Support GSA Conference Attendees' Choices in Response to Labor Dispute
- Emily Greenfield
- Closed on
- Target:
- The Gerontological Society of America
- Region:
- United States of America
Thank you for signing the petition in support of attendees’ choices at the 2018 conference of The Gerontological Society of America. The petition was sent to outgoing, current, and incoming members of the GSA Executive Committee--in addition to the CEO of GSA and VP of Membership and Meetings--on November 20, 2018.
We, as members of The Gerontological Society of America (GSA), are supportive of individuals who are critically reflecting upon their values and beliefs as they deliberate on whether to cross picket lines to attend events at the 2018 GSA conference on November 14-18.
We understand that the active labor dispute places all conference attendees in the position of having to make a choice: to cross picket lines to attend many of the conference events, or not. Members have expressed the weight and anxiety of such a choice, particularly those whose professional and personal ethics call for attention to social inequities and social justice. We recognize that this situation is causing our society to grapple with potentially conflicting values and priorities among members, attendees, and within our own selves.
We believe that all individuals have the right and responsibility to decide for themselves their own actions or inactions at the conference in ways that follow their own conscience, without fear of exclusion, penalty, or harm.
We make the requests below in efforts to sustain GSA as a forward-looking organization that is ever-more responsive to the needs of all of its members. We ask:
* That all GSA members and conference attendees be respectful of other people’s choices.
* That GSA leaders provide balanced and timely information about the strike, as well as options that attendees have in response to the strike, so that individuals can make more informed choices for themselves.
* That GSA impose no financial or administrative repercussions on attendees who choose not to attend particular conference events because of the labor dispute.
* That GSA convene a working group of staff and multidisciplinary members to examine the society’s response to this year’s conference situation and to recommend ways to prevent such issues in the future.
The Support GSA Conference Attendees' Choices in Response to Labor Dispute petition to The Gerontological Society of America was written by Emily Greenfield and is in the category Professional Organization at GoPetition.