Public Employee Press

Political Action 2005: PEOPLE Person of the Month
Sandra Fowler
School Crossing Guard

If you want to know, you’ve got to get involved.” So says School Crossing Guard Sandra Fowler, a Local 372 member who is DC 37’s PEOPLE Person of the Month.

Ms. Fowler’s curiosity about the union began 25 years ago when she started working at P.S. 84 at 92nd Street and Columbus Ave. “Back then we had no shop steward,” Ms. Fowler said. “I had a lot of questions, so I began attending membership meetings.”

As she became more active politically, joining PEOPLE was a natural fit, and soon she became an active volunteer coordinator. Public Employees Organized to Promote Legislative Equality is the political action committee of DC 37’s national union, AFSCME.

“I’m a people person,” she said. “I like talking to people and helping them as much as I can.” Ms. Fowler said she talks to about 25 people each week to raise political awareness and funds for PEOPLE.

To help raise funds, Sandra Fowler offers pens, bags and other promotional items to union members in her precinct. “On my two-hour break, I talk to members in the street or at the store. If they are interested I follow up. Mainly I want them to see how much the union has to offer,” she said.

Members’ voluntary PEOPLE contributions help elect local politicians and lobby for support on
issues important to working families. PEOPLE supports politicians, regardless of party affiliation, who understand and side with public employees.

“PEOPLE gives us a voice”
“I wear many hats — I’m a mother, a wife, a grandmother, a Crossing Guard, a shop steward and delegate for my local, and a member of Black and Latino unionists’ groups,” she said. Still, Sandra Fowler is never too busy to share a warm smile and talk about PEOPLE. “I find time because PEOPLE is important to me,” Fowler explained. “Some may say ‘You only get a pen or a jacket,’ but we get so much more. We get to have a voice that gets heard.”

DC 37 members can participate by giving to PEOPLE through voluntary payroll deductions; members already in PEOPLE can increase their contributions. A member who contributes $2 or more per pay period is automatically enrolled in the VIP Club and receives a jacket and pin. The minimum voluntary contribution is 50 cents per pay period. To sign up for PEOPLE or learn more about the program, please call DC 37 PEOPLE Coordinator Sandra Murchison at 212-815-1550.

—Diane S. Williams