinmag.com/
https://www.dissentmagazine.org/]]> 2021-05-20 22:36:43 UTC https://padlet.com/msmith771/cqureukli3iv60nb/wish/1545817484