Sisters and brothers,

This month, we celebrate Juneteenth, an historic day that marked the end of slavery in our country. It is just one of many steps towards true equality and while we have taken many of those steps, it is clear from the events that continue to unfold in our country today we still have many more steps to go.

This month is also Pride Month and we fully support all of our union members and everyone else in the LGBTQ+ Community as we continue to fight for their equality.

All of these things remind us that our strength to defend our rights and promote equality for everyone lies largely in the number of active members CSEA has.

As we continue to navigate the world of volunteer unionism brought about by the U.S. Supreme Court a few years ago, we continue to see anti-labor groups stepping up efforts to try to convince members to leave. While recent organizing victories at Amazon and Starbucks and our own victory at Northeast Children and Family Services give us hope, the question needs to be asked: whose responsibility is it to keep our Union strong?

The direct answer is it’s up to all of us. We’re all members because we understand the true value of being union — we understand the representation we get and the benefits our membership provides to us and our families. When there’s an injustice at work, whether it affects one or a thousand members, we are there to fight it. Most of us know of someone who has gone through this, and we know what would have happened if CSEA wasn’t involved.

As a result of the pandemic, it has been challenging to welcome new workers to our Union family. It is so important that we are able to reach these workers and let them know about the irreplaceable benefits we all enjoy as members.

You can bet that management keeps a careful eye on membership levels within their workplaces, and when they see the number of members decreasing and the number of non-members rising, they know they can start to divide us more easily and take advantage of the weakness they create by doing so.

It really is up to all of us to keep our union strong. We can all have conversations with our co-workers about how important it is to be a member. If we want to remain as strong as we are, we can’t wait for someone else to come along and sign up more members. We have to do it ourselves. Every one of us.

For anyone who needs a little more information, take a look at cseany.org/advantage. Invite your co-workers to look at it, especially if they aren’t members yet. It can further help them see why being a member makes such a big difference.

Thank you for doing your part to keep us union strong!

In Solidarity,

Mary E. Sullivan, President