Volunteers say their time is well spent
Involvement adds value to union membership, strengthens profession

Time is a precious commodity, but Kelli Pfeiffer and Mary Orr are willing to give time to their local, the Chicago Teachers Union, despite the demands of their jobs and families.

As Orr, a kindergarten teacher at Haugan Elementary, explains: “I was raised in a very politically active neighborhood with people who always got involved. So I really never knew any other way.”

Orr says she grew up in “a family of volunteers” who contributed time because they couldn’t always afford to write a check.

“When people ask me to do something, I do it,” explains Orr. “They don’t have to ask twice.”

And Pfeiffer, a seventh-grade social studies teacher at Daniel Boone Elementary, takes the view that “you can’t complain if you are not willing to stand up and make any changes.”

Pfeiffer, a building representative, and Orr, an assistant building representative, have made it their mission to educate their colleagues about union-won rights on the job as well as their union’s issues and goals.

Both believe that the return on time invested in supporting the work of the union cannot be quantified. After all, the time is spent on efforts “to elevate the profession to where it should be,”  Pfeiffer points out.

“The union does what it needs to do so we can free up our spirits to teach,” says Orr.

“It is such an incredible high to know I am doing something that is actually helping other teachers, because if your teachers are taken care of they are going to be taking better care of the kids,” says Pfeiffer.

While the two teachers stay busy doing what they can to take pressure off the members they represent, the reality is that members who know their contract and participate in the union’s efforts to promote kids and the teaching profession are doing themselves a service.

As Pfeiffer says, there may not be problems at your school today, but there could be tomorrow or next year.

When you value something, you find the time for it, says Pfeiffer. Too much is at stake not to be involved in the union. “We are educating the kids. ... If we can’t stand up for ourselves, we are not standing up for the kids, either.”

Visit www.aft.org/CountMeIn for more information on how you can contribute to organizing, legislative and local union-building efforts.