The Blitz Is On

Thinking 'outside the box,' members are volunteering their time to help workers organize.

By Jon Melegrito & Jimmie Turner

They come from all over the country, responding to calls to help their sisters and brothers gain the union power that so many others have. For weeks they are away from their homes, deployed in places where managers and politicians fight unions.

Sometimes an approach to a worker's home draws only a door slammed in the face. In rural areas where dirt roads lead to dead-ends, endless hours can be spent looking for homes that aren't there.

These are volunteer member organizers (VMOs), and they stand at the forefront of AFSCME's recent organizing successes. Their steadily growing ranks are becoming wellsprings of experience and expertise, and they are a vital resource to organizing 
campaigns everywhere.

Triumphant volunteers

That is the case in Kentucky. Following Democratic Gov. Paul Patton's executive order granting state workers collective bargaining rights, 10,000 workers from the corrections, law enforcement, health care and social services fields — with the help of VMOs — have organized to form a union with AFSCME.

Helping these workers, however, has not been easy. Encountering workers at their homes and job sites early in the campaign was like being thrown into hostile territory — areas where even winning collective bargaining rights for public employees has been difficult. Yet VMOs have persevered, prompted by a sense of mission and spurred by their own personal desire to make a difference.

Face to face

"I see people out here struggling on state jobs, and I know they can barely make it," says Deb Force, a juvenile group-home supervisor in Indiana and a member of Local 1690 (Council 62). "Their wages are low, and health care costs are so expensive."

Having grown up in a rural area, Force hit it off well with the social service and child-protection workers she met making house calls in the small towns of Jefferson County. "Out in the country, I understand what it's all about. I also came up from poverty, and I know what it's like to be way down, working two jobs, depending on sub-sidized housing and eating homemade crackers for dinner."

A single parent who raised three children, Force says it feels good "to be able to give them hope for a better life."

Mark Cavanaugh, a concrete finisher for the City of Paducah and president of Local 1586 (Council 62), has aided workers with representation elections and is helping with the social service workers' first-contract campaign. He witnessed the dangers the latter face on the job. "I've seen them go out to homes — places even cops won't go into without a backup — to remove children from abusive parents or interview a woman who had just stabbed her husband." Cavanaugh is determined to help these workers have what he calls "a strong voice."

Striking similarities

The plight of corrections officers (COs) is similarly disheartening. "I've had to break up bloody fights among violent inmates," says Tony Story, a 17-year veteran from Connecticut Local 387 (Council 4). He organized COs and law enforcement workers at the Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex. "These people are living with the same hazardous work conditions I've been through — but without decent wages and benefits."

One of them is Mike Goddard, a 13-year CO at the Western Kentucky Correctional Complex, confirms Story's account. "We're treated badly," he says. "I know of one officer, a single mother, who is paying almost $400 monthly to cover health insurance costs for herself and a child." Determined to change things, Goddard tapped his brother-in-law, an officer at the same facility, to talk to their 115 co-workers." The result: An impressive 75 of them signed membership "showing of interest" cards.

"It's dangerous work, and we're constantly exposed to inmates assaulting each other," says Robert Redmon, a CO at a minimum-security prison in Frankfort. "That's why I just can't sit around and wait for someone else to do something in our behalf." Having workers come from other states to assist him, he adds, was especially helpful.

Redmon has spent many days and nights talking to his co-workers wherever he can find them — in parking lots, bowling alleys, at home. Using his computer, he has conducted several e-mail blitzes. His efforts have paid off handsomely: Out of 30 officers, 24 have signed up.

Youth movement

The increasing number of young people working in these institutions is a source of grave concern to Connie Frederick, a Mercer County CO who is helping organize his co-workers. Says Frederick, "We've got officers with a wife and two kids, and they qualify for Food Stamps because they don't make enough money to support their families. These young guys grew up with my kids. They can't find any other employment."

Correct, says Joyce Bradley, a 15-year CO at the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women. "Some of them will make excellent officers but they won't be able to stay because they have families to feed. All of us old timers will be gone soon. I worry about the kinds of officers who will be left behind to run this place."

The 64-year-old Frederick, who plans to retire soon, is nonetheless pleased. Almost 90 percent of the COs in his shop voted to form a union last fall. For that, he didn't mind all the lost sleep and the incessant telephoning to co-workers. "My doctor thinks I'm stressed, but I don't realize it because I stay active most of the time," he jokes. In any case, he looks forward after retiring to helping other workers organize — just as AFSCME members helped him.

With younger COs stepping up, the ranks of VMOs and organizing-minded but unorganized workers are poised to grow even more. John Gibbons, 33, works at the Kentucky State Reformatory in La Grange. He had planned to leave after four years. "I figured I'd stick around because if we can pull together and build a union, we can definitely get something done.

"My father opened my eyes to the power of unions when he went on strike and his union won. I'd like to do the same thing: help my co-workers see what united action can do."

Despite differences in their backgrounds, each of these VMOs and like-minded workers agree on one thing: All the hard work pays off in the end. As Force puts it, "I feel like if I can get one, I can get a hundred. And if I can get a hundred, I can get a thousand."

Adds Bradley, an avid gardener: "Cultivating good union people is like gardening. We start from seeds and take care of them as they grow."

Mass. momentum

In Massachusetts, VMOs are making a difference as well. "If you're going to be a union member, you might as well be an active one," declares Paul Melville, a chief steward from Local 1067 (Council 93) in Cape Cod. "On a personal level," he points out, "it provides a break from the monotony of everyday work. It's nice to be able to get involved with the union on a more full-time basis."

Melville has been organizing Head Start workers in southeastern Massachusetts. A union member for only four years, he can draw from his experiences and share with workers the stark differences between union and non-union employees. "There is a sense of fairness in a union position. In non-union positions, employees often feel mistreated or feel that only people who are buddy-buddy with the boss get treated well — and if you don't kiss up to the boss, then you're subject to working the lousy shifts."

In Springfield, Donna Bowler, president of Local 1596, is working to support an internal organizing drive for a sister local. For five weeks, she's been making house calls. Aware of the union's new emphasis on organizing, Bowler volunteered to assist. "I just wanted to see the other side — how our council's organizing department works. I didn't know a lot about it, and as a local president, I wanted to learn more."

At ease

Bowler and Melville say house calling is a piece of cake. Bowler, who was leery at first, is surprised by the good reception she receives. "People are more comfortable talking to you in their living room than at the job. They start talking, and sometimes you wind up staying for quite some time."

Says Melville: "I'm fairly comfortable talking to people, but they're more receptive and willing to talk than I expected. It's well worth the time and effort invested."

According to Melville, their overall message is simple but powerful: "The larger we grow, the stronger we all get. As an active member, you'll get more out of the union."