Why I voted 'yes'

I think the time has come to talk about why I voted 'yes'.

I know - you're thinking: "You're the Council President. You had to."

No, I didn't. This is not a Council vote; this is a member vote, and I vote as a member, just like you.

I am fortunate enough to have work most of the year. This proposal, which increases working dues as well, is going to cost me more than the 2011 proposal would have. I confess there is part of me that grates at that, but I voted 'yes' anyhow. The difference, for a whole year, is much less than one month of utility bills, or insurance payments, or my mortgage. It is less than I sometimes spend on a single trip to the grocery store, and I’ll admit to having coughed up far more cash on a whim for things more trivial and transient than my Equity membership.

There is perhaps 5% of our membership who, by virtue of personal status, are able to just wait for the phone to ring with their next job offer, or who are able to waltz into an engager's office and demand work terms equivalent to what Equity has negotiated. And then there are the remaining 95% of us. Including me. I recognise that Equity, by dint of long, hard work by members current and past, is responsible for most of what I have come to accept as a "given" in my career. I rely on that.

I voted 'yes' because I want Equity to be strong, not just for me, but also for the 6000 members who are not me, even if what would benefit them individually is different from what would benefit me personally. Yes, it will cost me a bit more, but I made a choice that will benefit everyone: me, members I know, and members I will never meet.

In the end, whatever you might want Equity do for you, it has to have the resources to do it, and to tackle ideas for future improvement, which will otherwise just keep gathering dust on the wish list shelf. Whom does voting 'no' benefit? Lack of resources going forward will only mean that Equity will be able to do less and less of what you want it to, and its ability to do anything meaningful will atrophy.

Nothing ever starved its way to strength. Vote for strength. I did.