Dedication, Dignity, Pride: AFSCME at Work
A Photo Essay by Earl Dotter
VILMA VILLAREAL
and MARIA REYES
registered nurses
United Nurses Associations of
California/Union of Health
Care Professionals
Woodland Hills, Calif.
More photos...
In the pages of this magazine, we showcase the activism of our great union highlighting members who press the case for working-family issues, organize the unorganized, generate powerful political pressures, and stand up for the rights of their brothers and sisters in the work-place. Our members do all of that, and very well.
But they also do something vital every day: They do their jobs. That is, they serve the public, reliably and effectively, in what seems like a million ways. And in a society that still values honest work, there can be no more important task.
To capture on film just some of AFSCME's members and the many jobs they perform, Public Employee sent award-winning, Maryland-based photographer Earl Dotter to visit their worksites. Dotter took pictures from Massachusetts to Puerto Rico and from Michigan to New Mexico. He captured our members working inside and out, in fair weather and foul, doing jobs that are pleasant as well as those that can be nasty and even dangerous.
From Dotter's "take," we selected 10 photos. What each of them projects is a number of qualities that are hard to describe but easy to see: diligence, dedication, dignity and — perhaps above all — pride. Pride in what? In a job well done, and done for the welfare of all Americans, not just the rich or the privileged. That remains the essence of public service, and AFSCME remains the essential public service union.
Because the photos were taken by a single photographer on a single, extended assignment, Earl came away with impressions in his ear and his mind's eye as well as on film. Here are a few of them:
"The Brooklyn crossing guard who knew the names of 'her' kids and which ones she should grasp by the hand as she 'crossed' them."
"In the Illinois home care setting, the loving, protective relationship — built over many years — between the workers and their clients. Not only was there a strong sense of trust in the relationship but also an impressive willingness on the worker's part to help the client, whether elderly or disabled, be all that he or she can be."
"The Puerto Rico water rangers who, even while helping me get my pictures on the Fourth of July, were always on the job, monitoring their radios and scanning the horizon for signs of the kinds of emergencies that arise in a busy holiday setting."
"The snake handler at the Toledo Zoo, who I could see is devoted to the health and well-being of the dangerous serpent she's respon-sible for. She approached this heavy constrictor with the professionalism needed to ensure safe handling — for the creature as well as for herself."
The following pages need no safe handling, just a capacity — inherent in every PE reader — to celebrate AFSCME's members and the work they do. Enjoy!
— Roger M. Williams
