By Jane LaTour

The Medical Records Dept. at Metropolitan Hospital was hot last summer. How hot? On June 26, temperatures reached 91 degrees. July 4, 95. On Aug. 13, the temperature reached 96.8 degrees.

“It was extremely hot. It was terrible,” said Clerical Associate III William McFadden. “We opened the windows and doors, but there was no breeze.” “It got to the point where I had my feet in ice. That’s how hot it was,” said Alissa Harris, a Clerical Associate III who has worked at Metropolitan for 25 years.

Clerical Associate III Olinda Mapp remembers: “It was really bad. We had to drink water constantly and eat ice like it was going out of style.”

It was so hot that Ms. Harris and 31 other members of Clerical-Administrative Local 1549 filed a group grievance. On March 5, they were awarded payment for three heat days. The provision for heat days in DC 37’s City-wide Contract applies where there is either no air conditioning or a breakdown in the air conditioning system. In this case, the Medical Records Dept. was without a functioning cooling system on the hottest days of 2002.

Praise for Local 1549
Marilyn Kelly, Clerical Associate III, feels vindicated. “I’m glad the union looked out for us. I didn’t think we had too much of a chance.” With summer approaching, Ms. Harris is also “glad the union helped us. If it happens again, I hope that the union will be on top of things again. I appreciate that.”

Grievance Rep Efrain Perez and Shop Steward Danny Linares are pleased with the victory for the heat-dazed members and with the promotions two members won in March through out-of-title work grievances. Diane Martinez, Clerical Associate III, and Kimberly Moore-Rolle, who has worked at Metropolitan Hospital since 1984, were upgraded to Assistant Coordinating Manager.

“The union is great,” said Ms. Kimberly-Rolle. “I used to be a shop steward, and I encourage everyone to go to the union.” Danny Linares and Efrain Perez “both helped a lot,” said Ms. Martinez.

“I have a feeling of satisfaction every time I can solve a member’s problem,” said Danny Linares. For Efrain Perez, “The pleasure I get is when we have good cases that bring satisfying results. The saddest thing is that many times, when we win out-of-title grievances, our members move to other locals.” In their new jobs, Ms. Martinez and Ms. Moore-Rolle are now in Communication Workers Local 1180. Always the union activist, Ms. Moore-Rolle says, “Even though I’ve been upgraded and will now be a member of another union, I’ll still join with Local 1549 on Lobby Day in Albany.”