Shade Shines

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA

With his beard and long hair, Larry Shade looks like he would rather be engaging in his greatest passion — river rafting — than organizing for the United Nurses Associations of California, an affiliate of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees (NUHHCE)/AFSCME Local 1199.

But Shade, 45, plans to devote the rest of his professional life to union organizing. As the first recipient of the Joey Parisi Memorial Scholarship, Shade will continue his education toward a bachelor’s degree in labor studies at the George Meany Center in Silver Spring, Md., in conjunction with the McGregor School of Antioch University.

The scholarship was established to honor the memory of Parisi, an "organizer’s organ-izer," who worked for AFSCME International for more than 20 years before his untimely death in 1995. The scholarship is granted for a one-year period and may be renewed for a second year.

Shade began his union career a decade ago as an activist for the United Paperworkers International and later joined the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers. He began working for the United Nurses Associations of California in 1990 and helped organize 2,600 nurses in the six hospitals that are a part of Sharp HealthCare in San Diego.

Shade’s goal is to rise to a higher level of responsibility in union work. The Parisi Scholarship is a step in the right direction.

The Parisi Scholarship is open to full-time AFSCME staff with substantial organizing experience. Those interested should contact the Meany Center at (301) 431-5410. Applications must be postmarked no later than Oct. 31, 1997, and the winner — selected by the Meany Center — will be announced by Dec. 1, 1997.