Public Employee Press

Next Wave rolling in

By JOSEPH LOPEZ

The union leaders of tomorrow came together May 14 to ride the wave into the future at Local 1549's first Next Wave Conference.

Next Wave, an initiative of AFSCME, DC 37's 1.6-million-member national union, focuses on members 35 or younger who are interested in union activism. The program instills in them the importance of making their unions strong and democratic and the relevance of labor's past to the years to come. Local 1549 is among the first locals to bring Next Wave to DC 37.

"These are the people who will lead the way for the next 20 years," said Eddie Rodriguez, president of Local 1549 and DC 37. "There's a future president here and I'm confident he or she will continue our ways."

"Your work has just begun and I'm counting on you," DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts told the Next Wavers. A union leader for five decades, Roberts stressed that leadership is not always glamorous. "I've gone to jail for my members," she said.

Round-table presentations by Next Wavers from "battleground states" about fighting the attacks on public employees were a stirring feature of the conference.

"The youth movement" is leading the battle in Wisconsin, said Paul Spink, a Next Wave organizer from Council 24 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. He noted that social media like Facebook and Twitter have been used to organize many large protests and rallies there. "As young people we must go out and educate our peers," Spink said.

Local 1549's Next Wave members, led by Chair Natasha Isma and Vice Chair Avery Seawright, made the day stimulating with music, slide shows and interactive workshops.

"It is encouraging to see locals creating Next Wave opportunities at DC 37," said Program Director Frances Curtis, who is excited that some of the union's Next Wavers will be able to bring home lessons about how the initiative is growing nationwide from AFSCME's July Next Wave Convention in Atlanta.

A poem by Next Waver Cheryl Greene celebrated the essence of the wave: "Leaders are born, leaders are made, leaders are what stand here today," she said.