Grit Nation

The Check In - Online Union Meetings

October 09, 2020 Ryan Hyke Season 1 Episode 3
Grit Nation
The Check In - Online Union Meetings
Show Notes Transcript

Welcome to the Check In. Short segments designed to answer common questions many of us just don’t know the answers to. 

Our question today comes from A.Z member of the local 30. 

A.Z ask “Why are we not able to Zoom into our monthly meetings? I mean we use Zoom for everything else, why not use modern technology to keep our members up to speed with what’s going on? Come on y’all, we’re better than this”.

To help us understand why Zoom, Facetime or other modes of teleconferencing aren’t used to hold our local meetings we will ask Ryan Hyke Western Washington Regional Manager of the Northwest Carpenters Union and member of the local 196. 

Ryan will explain why historically we have shied aware from these forms of meetings and how our union is taking strides to embrace modern technology.

If you have a question that you would like to have answered on the Check In,
send an email to GritNW@gmail.com.
Please make sure to include your locals # in the message.
If your question gets asked you will be entered to win an official 
“I’ve got Grit” t-shirt, in the monthly drawing. 

 Also, if you enjoy Grit NW, a Carpenters Podcast, and haven’t already done so, please write a review on Apple Podcast, it will help others to find the show.

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GritNW@gmail.com
https://gritnw.buzzsprout.com

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Joe Cadwell:

Welcome to another episode of the Check In, short segments designed to answer common questions many of us just don't know the answers to. Our question today comes from A.Z member of local 30. A.Z. ask"Why are we not able to use Zoom in our monthly meetings? I mean we use Zoom for everything else? Why not use modern technology to keep our members up to speed with what's going on? Come on, y'all, we're better than this." Thanks for your question A.Z., to help us understand why Zoom, FaceTime or other modes of teleconferencing to hold our local meetings, we will ask Ryan Hyke, Western Washington Regional Manager of the Northwest Carpenters Union, and a member of local 196.

Ryan Hyke:

Welcome to the check in Ryan. Thanks, Joe. I'm honored to be a guest. It's great to have you.

Joe Cadwell:

So today's question comes from a member of the local 30 Ryan and A.Z. asked why we don't use zoom to hold our monthly meetings? Why is that?

Ryan Hyke:

That's a really good question, Joe. And I would say the main reason why we can't at this time is due to security. So there are some locals that are hosting virtual informational meetings. So at these informational meetings, there is no business conducted, it's strictly reporting, which is great, but we lose the business part of our meetings. So we do have some local such as mine, local 196, we cover five states, which is a large territory. So early on several years ago, we asked the UBC for dispensation, which is a fancy word for permission from the UBC to have satellite locations, which would be an extension of our actual union or which isn't life. So we had several different satellite locations that we would broadcast our meeting to. And members can vote and participate just as they would if they were in person there. And so that's been working pretty well for us and other locals as well. But now that we have the very restricted, you know, regulations and guidelines on gatherings, we really can't even do that effectively now. So, for example, local 1503, at Oregon City, they asked for dispensation by the UBC to have Zoom type, regular union meetings. And, you know, zoom is really nice, because if you set it up as a webinar, you can send the invite out to your membership, your membership then registers to attend. So you can verify who is attending, you can vote, you can make motions, you can do everything that you would be able to do in person. So I understand that they are getting dispensation to be able to hold that format. I don't know that they've received anything official yet from the UBC. But myself and other local union leaders are anxious to see what that says, you know, what the UBC says that they can do? Because I think that that's going to be a way in the future and several other locals are going to apply for that permission to be able to hold their local meetings like that as well. So hopefully that answers your question. You know, that was a really good one.

Joe Cadwell:

Well, thanks for that great explanation, Ryan. So to surmise, it sounds like due to security reasons. Historically, we have not been able to offer a teleconferencing, zoom style meeting to our membership. But with the dispensation or the permission from the International, some union, some locals are able to now hold these meetings, knowing that we're putting in the proper security procedures and protocols in place to ensure our local business stays within the local members.. Yeah. I'm glad to see our union is going this way because as we know member engagement is vital to the to the health and longevity of our our union. So again, thank you so much for being on the show. Ryan, appreciate you taking the time.

Ryan Hyke:

My pleasure. Thank you.

Joe Cadwell:

Our guest today was Ryan Hyke from Northwest Carpenters Union. If you have a question that you would like to have answered on the Check In send an email to: GritNW@gmail.com Please make sure to include your locals number in the message. If your question gets asked you will be entered to win and official"I've got GRIT" t shirt in the November drawing. Also if you're enjoying Grit Northwest, Carpenters Podcast and haven't already done so please write a review on Apple podcasts will help others find the show. Until next time. This is Joe Cadwell reminding you to: Work Safe, Work Smart and Stay Union Strong.