Public Employee Press

Local 1549 membership re-elects Eddie Rodriguez


Clerical-Administrative Employees Local 1549 members overwhelmingly re-elected President Eddie Rodriguez and his slate in a mail-ballot election tabulated Nov. 13.

The election gives Rodriguez another three-year term, along with Local 1549 Executive Vice President Alma Roper, 2ns Vice President Ralph Palladino, 3rd Vice President Alvin Williams, Secretary-Treasurer Gerald Johnson, Recording Secretary Carmen Flores, four sergeants-at-arms, five officers at-large and 19 delegates.

The impartial American Arbitration Association conducted the election. Out of 2,000 ballots cast, Rodriguez netted 1,800, giving him a wide margin of support over challenger Deborah Nesbitt. "The turnout was good, considering that the election happened during Hurricane Sandy," Palladino said. Approximately 12 percent of the local's 16,500 members returned their ballots.

Rodriguez's slate focused their campaign on the local's accomplishments during his time in office, which started in 2001. These include organizing new members; winning early retirement and protecting civil service status for 911 Police Communication Technicians and Senior PCTs; winning child-care benefits for Local 1549 members in need; adding hiring slots for Eligibility Specialists for SNAP - the food stamp program.

Other achievements include preserving the jobs of Eligibility Specialists in the Medicaid program; fighting layoffs at the Human Resources Administration and the Administration for Children's Services; restoration of Family and Medical Leave Act benefits for members at the Police Dept.; covering more members with the Recurring Increment Payment; winning new workplace violence legislation; establishing services like the catastrophic fund that's now available for members affected by Sandy; and setting up local scholarship and advancement funds for members who take and pass civil service tests.

"The wide margin of victory showed that the members believed in this leadership and in our ability to lead our local into the future," Rodriguez said.