Editor’s note: Women’s Conference attendees told the following stories during the Sunday plenary program, after they were selected among the stories members told during Saturday breakout sessions of “Our Voice, Our Power.”
Forbes
When Rochester Area Retirees Local activist Clara Forbes was a Rochester Psychiatric Center Local vice president, she found herself “bugging” management to take care of a major problem at her workplace.
When visiting members at one of the facility’s units, she was told there was a bed bug infestation that covered not only the rooms, but workers and patients.
“There were people (nearly) eaten alive!” said Forbes. “They were on their beds, legs and hands.”
Forbes alerted management about the situation.
“I went to the manager and said ‘Bedbugs are a no-no!’” said Forbes.
In response, the manager asked Forbes to prove the presence of bed bugs by locating the bugs, placing them in a bag and bringing it back to them.
“I cleared my voice and said to him, “I’m going to make two phone calls. The first one is going to be to [former Western Region President]Flo Tripi and second one is going to be to the (local news),’” said Forbes.
Tripi, other union leaders and staff soon headed to the center to address the situation. Management soon agreed to call an exterminator and move the affected patients.
“We got rid of the bugs, cleaned the unit and people were happy,” said Forbes.
She took away another important lesson.
“Any time you see something going on, speak up,” said Forbes. “[Our union was] right there for me. We are CSEA!”
