I’m Kathy, a fearless fighter for Consumer Response and Union Strong candidate for VP
I am Kathy Erville, a content strategist in Consumer Response and Chapter Secretary for the past year. I am a federal employee with 14-years of service, and earlier was a small business entrepreneur and a staffer at Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports.
I like to create order and find the balance where there is none, and an organization that lacks content strategy, people, process, or tools is my muse.
I like to create order and find the balance where there is none, and an organization that lacks content strategy, people, process, or tools is my muse.
My experience prepares me to serve
At CFPB in Consumer Response, I lead a team that produces and supports knowledge management for the Consumer Resource Center – CFPB’s call center. This work gives me an appreciation for modern communication platforms and the power of solid procedures to make organizations more efficient and effective.
As a CR union steward, I fight to make sure our workers enjoy the full benefits of our collective bargaining agreement.
As Chapter Secretary, I have worked to leave the organization better than I found it, focusing on communications duties like —
- Properly configuring our website to make it easier to use and find stuff
- Collecting and publishing records scattered across the organization on our SharePoint site
- Publishing clear minutes of all our meetings
Moving forward
I have been an advocate for our chapter to adopt a more modern communication platform – with online petition tools – to improve our capacity to communicate with the membership. But my efforts to get such a system approved took 10 months. What’s worse: it still hasn’t been used because there is no urgency around standing it up.
Another target: addressing the absence of written procedures, which makes our chapter poorly managed. These are fundamental rules of the road for any organization. It’s absurd to continuously reinvent the wheel, chase records and have endless conversations about how to make us more efficient and effective for everything from how we do membership lists to account management. This cycle eats up valuable time we don’t have to waste given the current environment when so much is on the line for our members.
What I am fighting for
As the executive VP on the #UnionStrong slate, I will join a new bolder Chapter Executive Board that makes polished and modern operations a priority, and I pledge to do the hard work to get us there. We can and must use better tools to open up communications with our membership and a new library of documented procedures will make us accountable to members. This strong union foundation puts leadership time squarely focused on fighting for the bargaining unit.
It’s high time we bring a new team to the bargaining table to stand up to management that’s #UnionStrong. Our fight must center on protecting collective bargaining, making us more democratic by giving members a voice in their union and ensuring our workers get the dignity and respect they deserve in the workplace.
Help our fight for a stronger union. Elect the #UnionStrong slate for Chapter 335! Join our caucus at UnionStrong.us and add your name to our supporters’ list.