Martha Edwards

2025: A Yearnote I meant to write this before I left for the holidays in December but it feels like I'm only just catching my breath after some big work deadlines and personal things, along with school break and the m...

Happy New Year to all of you 🎉

I finally got around to writing my yearnote for 2025, for those who enjoy such reflections: www.marthaedwards.ca/2025-yearnote/

Screen shot of text that reads: “This event is designed specifically for current team leaders and executives leading digital transformation within their organizations. Based on the information available, your role does not currently meet the participation criteria for this session.”

Digital transformation leadership panels: “service design and user research are critical for our success”

The response when I, a service designer and user researcher, try to register for an event to talk to leaders about digital transformation 🫠

Thank you and happy early birthday to you! I'm sorry you're going through this, hoping there is some relief and peace and joy coming your way soon ❤️

Anyway, point is .... I see lots of opportunities to improve and modernize the strike experience, and the union experience overall....but nobody asked me 🫠

So I guess I will just continue walking in circles for an unknown amount of time.

For example: if you have a cold, your only choice is to show up (and risk spreading illness), or forfeit strike pay.

There’s a whole virtual picketing program people *could* join to contain germs while contributing and earning strike pay, but it's heavily restricted to certain people

Naturally as someone in UX, I find myself thinking about the picket experience (PX?) - what’s working and how it could be improved.

It’s an incredible feat to organize 20,000+ workers in a few weeks

It's also noticeable that the conditions we fight for aren’t available to us as picketers

A chart of mood and mental health, showing a sharp decline over duration of the strike, with one incline for a rally event

As a reflection activity, I created a chart of my mood over the weeks 🤓

Side note: We forfeit employer mental health benefits on strike, and afaik there’s nothing offered by the union in its place. Even some sort of loosely organized peer support network could be helpful....

Less positive:
I’ve noticed an increase in mental and physical signs of anxiety and depression.

Loss of appetite, check.
Feeling hopeless, check.
Loss of interest, check.

(A sad irony that I’ve more time in the day to spend with my children but less interest or energy for their activities.)

Other positive things:
The union has been sending mediation updates every morning. They're always very vague but I'm reassured that they come at all.

The picket site had a “love bomber” walking around yelling positive phrases over a megaphone. Super cheesy but it helped to hear something good.

It was my birthday this week. I spent the day in the pouring rain. I got a parking ticket for being 10 minutes late to the car.

But - it was a pro-d day at my kids school so the little one joined me on the picket line. We had a really nice day together, despite the weather. A good memory

I wrote these last week (20-24 October) before the deal... I kept them as-is so they sound present tense but they are not

Week five, $4000 in lost income now. Perhaps I should consider this my "donation" to publicly-funded services as it’s likely I won’t be able to earn that back

a man in a suit is standing on a beach with the words where am i ? written below him ALT: a man in a suit is standing on a beach with the words where am i ? written below him

Strikenotes episode 4, the series finale (thank goodness)

Our union and government reached a tentative agreement on Sunday so we've returned to work 🥳 This is my first day back and I'm feeling a little lost.

I haven't worked since Sept 12 and I got re-orged to another ministry while I was away

Thank you! Checking them out

It’s been years but I’ve finally done it - I’ve listened to every episode in my giant podcast queue thanks to the @bcgeu.bsky.social strike.

Any recommendations for new pods? I like the ones that tell a good story (not usually a fan of conversation-style ones, unless they’re really good)

And some positive (I hope?) news: our strike is now going into mediation, so we may get a resolution soon. Keeping all the fingers crossed 🤞🏻

A highlight of the week was taking a small “picket tour” of some of the other lines in downtown Victoria to see what others had going on (like yoga classes! And bike tune ups!) and I stopped to talk with some of my former teammates at other sites.

Also enjoyed lots of baked goods at my site today

Then again, maybe that’s just my experience; This has also led me to reflect that I’m someone who has lots of connections but no close “circle” at work. Plus I am quite awkward 🤣

Side note: I’m very grateful for those who have gone out of their way to say hello to me, those moments have made my day

…. Or maybe I am just grumpy / lonely / some combo of the two.

But I always think: if I feel that way, others probably do too, and I hate the idea of lots of lonely people being on their own in a group setting that should be more social. So I wonder what would help?

Felt a bit frustrated at how cliquey picket sites can be. Small groups huddled together, people sticking to those they know

As a team of 1, I can easily go a whole shift without a single conversation

So, it feel like we’re wasting an incredible opportunity to build new connections & communities…

Maybe it’s due to not feeling 100% physically but I started to feel really low and defeated this week. Adding up how much income I’ve lost (over $3k at this point) didn’t help.

Reflected on how disempowering it all feels- like we’re a bunch of low value pawns in a politics or numbers game.

This week I was battling a cold, perhaps due to the shift in weather and being outside most of the day.

But, unlike at work I get no strike pay for illness so I powered through with some decongestants

Strikenotes episode 3: 4th week on the picket lines with my union @bcgeu.bsky.social

We had a four day picket week due to Canadian thanksgiving on Monday. Grateful to the union for giving us strike pay on the holiday 🙏🏼

Chilly temps this week but we didn’t have much (or any?) rain ☀️

Anyway, our union is applying more pressure and shutting down more services. So here’s hoping for a better update next week!

Ps if you are in BC please write to your MLA about this!

#bcpoli #bcgeu #bcgov

Apparently this is the longest public sector strike in BC’s history, so I’m trying to remember that this hardship will hopefully pay off for years.

And that those before me had to go through something similar to earn the benefits I now take for granted

But…I would quite like to get back to work

On social media, I’ve seen comments saying people won’t be able to make rent this week.

Others saying the government is trying to starve us out.

I’ve tried to see both sides but it’s getting more difficult to believe that the employer cares about resolving this. Still no negotiation scheduled

A plus of this week is that I know more people at this site, so I’ve had lots of convos and catchups. Their picket captains do huddles and themes for each day which helps keep energy up.

But most people at this site are on week six and the vibes are low. Plus it’s very cold and rainy today.

This week I had childcare challenges so I switched to a slightly more convenient picket site because I cannot get to and from my site and picket for 4 hours in the course of a school day due to the long commute.

Not sure if the union officially supports switching but I haven’t had any issues

I got my first strike paycheque and my first reduced paycheque from work. My anxiety ramped up from that. I make less than half what I normally earn from strike pay, not enough to cover my expenses, but at least I get something (Alberta teachers do not 😞)

thankful for my emergency fund savings rn

Union rally with a sign that says “defend public services”

Still not back at work so here’s strikenotes episode 2. 3rd week on strike, 6th for many colleagues.

We all kicked off the week with a huge rally at the BC Legislature. It was both chaotic and energizing. But it seemed to do nothing to move things forward which was disappointing & demoralizing

Picket sign saying defend public services

In case you needed this reminder today …

Ready for the March on the Legislature ✊🏻

#defendpublicservices #bcgeu #bcpoli

cc @bcgeu.bsky.social