SEVERAL SIGNIFICANT organizing successes helped the membership of Council 2 continue to grow in 2006.
An additional 300 members were added to the rolls during the year, many in existing bargaining units. Council 2 membership now totals more than 16,000.
The chart below shows members who were added in organizing successes last year. The largest single gain was that of 83 managers and mid-level supervisors at the King County Library System who voted to join the union on December 22 (full report).
In many cases those who joined Council 2 did so because they had seen the impact of union membership on other workers. Facing issues with management themselves, they sought the benefits of union membership that the others were experiencing. They also sought the united front that being organized brings with it as well as the expertise that experienced professionals at Council 2 can bring to the table.
Once they joined, the combination of hard work at the Local level and Council 2 guidance, knowledge and ability assisted workers to gain benefits that seemed to elude them before. Those gains, in turn, led others who either worked alongside the new union members or in related departments to take steps to join the union, too.
In bargaining new contracts, health benefits continued to be a major issue, often exceeding pay issues. Working conditions and the protection afforded by collective bargaining also played a role.
