EAST HAMPTON — CSEA’s Town of East Hampton Unit is using their union strength to stand up to town officials who refuse to give them a fair contract.
“They have about $34 million in the reserves, over $80 million in the operating budget and they want to give us a soft freeze,” said CSEA Town of East Hampton Unit President Miles Maier. “The Town of East Hampton is swimming in cash. How is there no money for town employees?”
One of the many CSEA lawn signs that unit members placed around the Town of East Hampton, in hopes of capturing the attention of local residents.
Not willing to accept defeat, unit members jumped into action by enacting several public outreach procedures in the hopes of gaining support.
Unit members began with placing full-page ads in local newspapers, which informed the public of the various ways that CSEA work contributions benefit the town, as well as informing town residents of the town’s refusal to negotiate a fair contract.
“We ended the ad with a request to townspeople to contact the town supervisor’s office and support our efforts to have modest wage increases,” said Maier. “As the town does better, so should employees.”
After the ads, unit officers dispensed an employee mailer that included a copy all of the ads that appeared in the local papers. They also included a cover letter, which requested that unit members take the letters and hand them out to their friends and family, as well as social, community and religious groups to spread the message about the unit’s contract campaign.
The letter also asked members to contact the unit president to receive lawn signs to place in their front yards and around the entire town of East Hampton.
“Our goal was to get residents to start asking questions about CSEA, the services we provide and our contract negotiations,” said Maier. “I think a big problem is the disconnect between town workers and town residents. These signs start a dialogue that help townspeople be aware of who we are and what’s happening in their community.”
The unit’s public outreach caught the attention of the founding president of the Police Benevolent Association of New York State, who submitted a an op-ed to the East Hampton Star that expressed the importance of union work to the town’s vitality.
It’s very important for unit members that town residents know they’re not trying to take advantage of them.
“Over the last few years, we’ve [town workers]have been doing more with less,” said Maier. “The workforce and resources have been cut. We’re hardworking local people who just want to take care of our families. All we’re trying to do is make the town work to the best of our ability and be compensated fairly for our effort.”
— Wendi Bowie
