From the desk of Timothy Martin Flanagan  editor of       www.UnionResource.org/     
                              Box 22, Lake Oswego Oregon, 97034-0003     tim@writingresource.org   phone 503-607-1670 

Dear Nathasja,

      I hope you will consider me as a community outreach organizer, canvas director, office administrator
and/or field manager.  I have credentials and experience. I am currently working part time as a tutor, but
am willing to become fully-engaged in whichever capacity might be most helpful for us in the time ahead.  Besides my Union Vitae, here is a Resume.  I have already started the job of community outreach organizer.  This is an inevitable necessity if we hope to create effective coalitions.
      I am on the Executive Council of the Portland Community College Faculty Federation.  I am a vice
president for part-timers and I actively participate in organizing, research, publishing, and more.
I was a voting delegate at the AFL-CIO Oregon convention last summer, and will be a delegate
very soon at the AFT-Oregon convention.  I am not just interested in unions.  I see our unions as
vital for the very survival of our nation and our way of life.
      I fully understand what Working America is and what it represents.  As an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, this organization must become an even more a powerful force for working people who don’t have the benefit of a union.  The connections we need to make between unions, schools, churches, community groups, and foundations...are essential if we hope to realize our long and short-term goals. 
      The combined strength of union brothers and sisters is the vanguard which can ignite a much-needed political self-actualization among average Americans.  Union and nonunion workers share common challenges and goals.  We must band together in communities, states, and nationally for what really matters—good jobs, affordable health care, world-class education, secure retirements, real homeland security and much more.
Wrong-headed transnational corporations have succeeded in hijacking our nation.  They legislate or impose by presidential decree a set of priorities favoring the rich and other special interests over America’s well-being.
       I am a passionate progressive who works every day on these issues.  We are at a tipping point.  The Bush administration, through overreach, hubris, and arrogance has betrayed our nation and our people.  I have the essential administrative skills and knowledge to direct, build, and facilitate teams in Portland.   Responsible Democrats and Conservatives can band together, create coalitions, and reach out to churches, neighborhood groups, libraries, chambers of commerce, police, firemen, and the legislature.  We must wrest control of our lives back from those who have disenfranchised the working people of America.  And we will.
        There is nothing more fundamental than effective community outreach.  We must use every vehicle at our disposal to educate and persuade voters.  We must think outside the union box.  We will recruit volunteers in multiple settings.  As we raise awareness about primary issues, those who are disappointed, disaffected, or just plain angry with the way our country has been mismanaged will be ready to join the cause.
         I am participating in an ongoing program with LERC to fully complement the leadership qualities I have developed as a business owner, professor, political activist, and union leader.  I am constantly developing new and innovative methods for running effective campaigns and stimulating interest in issues forums and community discussions.  We can build coalitions based upon common ground.  I have experience and critical skills in running a corporate non-profit.  After my LERC credentials are complete this summer, I intend to complete a Masters degree in Social Change and Civic-commitment (via distance-learning) with Antioch-McGregor graduate school.   This will make me an even more effective union manager, director, and organizer.
          In the course of several occupations, I have always been a teacher: a strong in person communicator with excellent telephone and speaking skills.  I can help build, direct, and inspire teams in Portland and elsewhere.  I have taught computer information and applications, and have essential information technology skills which will be required to help us in the tasks ahead. I have experience working with databases and am currently incorporating databases and interactivity in several websites. I have assembled between 650 and 700 pages for progressive activism.  As a business owner, I have payroll and financial management experience as well as human resource skills, and administrative expertise.  I have successfully recruited talent for the union, a magazine I published, and for the business I owned.
       We are all in this together.  Multi-tasking in a detail and deadline-oriented environment is the proper vehicle for the successful conclusion of our endeavors.  I appreciate and understand labor issues, management, and ideas.  Canvassing is one of many critical grassroots organizing strategies we must complete if we hope to get the job done.  I have several years administrative and management experience in growing and fast-paced environments as a business owner and publisher.  The Wordsmith Collection was a corporate non-profit, and I have extensive experience in several political campaigns over a number of years.
        There is nothing more vital than building a bigger tent!  For too long we have been "preaching to the choir."  We can use our organizational techniques and expertise, with flyers, mailers, e-mail, online web pages, phone banks, speakers, canvassing, membership drives, and other political activism.  We must speak to people about real community development and traditional American values. If we communicate effective ideas about local issues and global values, we can lead our communities back to self-determination and freedom.  With the proper tactics, strategy, and civic commitment... we can get out the vote while we reinvent our unions.  We really have no choice.  It is a tough job and we must get it done.

Three references:  Mark Schwebke:    President of the American Federation of Teachers-Oregon
                          Michael Dembrow:  President of Portland Community College Faculty Federation
                          Michael Morrow:    Vice President for the Committee on Political Educaion
                                                     PCCFF / AFT / AFL-CIO / Local 2277   

** To ensure consideration I have applied well before February 17th, 2005
  see my resume, union vitae, and bio.
best regards, Tim Box 22/Lake Oswego,OR/97034-0003
503-697-1670  shalom@peaceresource.com
Activism Resource     Computers
International Peace     PeaceResource
Union Resources        WritingResource 
Peace News  Impeachment  Alternative News