WAMPSVILLE — Madison County Local President Betty Jo Johnson truly believes that public employees and the services they provide “maintain civilization as we know it.”
Johnson recently said that line to AFSCME International Secretary-Treasurer Elissa McBride, who found it so impactful that she repeated it in front of a national audience of AFL-CIO leaders.
And Johnson, who was recently honored as CSEA’s PEOPLE Recruiter of the Year, believes that the best way to protect and maintain our civilization is through belonging to the CSEA/AFSCME PEOPLE Program, the union’s federal political action committee.
“Lately, I’ve taken to saying that PEOPLE is the only organization solely dedicated to maintaining your jobs, your benefits and civilization as we know it,” she said.
Over the past year, Johnson, an examiner in the Madison County Department of Social Services and our union’s statewide PEOPLE Committee chair, recruited 76 new PEOPLE members.
Johnson said she has been involved with PEOPLE throughout most of her 25 years of CSEA membership, because she knows how important it is.
“Initially, I joined PEOPLE because I understood that we needed to lobby to get good legislation passed,” Johnson said. “Now, it’s even more important because unions are in a crucial fight. I know we cannot fight without participation and political action money. If it weren’t for the PEOPLE Program, we wouldn’t even be at the table to fight for our union jobs and benefits.”
Her secret to recruiting so many members?
“I find it helpful to be very straightforward in telling them that this is the CSEA/AFSCME Political Action Committee, and without it, we cannot fight for our livelihoods,” she said. “I tell it like it is. I think our members appreciate that I don’t sugarcoat it.”
Johnson said she was surprised and honored to receive the PEOPLE Recruiter of the Year Award, which CSEA President Danny Donohue presented to her at the recent 107th Annual Delegates Meeting.
— Mark M. Kotzin
Above, Betty Jo Johnson, center, works the PEOPLE table at the 107th Annual Delegates meeting. CSEA PEOPLE Coordinator Denise Felt is at left.
