Anderson
Betty Anderson feels that the key to being a good activist is having a passion for helping people.
This passion has been guiding Anderson in serving our union for past 36 years.
Anderson, president of the Nassau Educational Local’s Baldwin Monitors Unit, not only leads the unit, but helped her co-workers organize their union with CSEA in 1981. The health and security aides joined the unit later.
Anderson’s career in activism began when she decided to represent her school at a CSEA organizing meeting.
When the meeting was over, the organizer asked for a volunteer to pass out membership cards. Like many activists, Anderson was initially hesitant about getting involved.
“I sat there and waited for someone else to volunteer, just like everyone else,” said Anderson. “Eventually, I agreed to do it because no one else would.”
Anderson’s easygoing personality made it easy for her to get to know people. This helped her not only get to know her co-workers on a personal level, but helped her learn about issues that concern them.
“I was speaking with a woman that worked part-time in one of the elementary schools,” said Anderson. “She was about to retire and she mentioned her pension plan.”
At the time, Anderson didn’t think that part-time employees were eligible for a pension, so she contacted the New York State Retirement System. They informed her that it was mandatory for the school to offer civil service employees a pension.
“If I hadn’t had that conversation with the woman from the elementary school, this unit would have never known we had the right to a pension plan; the school never would have told us about it,” said Anderson.
Standing up to the school district is something Anderson has repeatedly had to do as unit president.
One of those occasions is when security staff was introduced to the schools.
“The new security guard told me that it was his job to supervise the monitors and the kids in the school,” said Anderson. “That didn’t sound right to me, so I wrote a letter to Nassau County Civil Service Commission for information. I got a letter back from them stating that it was not in the security guards’ job description to supervise monitors.”
Anderson also had to stand up for unit members when district officials started assigning the security guards the same job responsibilities as the monitors.
“It became a big legal battle. We had to go to PERB (New York State Public Employment Relations Board) to sort everything out,” said Anderson. “We won that battle, but going up against the schools is hard.”
One of the best pieces of advice Anderson ever received came from one of the teachers in the school district.
“He told me to remember that when I go into negotiations, I’m just as good as anyone at that table,” said Anderson. “He told me to never let anyone make me feel like I’m beneath them.”
“Thinking that way has helped me feel confident when I go into negotiations,” said Anderson.
It is Anderson’s desire to help people that has kept her active in her unit. “It’s gratifying to accomplish something and see people benefit from it,” she said.
— Wendi Bowie
