On March 6, 2024, 13 newly-elected GSU officers and stewards gathered online for training. This round of training was similar to last year’s new-officer training with one addition: emphasis on where unions receive their greatest strength and power.

“Sometimes we equate power with wealth and how that wealth exerts influence on people and society, and money does have that effect,” said GSU general secretary Steve Torgerson. “But unions have always received their power and strength not from money, but from the influence and work of their members.”

Everyone recognizes that a group of people can work together to achieve more than they could separately. It’s a good to keep reminding ourselves to see the union in that light.

Members are the union, and members are the fuel that drives their union’s collective purposes forward. This concept becomes clear by replacing the word “union” with “us” or “we” when discussing the work GSU is doing.

This is our third year of focused new-officer training. We’re already excited about next year’s training as we keep improving the content and delivery to better help our elected officers to assist GSU members.