Public Employee Press

Local 1549 trains stewards:
ABCs for activists

By JANE LaTOUR

Dedication drew more than 300 Local 1549 shop stewards to an all-day training session on Saturday, Jan. 24 — dedication to their members and desire to learn new skills. Tricia Dawson, a Clerical Associate at the Dept. of Sanitation, said: “Since I’m a new steward, I want to build up my skills. I want to learn all I can.”

Eligibility Specialist John Rothwell is also new to the role of steward. “Management has been increasing our caseloads, but we haven’t had a shop steward for over four years. Someone had to step up to the plate,” he said. Jim Devore has been a steward for four years: “Actually, I was drafted to be a steward.

But the training the union has provided is very informative. It will help me to better represent my members.”

Clerical Division Director Ronnie Harris welcomed the stewards to the two-part training sessions that focused on grievance handling in the morning and political organizing skills in the afternoon. “We have a battle on our hands this year. We are in negotiations with this mayor for a contract to give us a real wage increase. But as of right now, the city has put no money in the budget for raises,” he explained. “That’s why the political skills you are learning today are so important.”

Get out the vote
Ralph Palladino, Local 1549’s 2nd vice-president and political action coordinator, underscored the need for political participation: “We need to stop the assault on working people. Getting out the vote is very important. Half of all Local 1549 members are not even registered to vote! That’s crazy,” he added. “We’re public sector workers. We need to find new activists to work with us in political action.”

“That statistic shocked me,” said John Rothwell. “It shows that we have to mobilize our constituency to get out and vote. It’s frightening to see a president who is not doing things for anybody except his own people.”

Newly elected City Council member Letitia James of the Working Families Party fired up the gathering with her lunchtime address. She pointed out that the people in her election district also seem to have a hard time grasping the connection between voting and the public policies that impact their lives. “I’m talking to them to get them to see that from unemployment to street lights to schools — there’s a connection. Politics plays a role.”

Role-playing sessions
The Clerical Division staff used their years of experience and training materials on grievance handling prepared by Program Coordinator Larry Kelly of the Education Dept. Role-playing enlivened these small group sessions as “management” and “labor” met face to face to enact the different scenarios — transfers, time and leave, and overtime policies. Members of the groups then offered their critiques of the presentations and learned from each other.

Clerical Associate Carrie Marable started out as a steward in 1980. “Ronnie Harris was my grievance rep. He introduced me to the union and got me involved. I’m here today because I’m still interested in helping the young people that are coming into the union,” she said.

“I’m very happy that the training went well, because training is the key to building a strong union,” noted Local 1549 President Eddie Rodriguez. “It’s one of the themes of our administration. Education is the foundation of a bigger, better Local 1549.”