Organize and Collaborate

Those are the watch-words of Pat Moss, Council 8's new president and the first woman to run Ohio's largest public-employee union.

WORTHINGTON, OHIO

What Pat Moss remembers most from AFSCME's 1998 International Convention is less that it was held in Hawaii than the decision the delegates made to chart a bold new course. She recalls vividly what Pres. Gerald W. McEntee said in his keynote address about changing AFSCME's way of organizing: "For too long and for too many years, it has been a culture that has left organizing mostly to the national union. ... Organizing must be a cooperative effort across all levels of our union, locals and councils."

Moss also remembers McEntee's warning: "Changing this culture will not be easy. It's going to take all the resources of locals and councils and the national union. But most important of all, it will take commitment."

Moss, 54, knew she had the commitment. And it was promptly tested in January of this year when, in a historic move, she was named the first woman president of Council 8, Ohio's largest public-sector union, which represents more than 41,000 employees of the cities, counties, universities, hospitals and boards of education. Until Bill Endsley's retirement as president, she was first vice president for nine years.

Almost immediately, Moss set about the task of "walking the talk" from the 1998 Convention. After several meetings with her directors and staff as well as local leaders, she's on a mission to convince everyone to move from a "servicing" model to a new approach: building the union.

"There's a certain anxiety about changing 'service' to 'represent,'" she says. "When you talk about this to folks, what you get is, 'Well, how are we going to do that?' So I assure them that we're not doing it tomorrow. What we want to do together is get there step by step. But we have to model this behavior as a leadership team."

Moss graduated from Ohio University in 1969, and later earned her Juris Doctor degree from Cleveland Marshall College of Law. Although interested in teaching, she ended up working in the Cuyahoga County welfare department — and joined AFSCME almost immediately. Moss, who has become the 10th woman among 31 International vice presidents, basically grew within the union; she became, successively, a local union recording secretary, council staff representative, staff director and regional director to council first vice president.

Henry Bayer, executive director of Council 31 and an International vice president, welcomes Moss' appointment in terms of providing more female leadership for the union. "No matter what your gender is, if you are committed, you can rise to leadership positions in this union because gender is not a barrier," says Bayer. But the challenge facing Moss, according to Council 62 Exec. Director and International Vice Pres. Linda Ard, has nothing to do with her being a woman. "It's the change she is trying to make. I know that Pat won't give up. She is determined to grow the union."

Another of Moss' interests is improving labor/management relations. In her view, they "need not be adversarial. We are all stakeholders. We should come to the table with our energies focused on solving problems. And when you are the best that you can possibly be in the business of delivering quality public service, you've just inoculated your jurisdiction against privatization."

She adds quickly that "Of course, there are relationships that don't always work this way because of people who are ideologically against the idea" — like the President and his brother, the governor of Florida.

Jackie Wright, president of Local 101 (Council 8), praises Moss for her "approach of empowering the members themselves to stand on their own and not depend so much on staff. This is also good training for our union's future leaders."

If that is an extraordinary challenge, it's also an exciting one. "It gives people opportunities to grow," Moss says. "Our most valuable resource is the willingness of our leadership and staff to do what's necessary to make this union the best it can be. If people embrace this as their own idea, we can accomplish anything."