Off To The 2002 Races

Whether it's a Presidential year or — like 2002 — an ‘off' year, AFSCME activists are learning that political involvement can change their lives.

By Susan Ellen Holleran

Political action is a central focus of all unions, but for AFSCME it is more than central: It's essential. Because the decisions of elected officials affect all aspects of public employment, AFSCME members quickly realize that they must vigorously support candidates who stand up for working families and defend workers' rights to organize and bargain for a voice on the job.

Below, you'll meet members — and their children — who have learned that running for office or campaigning for pro-labor candidates can do more than make improvements for co-workers and the community. Those political efforts also trigger the life-altering, personal power of activism.

Starting All Over Again

Toledo, Ohio

Last January, Edna Brown, a 32-year city employee, made history. She became the first African-American woman to represent Toledo in the state legislature. Her path to the post began just over eight years ago. A steward and officer in Local 7 (Council 8), Brown was serving on the negotiating team as her retirement day approached.

"The members encouraged me to run for the city council," she says. "It started out as a joke. They said, ‘You only need 50 signatures to get on the ballot. We'll get them for you.'" She went to the elections office, paid her $20 and picked up the forms. Then her union brothers and sisters went to work and got her elected.

Brown brought a new perspective — and a detailed knowledge of Toledo's inner workings — to the city council. "It was easy for me to pick up the telephone and talk to administrators on a first-name basis." That comfort level carried over to Brown's relationships throughout local government.

Union educator

Council members asked for information about collective bargaining. "I felt really good being able to persuade them to look at issues of fairness. I helped to educate many people who had never been exposed to unions and didn't know the contributions labor makes."

Brown's proudest council accomplishment was improving her own district. It had been riddled with burned-out and boarded-up buildings — some turned into drug houses. She expedited demolition of these dangerous eyesores. Another of her recommendations was adopted, permitting adjacent property owners to buy the vacated lots for $50.

"We cleaned alleys and upgraded street lighting," she says. "It has made people prouder of their community. When you drive through it today, you see them painting their houses, keeping their yards clean and planting flowers."

New thinking cap

Moving to the legislature has been quite an adjustment. The city council had 12 members; there are 99 in the assembly. Brown is learning how to deal with the formal setting.

But her biggest challenge is the legislative procedure. "Bills go into committees but may never make it to the floor," she says. On the council, "It was my responsibility to bring the legislation forward and get it voted on."

Brown is still amazed at the changes in her life. "This is not something that was on my radar screen," she points out. "I have a new career, a new outlook on life. It's as if I'm back in my 20s — starting all over again but with 30 years of experience behind me."

Good Folks Don't Always Win

Milwaukee

Losing is never fun. That's one thing Annie Wacker's recent campaign for a seat on the city's school board has taught her. For many years, she has been an AFSCME activist. As a secretary with the Milwaukee Public Schools, she was president of Local 1053 (Council 48) for eight years — and a Council 48 executive board member.

Wacker ran because of her deep commitment to strengthening Milwaukee's high-quality public education program, which is being drained as a result of Parental Choice (vouchers). Forty-five percent of the money for the program comes out of the public school budget.

"I have a passion for and belief in public education," she says. "We fight every day for social and economic justice, and I see a good education as the first step toward that goal." With the school board deadlocked on many pressing issues, the special election took on great significance. Its outcome would determine the direction public education would take in Milwaukee.

Help?  From friends

Her campaign was doing well until a "supporter" launched personal attack ads against her opponent. Bound by campaign finance regulations, Wacker could not even ask him to pull the ads. Just days before the election, her opponent responded with a blistering — and totally false — smear, connecting her with a county pension scandal. Wacker's opponent got 58 percent of the vote.

Although pained by the loss, Wacker's greatest concern is for the Milwaukee children who will suffer from a weakened educational system.

Voter Education by JOVE

Jupiter, Florida

Sol Silverman, a member of Retiree Chapter 1707, confers with Local 3041 (Council 79) Pres. Carol Ann Loehndorf as he reviews voting-machine operations with a potential voter. Because the 2000 elections here were a very public disaster, progressive coalitions are working to prevent a repeat. AFSCME members — active and retired — are helping the public become comfortable using the new voting machines. When the local board of elections refused to work with unions or political parties, Silverman founded the Jupiter Organization for Voter Education and arranged for three voting machines at JOVE's May meeting. A member of the board of the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans, he worries that although the new machines are an improvement, the print is too small — a real problem in the nation's number-one retirement state.

The Chance to Make a Difference

Milwaukee

When Joseph Dudzik's kindergarten teacher called to encourage him to run for a city council seat, she didn't need to twist his arm. Retiring as alderman, she felt Dudzik would be a good candidate to succeed her. He took a leave of absence from his job as city public works inspector and set out on the campaign trail.

The politics bug had bitten him as a youngster, when he accompanied his politically active father on the rubber-chicken circuit and volunteered for a variety of campaigns.

During the 20 years since Dudzik took a seasonal job with the city, he advanced at work and became an active member and officer in Local 47 (Council 48). He also built an impressive record of community involvement: coaching, working in his church and starting a neighborhood association of 1,600 families.

Foot power

Dudzik's contacts helped him move quickly to set up his committee. Speed was especially important because he had only four months to campaign.

The race was hands-on — or feet-on: Dudzik walked his district from one end to the other. "I was at every voter's door at least once," he says. "If I had known how much fun I would have, I'd have run earlier."

Fundraising was his biggest challenge. He left that to his campaign committee, and its success "stunned" him. "Many people in my district are retirees. When they gave me $10, $15, $20, I knew it was significant. Folks I knew from high school cranked up hundreds of dollars."

Dudzik won the council seat on April 2, and he thanks AFSCME and other Milwaukee-area unions for the victory. "They spread the word: 'This guy has been willing to stand up for us in the past. Let's give him the chance to stand up for us in the future.'"

Caring About 'Something Other than Ourselves'

Miami

For the past eight years, a growing move-ment here has been led by the children of AFSCME members who understand the importance of unions and of political involvement.

Accompanying their parents to meetings of AFSCME and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Shynitha Townsend, Christina Cochran and Felicia Ricks learned a lot. They wanted to put that knowledge to work in their communities.

With help from area AFSCME and CBTU leadership, they started Youth Labor Activists, organizing young volunteers to work on get-out-the-vote activities like Operation Big Vote. "We canvassed the neighborhoods, did precinct watches and handed out voting-rights palm cards," says Townsend.

Lifeline

As college students, the founding members missed the organized political activity. So they established the Youth Labor Movement.

For Ricks, the group provided inspiration and support as she struggled with cancer. "I had just gotten out of the hospital after chemo-therapy when I voted for the first time," she says. Now she can finally walk without crutches and puts her full energy into campaigns like the initiative to limit classroom size. Throughout her illness, Ricks says, "I kept an optimistic outlook on everything. I was always around people who were positive role models."

Townsend adds a broad perspective: "It's nice to know that we're doing something that's going to help people. They see that we're not lazy GenXers. We care about something other than ourselves."