Page 9 - Work Force November 2021

Leadership is key to strong contracts, winning fifights
When it comes to securing strong contracts, winning legislative battles and defeating anti-union opponents, it’s important to have strong, empowered leaders.
CSEA’s 111th Annual Delegates Meeting strongly focused on developing members’ skills and knowledge to allow them to become better union leaders.
CSEA President Mary E. Sullivan stressed the importance of not only gaining knowledge but sharing those lessons with others.
“Please share
what you learn
with those you
represent,” Sullivan
said, in her address
to members during
the meeting. “We
can offer you all
the tools and
resources we have, but if what you learn doesn’t get passed along to the rest of the membership, we are failing in our responsibility to be the best representatives we can be.”
Developing strong leaders
Many of the meeting’s speakers praised CSEA for its efforts to
develop new leaders and grow the skills of veteran ones.
“Developing
strong leaders
is the only way
we can educate
and activate
folks on a mass
scale,” AFSCME
International
President Lee Saunders said.
“It’s the only way we can organize
non-union public service workers and bring them into our family. It’s the only we can neutralize our enemies and beat back propaganda campaigns. It
is the only way we can do the internal organizing and one-on-one conversations that are the source of our power.”
Saunders also noted that leadership is also key to winning major legislative fights, as well as organizing members.
“There is perhaps no aspect of our
work where leadership development matters more than organizing,” Saunders said. “This is the key to our growth and future strength and it depends on active engagement from all members.”
A. Philip Randolph Institute President Clayola Brown touted CSEA for developing leaders amid the challenges of the pandemic.
“[The union] is meeting at a time when each of us feels powerless,” Brown said “It’s been almost
two years that we have been on shutdown with the pandemic, yet here you are energizing other folks to be leaders, speaking truth to power, representing members and speaking to a broader need.”
Brown noted that CSEA is seen as a model for strong union leadership nationally.
“A lot of [union members] across the country depend on the leaders of CSEA to develop groups [nationally],” she said. “You are an amazing group and you have a platform that is willing to help, but we learn from you.”
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, who was recently elected as the federation’s first woman president
“I believe we
can accomplish anything when we work together.”
State Employees Retirement System Local President and Statewide Education Committee member Danielle Kilmer asks A. Philip Randolph Institute President Clayola Brown a question.
Greene County Local President and Statewide Education Committee Chair Janet McKeon asks a question during the “Inclusion Builds Power” general session.
Staten Island Developmental Center Local President and Statewide Education Committee member Jeanette Mitchell asks Clayola Brown a question.
Saunders
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler speaks to members at the ADM.
after the death of former President Richard Trumka, also noted
CSEA’s strong leadership amid the challenges that have faced the labor movement in recent years.
“I believe we can accomplish anything when we work together,” Shuler said. “You showed that in the lead-up to the Janus Supreme Court case and in the days after [the decision]. You are CSEA strong, and your example will help guide and inspire us as I am taking on this challenge of moving the AFL-CIO forward.”
— Janice Gavin
November 2021
The Work Force 9