Word-by-Word: Dismantling Language Barriers
New Beginning | CSEA members Yuk Ling Lee (left), originally from Hong Kong, and Qi Mei Kong, originally from China, prepare course materials on the first day of an ESL class.
Photo Credit: Therese Assalian
AFSCME affiliates are taking pro-active steps to adapt to an increasingly diverse membership.
By Jon Melegrito
A better future for his family. That’s what Jorge Contreras wanted when he came to Harrisburg, Penn., from Peru in 2007. But he couldn’t find a U.S. job matching his economics degree. For nine months he has mopped floors and swept sidewalks as a custodian at the John Harris High School.
Work didn’t begin smoothly, either. A heavy accent and limited English skills made it difficult for Contreras to communicate with his non-Spanish speaking supervisor, who is also the local steward.
Determined to resolve the matter within the union, Local 2063 Pres. Terry Mathis met with Contreras, the union steward and a District Council 90 staffer who translated. Their solution: 40 flash cards each bearing a noun or verb that is printed in English and Spanish. The cards are used to form sentences and issue instructions.
“It’s working well for me now,” Contreras says. “I’m glad the union valued my work and found a way to help me do my job.”
“We changed the way we relate to our brothers and sisters who are struggling with English so they can be effective at work,” Mathis points out.
New Arrivals
There are over 30 million immigrants in this country, according to the 2000 Census — mostly Latinos, Asians and West Africans. Many find work as home health care workers, child care providers and medical technicians, but struggle with English. Affiliates are bridging the gap. They’re translating materials into the languages of their members so they understand their contracts better, including translated pages in their publications, and several have added — or plan to add — translated materials to their websites. California Local 3299 has taken an additional step: designing translation and interpretation services to equip members to be “action-ready” when the time comes — from contract campaigns to getting out the vote on Election Day. Many of the local’s organizers are bilingual. The union also makes sure translators and translation equipment are provided at all membership meetings and training sessions.
Living the American Dream
At the State University of New York (SUNY), the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)/AFSCME Local 1000 offers a 96-hour English as a Second Language (ESL) course to hospital and custodial workers who come from Albania, China, Hong Kong, Poland and other nations. Nineteen members from Local 614 at SUNY Stony Brook completed the first phase last summer. Language demands of daily workplace situations comes next.
Dora Peláez, a hospital attendant at Stony Brook University Medical Center and a member of Local 614, completed the basic course and is eager to continue. “Now, I can relay requests of Spanish-speaking patients to medical professionals,” she says. “This could save a life. I plan to further my education and get promoted to higher positions with more responsibility. That’s my idea of living the American Dream.”
Celebrating Cultures
With a membership from around the world, New York DC 37 has been conducting ESL classes at its headquarters for over two decades. Through a partnership with the Borough of Manhattan Community College, the Council provides needs assessment and placement testing. Approximately 200 members complete the course annually.
“The cultural mix in our membership brings a richness to our daily experience,” says Local 372 Exec. Vice Pres. Santos Crespo. “We learn to be creative in problem-solving, because the insights and ideas are so varied.”
Forging Solidarity
Local 1184 (Florida Council 79) in Miami-Dade County, which is more than 50 percent Latino and about 20 percent Haitian, conducts a “Hazardous Communications” training for its Spanish-speaking members who are learning how to avoid job-related injuries and use cleaning chemicals safely. More than 2,700 custodians, bus drivers and food service workers have completed the eight-hour program, which is supplemented with a refresher course every year.
Diversity training for the 10,000-member bargaining unit is slated this summer, and ESL courses will begin in six months. “We’re dealing with language barriers first,” says Sherman Henry, Local 1184 president. “Next, we will institute programs to foster a strong sense of solidarity among the rank and file.” The union’s efforts have attracted 200 new dues-paying members.
Stepping Up
The 1,200 workers at New Mexico State University are mostly Hispanic. Some must pass a commercial drivers license test, which is in English. Local 2393 (New Mexico Council 18) arranged a special training and tutoring for park maintenance workers and heavy equipment operators last year.
“Our goal is to ensure that language is not a barrier to our members’ job performance,” says Council 18 Exec. Dir. Lawrence Rodriguez. “We also want to develop them as stewards and leaders for the union.”
Mayra Guerrero, a child care provider from Las Cruces, has already stepped forward as a leader. She became a member of Child Care Providers Together (CCPTNM)/AFSCME in 2007 and she sought language assistance from the union to apply for a license and a loan to open a child care business at home. With the help of a CCPT bilingual organizer, Guerrero successfully completed all the requirements. Today, she cares for 40 children. “That boosted my confidence,” she recalls. “I am now working on a bachelor’s degree program in Early Childhood Education.” She has attended leadership seminars and served as the union’s representative to the New Mexico Legislative Budget preparation conference last year. “The union has supported me every step of the way,” Guerrero says. “‘I’ve come a long way,’ as they say.”
CCPTNM’s monthly newsletter includes Spanish translations for its updates and other important documents.
Multilingual Services
United Domestic Workers Union Local 3930 (UDW/AFSCME) prints all materials — from quarterly newsletters to dues check-off cards — in the languages of its members: English, Spanish and Vietnamese. The local also has websites in each language. At membership meetings and conferences, non-English speakers don headsets to listen to simultaneous translation. And a recent Constitutional Convention included proposed amendments printed in all three languages.
Bilingual organizers are actively deployed in areas with large concentrations of Hispanics and Vietnamese. In addition to a multilingual robo-call system, UDW/AFSCME’s Member Communications Center — a group of five bilingual individuals at headquarters — fields questions from 13 bargaining units.
Building Trust
Minnesota is home to thousands of Hmongs. Originally from Laos, these refugees resettled in the U.S. in the 1970s after being displaced during the Vietnam War. In reaching out to Hmong child care providers, Council 5 used bilingual organizers to translate documents and other materials and speak directly to these home-based providers in their language. Child care providers who are affiliated with the Council have their own newsletter, “CCPT Minnesota,” which regularly includes a page translated in Hmong.
In October 2006, the Council successfully organized 865 providers in Ramsey County. Many of them are Hmong. “We build their trust because we respected and embraced their culture, and we addressed specific concerns, such as licensing and other issues,” says Council Dir. Eliot Seide, who is also an International vice president.
