Page 5 - Work Force March 2016

CSEA is coming your way
A better, stronger union begins with you!
What do you want from your CSEA membership?
Fair pay and benefits, decent working conditions, retirement security?
Opportunity to advance in your career based on your ability?
A chance to have a say in your workplace for the better?
Being part of something bigger than yourself, where co-workers never quit on doing a good job or each other?
How about all these things?
They all depend on YOU making a commitment to keep all of us working together. CSEA is only as strong as our solidarity.
CSEA staff and activists have begun going door-to-door and worksite to worksite to talk to
CSEA members directly about
the importance of individual commitment to a better, more powerful union. Engaging members more fully is a top priority to strengthen our bonds. The effort began recently on Long Island and will be repeated over and over again in every part of the state in the weeks and months ahead.
Excitement and energy have marked the early response.
“It was better than anyone
Berkowitz
even expected,” said Nassau Educational Local President Monica Berkowitz, whose local jump-started the effort. “We were skeptical
to say the least. When we heard that we would
be knocking on doors, dropping literature and making phone calls, we just didn’t think that people would be that welcoming.”
“Each day, as the word spread, it got better and better and better.”
Nassau County Local member, Candy Salters, signs a Never Quit pledge card, signifying her commitment to a strong union.
“This work
has given me confidence. I’ve been able to see the reaction has been so positive,” said Nassau County Local President Jerry Larichiutta.
Laricchiuta
know them a little better. We want to hear what each member thinks and then tell them
where we’re
coming from.” “We
thought we
were pretty
good listeners
before, but
our eyes were
opened,”
Berkowitz
said. “We
learned to be
better listeners and we have to apply that lesson going forward.”
The outreach blitz begins reconnecting with members through
conversations about the challenges facing working people today and
how our commitment to each other is the only real way each of us can respond and have a union that amplifies our individual voice.
“The Never Quit
campaign has been a good thing,” said Larichiutta. “It is teaching us as leaders and as members that we need to refocus.”
“When you
are a part of such a large union like CSEA and even such a large local, sometimes you lose that feeling of personal touch. We’re bringing that back right now by speaking one-on- one with the members and getting to
CSEA members in the Nassau and Suffolk Educational Locals attend a Never Quit meeting.
March 2016
The Work Force 5