At a jam-packed meeting Oct.
9, Local 1549 delegates cheered as Executive Vice President Lenora D. Gates announced
that DC 37s parent union had ended the locals administratorship.
With financial safeguards, structural reforms and a new leadership team in
place, administratorship of the 22,000-member local was lifted, effective Sept.
26, by Gerald W. McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees, DC 37 parent union.
We
have taken this step because the local is now fiscally sound and democracy has
been restored to the members, said DC 37 Administrator Lee Saunders.
Dues and spending have been reduced, constitutional reforms have put
financial safeguards in place, and members have elected new officers in a vote
that was conducted by the independent American Arbitration Association,
Mr. Saunders said. Local 1549 is now a strong, forceful union where the
voice of the members is being heard.
Local 1549 President Eddie
Rodriquez was sworn in July 16 with Executive Vice President Gates, 2nd Vice President
Ralph Palladino, 3rd Vice President Cheryl Minor, Secretary-Treasurer Jose Luis
Cruz and Recording Secretary Loretta Y. Jones.
This is a great
day for our local, said Mr. Rodriquez. The local once again belongs
to the members, and Local 1549 members are ready for change.
Since
the election, the DC 37 Education Fund has been training the newly elected officers
in effective fiscal management, procedures for conducting meetings and other leadership
issues. Thats just the beginning, said Mr. Rodriquez.
We plan to concentrate on service to the members and enhancing their education,
computer skills and training, he said. We will have additional training
for our activists, delegates, chapter chairs, shop stewards, Executive Board and
staff particularly in the area of finances. We want to go by the book.
Local 1549 is now stepping out on its own for the first time since AFSCME
imposed the administratorship on March 6, 1999, after an audit conducted
for the union by the independent accounting firm KPMG found substantial
fiscal irregularities under the previous leadership.