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PEP Oct 2016
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Public Employee Press


DC 37/AFSCME STRONG: ENGAGE & EDUCATE
Campaign steps up fight for equity

"I thought it was important for me to lead by example."
— Marc Polite

Member Action Team activist


BY ALFREDO ALVARADO

THE District Council 37 Organizing Dept. has launched its fall organizing campaign with more than a dozen lunch-time union meetings scheduled throughout October and November. The meetings will take place at NYC Health + Hospitals facilities and aims to generate support for the union's ongoing campaign for equitable funding for public hospitals.

"DC 37 is part of a coalition of labor groups and community activists that is advocating for legislation to change the state's unfair funding formula," said DC 37 Organizing Director Barbara Terrelonge. "We will be visiting hospitals to spread the message among our members."

Activists will hold lunch-time meetings at Harlem Hospital on Oct.6, Metropolitan Hospital on Oct. 7, and Gouverneur Hospital on Oct. 17. (For a complete shedule of meetings check the union's website at www.dc37.net.)

Training Sessions planned

Organizers will visit hospitals around the city and meet with members to get their support for the Enhanced Safety Net Hospital bill and to organize Member Action Teams.

The Member Action Teams serve as a liaison between the union and the members at their worksite. The MAT organizing effort began last March during the CUNY contract campaign when union organizers set up 25 lunch-time meetings that month at campuses all over the city from the College of Staten Island to Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn.

One of the many activists who have joined the union's Member Action Teams is Local 384 CUNY Office Assistant Marc Polite. "I thought it was important for me to lead by example," said Polite, who works at the City College campus. Polite was instrumental in mobilizing members on the campus for lunch-time meetings during CUNY's successful campaign for a new contract. "If it wasn't for Marc, we would not have been able to get such a good turnout at our City College meetings," said DC 37 Organizer Nicole Laing.

Polite, who became a shop steward in 2014, created an email list to keep in contact with members and share information about union activities and meetings. Communicating with members on the 36-acre Harlem campus can be a challenge Polite said. But their biggest challenge on the campus is the shortage of personnel. "When people resign they don't get replaced," he said. "But the student population grows and needs more and better services."

The Organizing Dept. has also scheduled training sessions at DC 37 for members who want to learn the basics of union organizing and join the hospital campaign. The three sessions are scheduled for Oct. 13, in Room 11, Nov. 3, in Room 9, and Dec. 1, in Room 11. The sessions are from 6 to 8 p.m.

Interested members need to reserve their place by calling the Organizing Dept. at 212-815-1095.

"This is where members will learn how to start an organizing conversation and how to share the union vision," said Organizer Julian de Jesus.





















 
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