After making a splash with their song Washington For All last year, Floorchild (made up of Washington Federation of State Employees - AFSCME Council 28 - members Joshua Eaton, Charles Loeffler, and trumpet player Erica) have released a new song called Get Organized. Eaton tells us the song came out of a desire to grow union membership. “All three verses are a part of what it takes/ feels like and what we win when do get organized,” Eaton says.
Eaton tells us that after the song was written the music video was shot in one day at a WFSE policy meeting and plenary and edited by Loeffler.
“Get Organized (GO)’ is actually a wider AFSCME campaign,” Loeffler says. “It was a theme at our WFSE biennial convention in October, and that gave us the idea for the song.”
“We wanted the song to build momentum as getting organized can build momentum. That’s why it started simple, with Charles teaching me a sign-waving dance,” Eaton tells us. “We wanted Washington For All to be catchy and ‘mind-worm people,’ and we wanted the same from Get Organized... and teaching people a dance they can do while waving signs is a great way to help them sing and engage with each other on the rally lines.”
Loeffler agrees, saying “I like to highlight the ‘call and repeat’ aspect of the main chorus. We thought this would be a nice way to make the song teachable in spontaneous, live settings. In fact, this is how we taught the crowd in the recording on the third verse.”
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