Adapt, Adjust and stay Active. These were the “three As” that defined CSEA during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the union moved quickly to adjust the ways to do business.
At the recent, first-ever virtual Annual Delegates Meeting, CSEA officers, activists and staff discussed their experiences and challenges with communicating and engaging with members during the pandemic through technology and creative means.
Sullivan
“It’s been quite an adventure since [the CSEA statewide officers]took office on March 1,” CSEA President Mary E. Sullivan said on the opening session video. “No one expected what happened. I have to say that I’m very proud of my union. The leadership and staff stepped up and we barely missed a beat. We have been going at 110 percent since [the pandemic began].”
Valuable tool
During the pandemic’s early days, information was changing quickly and in turn, CSEA needed to get information out to members rapidly.
“One of the most important challenges we face is communicating with the members,” Sullivan said. “We are a member-run union and if members are not aware of what’s going on, we will never reach our full potential.”
A sample of one of the leadership emails.
Beginning in April, Sullivan worked with CSEA’s Communications Department to send out a weekly leadership information email to officers and activists to share with members.
“Due to rapidly changing information due to the virus, these regular updates were really important to do,” said CSEA Director of Communications Mark M. Kotzin. “We kept our focus on issues that are most important to everyone. Email blasts [from CSEA]are much more common now. We are blasting like never before.”
Destine
For CSEA Department of Motor Vehicles (New York City) Unit President Dawn Destine, the leadership email proved to be valuable for sharing important news and resources, particularly when New York was at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Destine said she shares the information in the leadership emails with members via a unit web page and email blasts almost as soon as she receives the information.
“At a time when we can’t always gather in person, the leadership email serves as a valuable tool, not only for sharing information and resources but for staying connected to each other,” said Destine. “The weekly leadership email allows us to easily share current information with members while reminding us that we are all in this together. [Through the email, Sullivan] reminds us that knowledge is power. I love hearing from [Sullivan] every week and love staying connected.”
Social media helps influence results
CSEA’s increased use of digital communications has also led the union, working with our International union, AFSCME, to move much of its advertising onto digital platforms, which allowed our union’s messaging to more directly target desired audiences.
CSEA recently took advantage of this during the union’s initiative to urge Congress to approve unrestricted federal aid to states and local governments in the wake of the pandemic.
“We have effectively become our own mass media channel,” Kotzin said.
Digital platforms, including social media, are also being used to help influence decision-makers.
At the height of the pandemic earlier this year, City of Long Beach officials announced layoffs of 22 employees, all CSEA members and mostly women and non-Caucasian employees.
The City of Long Beach Unit fought back, largely through the use of social media, emails and letters to elected officials. The union also filed a class-action grievance on behalf of the affected workers and worked with city officials to balance the budget. For more on this visit https://cseany.org/workforce/?p=9041.
The Long Island Region combined the region information day with a Safe@School event for the Nassau Educational Local. In photo. CSEA Nassau Educational Local President Monica Berkowitz shares COVID-19 prevention information with a driver.
Safer member engagement
Due to social distancing, CSEA had canceled most of the union’s in-person meetings and events this year, but the union has still managed to complete important business this year, including drive-through contract ratifications and the first-ever virtual Annual Delegates Meeting.
CSEA Director of Member Engagement Adam Acquario credits our union’s recent member engagement efforts for being able to adapt quickly to the pandemic.
“If we hadn’t done [member engagement efforts]over the past four years, we may not have not gotten through [the pandemic],” he said. “In the beginning [of the pandemic], we received hundreds of calls from members who were worried and had questions. What we have done over the past eight months has been amazing.”
These efforts include the quick development of numerous health and safety, leadership training and political action webinars; as well as developing creative ways to reach out to members, including outdoor contract ratification votes.
“It’s in our nature to talk to each other, to be together and be active in our workplaces and neighborhoods,” Acquario said. “We [met online], but we needed to do something different; to get away from our computers and show members who we really are.”
One solution was developing socially distanced drive-through information days, during which members could meet with benefit providers and union officers without leaving their vehicles. The CSEA Capital Region held the first such event in the region office’s parking lot, which drew more than 200 members.
Acquario recounted how one group of members at the Capital Region event immediately followed their participation in that event by parking their cars and meeting in a socially distanced manner at the edge of the parking lot.
“That pumped me up; it showed me that people were thirsty and needed to get out,” Acquario said.
Other regions, locals and units also held successful outdoor events, with some having unique twists that included events at local sports stadiums, food trucks and even takeout food.
Healey
Schenectady City School District Clerical Unit President Beverly Healey said that her local and unit have been involved in multiple member drive-through events at which members got face masks, important information and takeout food, even working with a local fire department on one event.
Healey, who is planning a spring drive-through picnic and would like to hold a socially distanced winter event, urged members to hold the events.
“[Drive through events] really helps keep members engaged,” Healey said. “It’s a great way to keep everyone connected; more people are participating because it’s a shorter time frame commitment for the members … face to face is always so nice instead of Zoom.”
Reaching new hires
The pandemic also made it more challenging for local and unit leaders to meet new employees to introduce them to our union, but CSEA recorded a brief virtual new member orientation video for agencies to play for new CSEA position hires.
CSEA has made it easy for new members to join our union, getting an electronic membership application by texting “CSEA” to 237263 and to learn about our union’s resources and benefits via electronic membership orientation materials.
Davies
Western New York DDSO Local Secretary Robyn Davies recounted how her local was able to connect with new hires during the pandemic.
“When the pandemic hit, we became very concerned we weren’t going to have the face-to-face contact [with new hires],” Davies said.
The local reached out to CSEA, which soon developed the electronic materials. However, the employer had omitted CSEA from their new orientation training. “We insisted on getting back on the training,” Davies said.
Although they started doing their own online trainings, Davies was still concerned about the member outreach. “We still didn’t feel we were reaching as many people as we could, so our local starting emailing and calling people involved with the hiring and eventually, the local members were able to connect with the new hires.”
“It was very successful and we got great feedback.” Davies said. “It was meaningful to our local and we really stood up to the plate.”
Upgrading technology
Over the past several years, CSEA had been upgrading our union’s technology to adapt to an increasingly digital world. The pandemic forced our union to put these upgrades to the test quickly, as most CSEA staff worked remotely during the state’s shutdown.
“COVID-19 has changed our way of life; the way we shop, the way we learn and the way we interact,” CSEA Chief Information Officer Amrit Singh said. “Our reliance on technology is greater than it’s ever been.”
Earlier this year, CSEA launched a new, enhanced union membership records platform that increased security and made it easier for members to access their information, contracts and union leaders.
While CSEA rolled out the MyCSEA Mobile App two years ago, the pandemic highlighted why the app’s features are so vital to keep our union strong. The app includes information about the many resources and benefits available to members.
“The MyCSEA app lets our leadership and members have access to important information whenever they need it,” Singh said. “Mobile technology is the wave of the future and we are ensuring CSEA keeps up by making the union more agile and flexible.”
Young
Central New York DDSO Local 2nd Vice President Dustin Young believes that technology is important to keeping members engaged.
“This app is an extremely useful took in educating and answering questions for the membership,” he said.
“As a [CSEA local] leader, I have personally used this app to help members. Through the app, you can access all the latest information, including the latest [member benefits], health and safety information, union events and even your rights as a union member.”
You can download the app to your device through the Apple and Android platforms. To learn more, visit https://cseany.org/mycseaapp.
— Janice Gavin
