Local 1184 Mobilizes Members for Employee Free Choice
June 12, 2009
This post about worksite visits by AFSCME Local 1184 in support of the Employee Free Choice Act and health care reform is courtesy of the AFL-CIO Employee Free Choice Act blog.
AFSCME Local 1184 collected over 500 letters and signatures in support of the Employee Free Choice Act during worksite visits earlier this month.
AFSCME Local 1184, which represents 3,800 Miami Dade County school employees, visited the worksites of school bus drivers over a four-day span earlier this month with the South Florida AFL-CIO, UA organizers Rick Lindstrom and Javier Garcia and AFSCME representative Paris Walker collecting hundreds of signatures and letters in support of the Employee Free Choice Act and President Obama’s healthcare plan.
“Anytime you can educate the members on an issue, it is significant. People become empowered to get involved once they realize it will have an impact on their lives,” said Sherman Henry, President of Local 1184.
Local 1184 Vice President Vicki Hall said that visiting worksites is an effective way to reach out to membership. “Some of our members aren’t up to speed on the Employee Free Choice Act and other issues because they are so busy with work and their families. Talking to people on the job is a great way to get in touch with everyone and provide information.”
For their part, Rick Lindstrom and Javier Garcia are two of eleven UA organizers who have been driving the internal Employee Free Choice Act campaign across the state. Lindstrom and Garcia have been visiting the top 20 locals in the Miami area and offering their support to do activities like the AFSCME Local 1184 worksite visits.
“This is the biggest piece of legislation for the labor movement since 1935. We just had an employer who skipped town after his workers voted to unionize. People are starving out there, working without pensions and healthcare and they are sick of it,” said Lindstrom.
This team was able to collect over 500 letters and signatures in support of the Employee Free Choice Act at the AFSCME Local 1184 worksites. To date, unions of the South Florida AFL-CIO have collected tens of thousands of letters and made thousands of phone calls about the bill to federal legislators. Local 1184 President Henry plans to keep his members active on political issues and the local will be doing a voter registration drive in the near future.
