SHARE: So Fun! 20th Anniversary Celebration on the University Campus

SHARE: 20 Years Old
&
3200 Strong

By the Numbers

Nine hundred attendees, give or take a few. That’s how many people popped in last for SHARE’s 20th Anniversary Celebration on the University Campus. SHARE members came down during lunchtime to the Faculty Conference Room from desks and bedsides and lab benches, and even bussed over from other campuses. Thank you to everyone who made time to make the event such a success!

It was a pretty good day for two unions recognizing a shared anniversary. And in other nifty statistics, our celebration had nine raffle winners. More importantly, altogether, the raffle participants contributed $535 to the UMass Medicine Cancer Walk and Run.

SHARE Rep Rich Leufsted
reprises his famous "SHARE Song"

A Festive Atmosphere

We were excited to catch up with old friends: SHARE retirees, SHARE members who have been promoted to management positions, and some beloved SHARE members who have moved on to other careers. Joining us, too, were many guests, including students, nurses, executive leaders from our Hospital and Medical School, members of sister unions, and even a few folks who just wandered in wondering what the hubbub was about.

We ate. We sang. We marveled a bit at how SHARE’s values of kindness and respect have translated into policies and work systems that enable SHARE members to participate at work. We did an awful lot of smiling.

SHARE-UMMS EBoard Member AJ Iaconi
describes how a Joint Working Group
at the Critical Care Unit has improved working conditions
and patient care

Support from an Old Friend

Congressman Jim McGovern returned to the University Campus where he championed our union in

Congressman Jim McGovern
commended the courage of employees
who voted to unionize

the beginning. He reminded us that, twenty years ago, the formation of SHARE was the result of the largest organizing effort central Massachusetts had seen in over sixty years.

As he looked over the crowd, Jim McGovern noted members of the senior leadership team participating in our big day. He called it a testament to SHARE's commitment to partnership and non-adversarialism. As he pointed out, especially in those earliest days, University and Hospital management have not always recognized the value of our union. He praised our union's earliest pioneers, who didn't know how management would react, and had to believe that we could create the kind of union that would make our community stronger.

Congressman McGovern remembered our earliest days so well that he even teased us about the unscoopable frozen-solid ice cream that we chiseled into servings at that ice cream social, back-in-the-day. And he encouraged us to continue being brave in our efforts, saying that SHARE members were not only important to one another in the room, and to our hospital, but because we’re a vital union that makes the middle class possible.

More to Come in SHARE’s 20th Year

SHARE Rep and PCA Kona Enders
describes how SHARE members
stick together

The event also served as a great show of our spirit and our strength leading into next-year’s contract negotiations. Both SHARE at UMass Memorial and SHARE at UMass Medical School will sit down at the table with our respective employers next year.

In the coming year, at anniversary events throughout our campuses, we’ll continue celebrating, and reflecting, and thinking ahead together. To keep up, be sure to subscribe to the SHARE blog, and check in to learn about developments at www.theshareunion.org/20years