USW improving member education on union’s decision-making process

Assistant to the Director of the United Steelworkers District 1, Teresa Cassady, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss the union’s Your Union, Your Voice initiative. She discussed the efforts to educate members at the Local level about the union’s core values, and what goes into the initiatives and politicians the union chooses to support.

Your Union, Your Voice has been around since 2020 and was spearheaded by IVP Roxanne Brown and Kim Miller, an assistant to the President. The initiative started as a way to better educate members and keep them informed on the process. It has evolved to include town halls across the country and surveys sent to members. Cassady talked about some upcoming town hall meetings, including two in Ohio.

The initiative came about due to a perceived lack of communication between the members and the International. With the upcoming November elections, ensuring members know why the union is choosing to support a certain candidate is more important now than over the past two years. Cassady took us through the USW's steps to ensure they make the right decision through information gathered via surveys and interviews with candidates. She said ensuring the USW chooses the right candidate based on the union’s core values is important for the organization's long-term success.

The Steelworkers have also sent out surveys to all their members requesting information on what members want to learn about. These surveys are confidential, and polling members on important issues is a great first step to determining the type of candidate or issue the union should support. The initiative also includes town halls nationwide, where union members and leaders sit down and discuss the process behind the International’s decision-making. Also, Cassady discussed some of the misconceptions cleared up through these town hall meetings, including how Political Action Committee funds are gathered and how they can be used.

Listen to the show above to hear more about the initiative and the USW’s core values.