I’m pro union. 20 years in public education, fighting alongside colleagues for the good of students and teachers, will do that to a person. My grandfather was a caretaker for the same school board where I taught and though he never spoke of the union per se, he waxed on about the security of a job that provided for his family after they moved to Toronto from Belfast when my dad was just a baby. Thus my union blood runs deep.
And yet!
The unionized CRA and I are currently battling it out. So — at this specific moment in time — my union loyalties are being tested! The Canada Revenue Agency employees have been fighting for their rights at the very inopportune time that I happen to be searching for my business number. I need it to file my taxes. But the people who need to give it to me are distracted with bigger things (their rights!). We are at an impasse because it seems I haven’t filled out a specific form. That I didn’t know about. Because no one told me (even though I’ve been really zen on the phone with multiple CRA agents). Essentially I’ve been playing bureaucratic volleyball with the CRA, bouncing from person to person.
This morning though I finally landed in the (albeit grumpy) hands of Ariel who lobbed me over the net for a long fought for point with a RC1 form link. Maybe this unicorn moment happened because their union reached a tentative deal. Maybe it was simply that Ariel knew more than the first two people I spoke with. Whatever the reason, my hope is that this RC1 form = magic!
What does my tax drama have to do with teaching and learning beyond the classroom? I think that the radical collegiality I write about so often here on Good Enough is baked right into the challenges of union life — a life I no longer have access to since I now work in the arts and for a private university. Retrospectively I see that the potential for magic is built into the very real potential for community that a union represents. And often misses (speaking from experience).
So my war with the CRA for information (that is mine!!!) is a great lesson for me on what it means to go it alone. And how necessary it is for my own survival to both look for community and collegiality in new places. And accept the unicorn moments as magical when they show up unexpectedly.
I don’t want to miss out on the Ariels who appear and then just as quickly disappear because I’m too busily focused on fighting my wars solo. I may not be a part of a union right now but the collegial community I remember is still very much a possibility if I train my eyes to see it and then claim it as my own.
Here are a few magical links for you as your head into the backend of your week:
- has a new piece up and it'll make you laugh!
- wrote a muse worthy post to ponder
- will be updated this Friday. In the meantime you might listen to our newest episode with Vanity Fair contributing editor Leah Faye Cooper
I’m your union :)
So the divide is which side of the fence we stand and at that moment what do we need to achieve. One thing that struck me is knowledge working through understanding with patience as battling a situation in reliance of the other party is tablet time take its course. Like Jesus He answered not a word but let it play out.