Page 13 - Work Force November 2016

Our presidential election will make or break the middle class. It is crucial that we all get behind Hillary Clinton, our endorsed candidate, regardless of party affiliation. What it comes down to for us as middle class workers is that the next President of
the United States will nominate at least two justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, shaping the future of that court for many years to come. We may have had a reprieve with the Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association decision in the Supreme Court, stopping
an effort to crush
unions including ours,
but there are similar
cases in the pipeline
at which a more
conservative future
court would not look
kindly. I understand
that we all come from
different political
backgrounds and
hold different views,
but our children
and grandchildren’s
future livelihoods are at stake in addition to our own. We need Hillary Clinton as our president, not only to protect and strengthen unions, but to also push for living wage jobs that can actually allow families to stay afloat and even get ahead.
Within CSEA, we have spent the
last year doing some important work to prepare us for a new era. We all know that CSEA members never quit serving their communities, whether it’s our duties on the job or our volunteerism outside of work. By day, many of my own neighbors answer 911 calls, keep our schools running, safeguard our vulnerable children and adults, and
care for individuals with disabilities. When their workdays end, these same people are volunteering as EMTs, serving as volunteer
November 2016
some of their proudest moments with CSEA. It energized us all, whether you were
a new activist with just a few months
of involvement or a seasoned activist or CSEA staffer with decades of experience. Let’s continue that momentum.
As you may know, CSEA has been the
leader when it comes to the growing Never Quit movement. While the blitzes may be recent, the Never Quit spirit has a long history within CSEA. Nowhere has it been more evident than within the last eight years, in my opinion. Since the economic crash in 2008, thanks to Wall Street fat cats’ abuses, our members have — through no fault of their own — dealt with an onslaught of privatization attempts, layoffs, program cuts and a constant push to do more with less. But where that push to do more with less may be constant also in corporate America, the difference is in the work we do. CSEA members are the caseworkers safeguarding our vulnerable kids, our water treatment
Southern Region President, continued on page 16
Starting this job has given me pause
to take inventory of not only myself but
also where we are as a community, state, country and as a labor movement. It’s
funny how what one sees often depends
on the window one looks out from. We all view life from different vantage points with different priorities and different anxieties. For example, some very rich people are more worried about building skyscrapers with
their name attached than paying the workers involved what is fair and
equitable. Middle-class
people, like us, wonder
how things will get
better. How is it that our
parents did better than
us and our kids could
possibly do worse? Then,
there are the working
poor who are just one
rent check away from being homeless. They don’t have the luxury of worrying about their situation; they hope that something will change, that help will come their way.
Two of these three groups make up the great majority of our country and with the exception of small pockets of labor and social justice activists; we have remained largely docile as the standard of living for the average worker declines. While the bar gets lower for working people, the wealthiest among us grab a larger share of the wealth. Where does it end? Who among us will be out on the front lines demanding better pay? Who is going to stand up for safer working conditions? Who is going to stand up and help re-build the middle class? Who is going to fight with me?
We all know that part of that answer is us, union activists. Unions have been and
2016 Annual Delegates Meeting Officer Reports
BILLY RICCALDO Southern Region President
Show the Never Quit spirit
RON BRIGGS
Capital Region President
Let’s make decisions that build us up
Brothers and Sisters:
As we gather at our Annual Delegates Meeting, we are facing a new era within CSEA — bolstered by over a century of never quitting our work making a strong New York for all — and as a nation facing a historic presidential election.
firefighters, coaching Little League teams and keeping our school PTAs functioning. In each CSEA region, members saw us during our Never Quit blitzes. We knocked on doors, held worksite meetings, made phone calls and most importantly, we listened.
We were there to listen and our members were ready to talk. They told us what was important to them. They were pleased to have us personally reaching out and having conversations about what matters in their lives. In turn, we explained what is at stake for us all as working people, both in the Supreme Court and our country in general. The vast majority of people with whom we connected understood what is at stake for us as working people and pledged their support to never quit CSEA. I’m sure I’m not the only one who found their region’s blitz as
First, let me express my sincere gratitude to everyone for an amazing start to my tenure as Capital Region President. Region 4 has remarkable members and leaders who, when working together, are unstoppable.
A special thank you to region officers Rich Bebo, Dowell Harrell, Brenda Facin, Karen Wilson, Mary Hamilton, and Shana Davis who have all been so wonderful to work with.
will continue to be there to help rebuild. But all unions are not created equal. Nor are all union members. For the sake of this exercise, and knowing that many people fall somewhere in between, let’s group union members into two groups.
There’s the union member who “gets it.” They understand that union membership
is tied to history, of battles fought, and a general spirit of boldness willing to tackle inequities facing others. These members know that a healthy middle class is good for everyone. And, then there are those who care primarily about matters that offer no benefit to the middle class and continue to support issues that are not in our own best interest.
We all know people like this. Some of them are our friends or family members. They are interested in their own things; they may not even care about politics or the world around them and when they read a
“We must be CSEA first. We’re all in this together. That means when another CSEA group in your community is facing a challenge, you need
to step up and show your support. Join their rallies. Speak at a board meeting. Write a letter to the editor. Show the Never Quit spirit. ”
paper they look for one that reflects their own views. They may go through life not seeing the bigger picture. This view allows them to make decisions based on one or two specific issues. This decision making process doesn’t directly
hurt anyone, but the important part is that it doesn’t help build us up as the middle class. Divide and conquer has been a strategy throughout history, which continues today. It is hard to put aside that one strong belief and look to make a decision that will help everyone.
There is a big difference between simply being in a union, being a knowledgeable union member, and being a union activist. Being part of a union does not necessarily mean that we are fighting for the bigger picture. Some of our own union members only want to speak about benefits for themselves or one non-working life issue. Then we have many of our members who work second jobs are raising their children, or taking care of elderly parents, they want to be knowledgeable union members, but
Capital Region President, continued on page 17
“We have to look around to see who will stand with us to build the middle class. We have to find common ground with allies so we work for the betterment of all, not just a few. ”
The Work Force 13