Page 14 - Work Force September 2022

Member’s quick action help save teen; inspires son
WATERVILET — A local teenager survived a close call with choking earlier this year, thanks to the quick actions of City of Troy Unit member JoAnn Ganc.
Ganc, an account clerk at the city’s Office of the Treasurer, was attending her son’s track meet on a spring evening. She was watching the meet in what she described as a ‘busy and noisy’ environment.
Suddenly, one of her son’s teammates, who happened to be standing next to Ganc, began striking her in the arm.
She turned to notice the boy clutching his throat. When Ganc asked whether he was choking, he nodded.
Ganc swung around him, wrapped her hands under his diaphragm and pushed. A plastic bottle cap flew out
of his mouth.
“It was all instinct,” said Ganc,
who, despite having no formal training in the Heimlich maneuver, seemed to know exactly how to help the struggling teen.
“Afterwards, I was kind of in shock, I didn’t even remember everything,”said Ganc. “I told the coaches. They checked him out and he was fine.”
Since then, a few silver linings have come from the near tragedy.
Ganc said she has become friendly with the boy and his family, whose parents had left the meet just before the incident.
Also, her son, a rising senior at Lansingburgh High School, has since become certified in AED, First Aid and CPR through the American Red Cross.
JoAnn Ganc, an account clerk at the City of Troy’s Office of the Treasurer, at her office.
While not interested in attention over her efforts, she is very proud of her son.
“I think my actions that night inspired him,” said Ganc.
— Therese Assalian
First union contract leads to more positive work environment
MIDDLE ISLAND — One year after organizing into the CSEA family, the Longwood Library Part-time Unit has negotiated its first contract.
The unit’s negotiating committee began talks with library administrators in December 2021. The contract was settled in June.
With their first union contract, members are seeing improvements that have already created a more positive work environment.
“We had an overwhelmingly positive response to the contract,” said Longwood Library Part-Time Unit Negotiations Team Member Christopher Bendzel. “Everyone was blown away by what we were able to negotiate, which was much better than what people were expecting.”
The library unit’s road to establishing their first contract began with preliminary research.
“I worked with [CSEA Deputy Director of Organizing] Jess Riley to compile a number of contracts that I reviewed to see what other part-time workers had negotiated,” said Longwood Library Part-Time Unit Negotiations Team Member
Deborah Scheurich.
The negotiations team also
surveyed colleagues to find out what they would most like to see in their first union contract.
“From there, we [the negotiating team led by CSEA Labor Relations Specialist Jimmy Wall] compiled
a list of prioritized items that we presented to the
administration,” said Scheurich.
As negotiations continued
between library
administration
and the Longwood
Library Part-Time
Unit Negotiating
Committee, our
union’s committee reached out to Longwood Library Part-Time Unit Negotiations Team Member Rebecca Goldstein, who is a former member of CSEA’s full-time workers unit at the library and has prior negotiating experience.
“I learned from past negotiations that you can make a FOIL request [Freedom of Information Law,
which requires public agencies to disclose documents and data],” said Goldstein. “I wanted to know where the library’s money was and how much of it they had. Having that [information] gave us a strong case to advocate for the things that we wanted.”
If there was one piece of advice that the negotiating
team members
could go back and give themselves before negotiations began, it would be
to exercise more patience. Feeling frustrated about how slow negotiations are moving or receiving
an unacceptable contract offer from management is part of the process. Knowing their colleagues were
struggling with those same feelings, team members sent monthly
emails to unit members. In those updates, negotiating team members reminded the workers that contract negotiations are a process; results do not always happen overnight and
details cannot be discussed while negotiations are active.
While electronic communication played an important role, the
team never underestimated
the importance of one-on-one conversations.
“It’s one thing to see a line in an email that says, ‘we’re fighting for you.’ It’s another thing to be standing in front of someone where they can see the sincerity in your eyes,” said Goldstein.
Recognizing the need for personal contact, it was a strategic move to make sure that everyone on the contract negotiations team worked a different area or shift at the library.
Organizing the library unit has also brought the group closer together.
“If someone works on Monday, they’ll never see someone who works on Tuesday,” said Longwood Library Part-Time Unit Negotiations Team Member Kelli Schuessler. “A great byproduct of organizing is getting to know people that you never had the opportunity to speak with before.”
— Wendi Bowie
14 The Work Force
September 2022
“A great byproduct of organizing is getting to know people that you never had the opportunity to speak with before.”