By ALFREDO ALVARADO

As president of the United Federation of Nurses and Epidemiologists Local 436, Gloria Acevedo says one of her top priorities is getting union members more involved. Moving toward that goal, the local recently held its first delegates conference since 1990.

During an unseasonably mild weekend that began Feb. 15, about 50 union delegates convened in Tarrytown, N.Y. and participated in several workshops on vital issues like the collective bargaining process, strategic planning and handling grievances.

Local 436 trustee and shop steward Sandra True led a two-day, three-session workshop on strategic planning - setting an organization's future course based on a frank evaluation of its strengths, weaknesses and opportunities. During the session, the delegates expressed a strong interest in expanding educational opportunities for members, developing a career ladder and reaching out more to the Epidemiologists.

With budget cuts threatening city employees, a program led by Wanda Williams of DC 37's Political Action Dept. stressed the necessity of mobilizing the membership and lobbying the City Council and the state Legislature.

"People don't realize how being politically active can affect you on the job," said Elizabeth Maloney, a Public Health Nurse from the Bronx who attended the session.

Nancy Currier, a Health Policy Analyst from AFSCME, DC 37's national union, spoke about the future of nursing and mentioned several encouraging trends. "Nurses account for the greatest increase
in unionization of all health care workers," she said.

Shop steward training
"All of the workshops were very informative," said Ms. Acevedo. "The shop steward training session was especially helpful, because it will strengthen our frontline activists in the work locations."

Stephanie Velez, director of DC 37's Professional Division, which includes Local 436, also emphasized the importance of the program. "It's a very positive step for the union when the locals get involved in training their shop stewards," she said.

Most of Local 436's members are Public Health Nurses who work in the schools. Local 436 also represents Nurse Practitioners and Epidemiologists who work in maternity services and TB clinics at the Department of Health. Members also work at the Child Health Clinics of the Health and Hospitals Corp. and in the Homeless Health Program.

"This weekend was definitely a success," said President Acevedo. "And we'll make sure to follow up with similar training sessions for our delegates."