Public Employee Press

Local 375 launches e-newsletter

Thousands of Local 375 members now get news of their local via cyberspace.

About half of the local's nearly 7,000 members subscribe to Local 375 e-News, a one-page electronic newsletter sent out every Friday. The local launched the e-publication last year to keep members informed and encourage them to get more involved.

For years, the local has sent a print newsletter to members' homes, but only a few times a year.

Grievance Chair Uma Kutwal and some of the chapter presidents suggested that the local could keep members informed most effectively with electronic communications. "We decided to try the online publication to keep members up to date," said Local 375 President Behrouz Fathi.

The e-newsletter offers immediacy. It's almost cost-free and it's green, killing trees only if readers print it out.

Fathi and Kutwal meet to plan each issue. After proofreading it carefully, they attach the file to an email message and click "send." Seconds later, the bulletin arrives in members' in-boxes.

Local 375 e-News has three sections. Fathi discusses local, state and national labor issues in his "President's Desk" column, and Kutwal writes the "Local Events" and "Grievance update" articles.

Members can get a coupon from their chapter president to sign up to receive the e-newsletter through their e-mail, or they can read it on the local's website: www.civilservicetechnicalguild.org.