Volunteer member organizers grow our union stronger

Shaleah Blackshear has lived in Lake County most of her life. The people who work for the Lake County Health Department are her neighbors. They’re the friendly faces she sees at the grocery store. Some are longtime family friends. 

So when AFSCME began helping employees at the health department to form their own union, the union called on Blackshear to help the organizing effort as a volunteer member organizer (VMO).

Now, Blackshear, a member of AFSCME Local 785 at the Ann Kiley Developmental Center in Waukegan, is volunteering her time and knowledge of the union difference to help organize new AFSCME members.

VMOs like Blackshear have a story to tell to workers thinking about organizing unions of their own. They see firsthand the transformative power unions have on their workplaces. For Blackshear, that revelation came when she first started working as an educator at Kiley in 2022, her first job in a unionized workplace.

"The union was so welcoming,” Blackshear said. “I started in May, and by July I already received a raise. I was shocked, but I learned it was because of our contract—it was because of AFSCME. I want other people to have the same experience I did when I joined the union.”

VMOs from Council 31 don’t just work locally. David Schultz, the president of AFSCME Local 1019 and an employee of the Illinois State Museum, stepped up to help grow our union’s national strength during an effort to organize frontline supervisors in Maryland.

“State employees in Illinois have similar struggles to state employees in Maryland,” Schultz said. “We have similar working conditions and our funding comes from the same places. We’re really able to connect with other members on a personal level.”

One Maryland state worker Schultz spoke to was concerned about their current inability to improve their job-related skills and promote to higher pay grades.

“In Illinois, we’re very lucky. We have extremely good language in our contract about promotions and job mobility,” Schultz said. “Non-union employees don’t have that. I was able to tell her how the union has established the Upward Mobility Program for state employees in Illinois, and with their own union, they can fight for that too.”

VMOs like Blackshear and Schultz aren’t just doing the work because they’re effective at signing up new members. For them, preaching the benefits of unionization to prospective members is a labor of love.

“When I’m out there talking to people, I feel so connected to this movement that’s happening all around the world,” Blackshear said. “We’re making a difference.”