"The Mouse that Roared"

"The Mouse that Roared", starring Peter Sellers in multiple roles, always has been one of my favorite films, and, upon reflection, MCEA's Public Safety Non-Custody Employees Chapter #67 follows in those footsteps, and truly is a stalwart group of most infinite worth.
After rereading the following letter to Jodie Arnold, my case management comrade in arms at the Maryland Correctional Training Center (MCTC), please consider anew the issues mentioned in the postscript:
Jodie,
Your email earlier to me today about the salary needs of others in your department got me to thinking about the dynamics of their and all of our situations, and so I decided to share a few of these thoughts with you, with the intention that you also will share them with all in your department and also your agency and other state agencies.
I just hope I don't offend anyone (I do that alot), but here goes:
The MCEA fight to upgrade our case managers salaries (by two pay grades, retroactive to July 1st, 2005), as you know, was a long and hard one, beginning in 2001.
Only a few did any of the real lifting, mostly at Roxbury Correctional Institution (RCI) and MCTC, but case managers at all the institutions nevertheless were anxious to learn of and share in the fruits of victory.
The struggle really was discouraging, with lots of naysayers along the way.
Over and over again, I heard nonmembers tell me that they wouldn't join MCEA until they saw a salary increase, as if MCEA is some sort of commodity which they are considering purchasing, and not a team effort by all of us for workplace justice.
Somehow, we've got to do a better job of helping our coworkers realize that MCEA's success is solely dependent on the active participation and support from all of us, and that those who decide not to join the MCEA team are sending a loud and clear signal to the Governor, Agency Directors, and the Legislators that they are as pleased as punch with their status quo.
That's all MCEA is, you know: Me & You working together - and that's also the strength and beauty of MCEA.
In point of fact, when I was Executive Director of the Indiana State Employees Association (ISEA), our copyrighted credo was, "Working Together to Stay Independent!".
Just imagine the even greater success we all would enjoy if only all of us state employees were part of the same MCEA team, and actively working together for the same workplace justice goals.
Just imagine!
I know I'm preaching to the choir with you, because you are a shining example of what just one person can accomplish with just a little bit of persistence and a lot of justification (Your 2005 personal legislative victory - quite a coup!)
Until then, I remain (and as always),
Yours for better governance,
Larry
Post Script to Others:

Additional issues pioneered and accomplished by our little MCEA chapter's band of brothers and sisters include, but are not limited to:
*The creation of the optional four day compressed work week within the Division of Correction (Special thanks to Case Manager Roy Gilleo at RCI).
*The resounding defeat and the withdrawal of legislation to take away the protection of correctional employees from arbitrary and capricious transfers to far away institutions (Special thanks to Case Management Supervisor Dave Post at MCTC).
*The development of a special and close bond and working rapport with the Delegates and Senators of the Washington County Legislative Delegation (Special thanks to all of the Hagerstown area correctional employees).
And so it goes.
Our MCEA team is on the march.
So what are you waiting for?
Join with us today!