The Babylon School District Aides and Monitors Unit Organizing Committee members pose shortly after gaining recognition. Bottom row, from left, Christine Rosenberg, Maria Gangone and Lisa Harvey. Back row, from left, Patricia Cresciullo, Rosa Anna Vittorio, Claire Joseph, Theresa Altieri, Karen Altieri and Diane Szuchy.
BABYLON — After years of toiling under a de facto organization, 80 Babylon School District aides and monitors have joined the district’s clerical staff, nurses and custodial units as the newest members of the CSEA family.
The workers’ efforts began in January when aides and monitors reached out to CSEA Babylon Clerical Unit President Debbie Melito about dissolving the group’s relationship with the de facto organization and forming a union with CSEA.
Melito put the workers in contact with the CSEA Organizing Department, and staff guided them through the process of becoming members.
The Organizing Committee’s nine members represent a cross-section of aides and monitors in the district, as there is someone on the committee who represents each of the three schools where aides and monitors work.
Other CSEA members from the district’s established units were supportive of the group’s efforts, noting that “joining CSEA was the best decision that we ever made.”
In March, members voted by secret ballot to dissolve the de facto organization. The next week, the Organizing Committee collected signed CSEA membership cards from an overwhelming majority of aides and monitors.
Less than a month later, the members achieved voluntary recognition, making CSEA the exclusive representatives for the workers.
Gaining respect
Before the new, more inclusive district Board of Education recently took office, workers went 12 years without renegotiating their contract because of the former district administration’s continuous refusal to meet with them.
The few negotiations the aides and monitors had with the former school board ended with the group being offered an insultingly small raise. The district also refused to offer vacation time or sick days.
“We’re working with kids who are sneezing on us, pulling at us and can be violent,” said Claire Joseph, a CSEA Babylon School District Aides and Monitors Organizing Committee member. “If we got sick, we couldn’t take a day off.”
“God forbid you catch the flu and are out for a week,” said Theresa Altieri, also an Organizing Committee member and decades-long district employee. “You couldn’t afford to stay home.”
Union strong
Even with the overall excitement about becoming CSEA members, there are still a few part-time workers who are worried about paying dues. Altieri has a little advice for them.
“I always ask them, ‘What have you got now?’ and they always answer, ‘nothing,’” said Altieri. “I answer with, ‘We have our union with us now; that’s a lot better than nothing.’”
Our union’s new members have our CSEA family standing with them, including members of CSEA’s other Babylon School District units.
“They were cheering us on the entire time we were organizing,” said Joseph. “It felt good to have their encouragement.”
Also cheering the group on was CSEA Long Island Region President Jarvis Brown, who continues his long-standing efforts to grow CSEA’s membership through assisting with the organizing of the Babylon Aides and Monitors.
“I’d like to welcome CSEA’s newest members to our union family,” said Brown. “It takes a lot of courage to stand up to your employer and take the necessary action to organize. I hope the Babylon Aides and Monitors patience and persistence stand as a guide for future groups who want to organize.”
With their recent organizing success, the aides and monitors encourage other workers to join CSEA.
“I think workers should go for it,” said Joseph. “You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.”
— Wendi Bowie
