Public Employee Press

Local 1549 town meetings
Talkin' union with the members

How does the union help me?

Clerical-Administrative Employees Local 1549 aimed to answer that question by holding town meetings in the city's five boroughs this spring.

At the gatherings, Local 1549 leaders and DC 37 staff informed members about the array of services provided by the union.

"We want to make sure our members are informed about union activities and services," said Local 1549 President Eddie Rodriguez. "And our hope is that these meetings will lead more people to get involved in the union."

On April 20, DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido accompanied Rodriguez and other Local 1549 elected leaders to a town hall meeting at the Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building in Harlem. A group of DC 37 staffers was on hand for presentations about union services.

"We need to take control of this union," Garrido told the 35 members attending the meeting, discussing his administration's goal of encouraging greater grassroots activism. "Once managers see that we are unified, there will be a lot more respect for the union."

The topics covered in the meeting included the union's affordable housing program, contracts and collective bargaining, union benefits and pensions, workplace issues and supplemental benefits, including a disability policy members can purchase.

Second Vice President Ralph Palladino discussed how the local is working with DC 37 and its parent union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, on an organizing program to encourage grassroots participation. The local scheduled the first training session for this new program on May 30.

Local 1549 scheduled other town hall meetings at Fire Dept. headquarters in Brooklyn, Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens, Lincoln Medical Center in the Bronx and the Municipal Building on Staten Island.

— Gregory N. Heires