AFSCME: Official Union of the Holiday Season
Wholesome and plentiful holiday food is part of AFSCME’s gift to the nation.
Ask people about their favorite holiday memories and they never seem to be about opening expensive gifts. What folks remember is what really matters: counting their blessings around a holiday table with friends and family.
Whether celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah or the New Year, this holiday season take a moment to consider the important role AFSCME members play in keeping your food wholesome, safe and abundant.
SOME THANKS. When you uncork your favorite California wine during the holidays, think of Ken Correia and his fellow members of Local 2703 (Council 57) in California’s San Joaquin Valley.
"Well, we don’t grow food or cook it," jokes the local president. "But we sure work hard to keep the fields producing."
Correia and his co-workers at the Patterson Water District supply the water sustaining many of California’s premier farms. Their work reaches your table in the form of tomatoes, beans, alfalfa, corn, walnuts, apricots, almonds, spinach, peas, cauliflower, broccoli, watermelon and cantaloupes.
"Don’t forget the wine," he adds. "We couldn’t have Christmas at my house without the wineries."
Indeed, AFSCME members in San Joaquin and nearby Modesto maintain the irrigation system and other services vital to scores of California vintners.
"It’s real crazy around here," says Correia, "but it makes us proud that our union plays a little part in the holidays."
CHILL OUT. Kwanzaa is something that appeals to Dennis McCraw of Local 3925 (Council 26) in Washington, D.C. The father of two purchases computer services for farm programs run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and is a long-time AFSCME member.
Kwanzaa was first celebrated in Southern California in the 1950s when activist Ron Karenga created a weeklong commemoration of African cultures and values between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Today Kwanzaa has blossomed into a cultural holiday for millions of African Americans.
"Kwanzaa’s not a religious event," says the deacon at Union Temple Baptist Church, "but a spiritual journey. We celebrate it at our church and at my home, where we keep the house open to everyone in the neighborhood to drop by."
When they do, it’s to recall umoja or "unity," over heaping platters of vegetarian cooking favored by the McCraw family. "It’s also an opportunity for my daughters to see an actual example of unity, of our neighbors and friends coming together here as a community," he says.
Best of all, "with all that delicious food and brotherhood," says McCraw, he sees his job in farm service as an extension of unity, of "helping my country be safer and better ... a place for families to enjoy good food all year long."
BIG ROLES. Without question his brothers and sisters at Local 3925 also play a big role in keeping food abundant and safe.
Ginny Broadbeck, president of the local, is proud of all the good work members do there.
"We’re not big shots," she says, "but our members are the ones who help keep the family farmer on the land."
In fact, members there provide support for state farm credit programs which offer farmers a variety of loans.
"We do ‘bad’ stuff, too," she says with a smile. "When Mother Nature gets rough, we’re there for states and counties running the emergency loan programs, helping when cattle die or the rains don’t come."
Other AFSCME members assist farm programs for American Indians. There is a vigorous conservation effort, Broadbeck explains, "with our environmental specialists working with whole communities to find better, safer, more sustainable ways to farm the land."
There’s the school lunch program, as well, along with humanitarian relief overseas, commodity surplus operations, "and a million other things in the hopper," she says.
"We don’t do it all at Local 3925," Broadbeck allows, "but we’re there every day for America’s farmers."
BY THE SEA. "Hey," laughs Trac Huynh, "you can’t have New Year’s without my wife’s famous oysters."
The Vietnamese American has a hand in the holiday delicacy as well: He’s a Fish and Wildlife Officer in Washington state and member of Local 881 (Council 28) in Olympia. His job is to "make sure the oysters and shellfish that go out to retailers [from Washington state] are from a safe source."
In fact, Washington is the nation’s second-largest producer of fresh shellfish and seafood, a multi-billion dollar industry that is built on consumer faith in the safety and healthfulness of the product.
Huynh (pronounced "Win") has a degree in fisheries biology and spends his days hopping on boats to visit gill nets and purse fisheries to check the catch. He inspects salmon fisheries and oyster beds to make certain all state laws are met.
"We tag ’em and weigh ’em," he says, "and we sure eat all this wonderful seafood at my house."
While his Oklahoma-born wife’s Christmas and New Year’s Eve dinners are big, traditional turkey and gravy affairs for their extended families, "we make sure we have oysters and maybe some fresh salmon to go around, too."
As for the importance of his work, Huynh is adamant, "AFSCME members like me help keep our food supplies safe, and that’s important work."
BY LAND. Andy Bommersbach, a steward for Local 1326 (Council 28) prefers his work on dry land.
He’s a horticultural inspector in the Yakima Valley, making certain packing houses, warehouses and food processors there get it right when it comes to labeling and safety.
From Yakima come huge supplies of fresh fruits and vegetables. While Washington state apples and pears often steal the limelight, the nation’s cooks also have eyes for Washington’s potatoes: bumper crops of Yukon Golds, russets, round reds and Number Ones.
"We’ll go over to my folks or my wife’s family for turkey, ham and potato salad," says Bommersbach, "and if I get a chance, I’ll drop a line in for some salmon or something like that, which I usually barbecue on the backyard grill."
His eight-person inspection crew makes certain that America’s grocery stores are supplied with produce meeting standards for maturity and shape, blemish and coloration controls, and otherwise high quality.
PRODUCE BETTER. They’re setting new standards at Michigan State University where agricultural research is an important field of study.
"I like a roast beef [at Christmas], myself," offers Jim Rose who is president of the 920-member Local 1585 (Council 25) at the East Lansing campus.
"The idea is to help producers produce better, safer food," he says.
Further west in Duluth, Minn., Janet Nelson is president of Local 2980 (Council 6), a 200-member unit responsible for inspecting the huge agricultural output of the Midwest as it passes through Duluth for processing at food plants around the country and overseas. Members inspect produce, monitor pesticide levels, and provide certification for all food shipments going overseas.
This fall her unit put in 70-hour weeks just to work the foodstuffs harvested for shipment. After all the hard work, she’s looking forward to "a traditional Christmas dinner at the big table of my parents’ house."
Unfortunately for Nelson, Minnesota doesn’t produce any of her favorite food, she complains, "chocolate, big gooey chocolate."
BIG JOB. "If you ever eat a McDonald’s fish sandwich," says Ernie Thomas, "be sure to thank an AFSCME member sometime."
He’s on the phone from Alaska, the nation’s number one seafood state. He’s having a ball and talking about one of the most adventurous public service jobs in America.
The shop steward of the Alaska State Employees Association/AFSCME Local 52 just got off a big trawler tossing around in the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia.
His job in the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Environmental Health, takes him to the chilly waters to make certain proper food safety standards and food service regulations are followed in the more than 1,000 factory ships pulling fish from the frigid North.
"We check on crabs, finned-fish processing and oyster farms within the state," says the former melon farmer from Southern California.
"It’s serious work," he says, "and that’s what makes it so interesting, enforcing the most comprehensive and effective seafood inspection program in the country."
It’s accomplished "by a happy union man," Thomas says, "and it makes America a better place."
By Ray Lane
Let's Talk Turkey
There are plenty of crises on the way to a perfect holiday dinner. Fortunately, there's free advice on safe and delicious cooking available by phone, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture hotline run in part by members of Local 3925 (Council 26) in Washington, D.C.
Agriculture Department Meat and Poultry Hotline (800) 535-4555, a 24-hour recorded message on food safety.
Food and Drug Administration Food Safety Hotline (800) 332-4010, recorded answers to food safety questions.
Shady Brook Farms Dial-a-Chef Hotline (888) 723-4468, recorded holiday cooking tips from nine chefs.
Land O'Lakes Holiday Bakeline (800) 782-9606, operators helpfully give advice and even look up recipes for you.
General Mills Cooking and Baking Hotline (800) 328-6787, operators field questions and even mail recipes.
Room At the Inn
When out-of-town guests show up for the holidays, union supporters may want to recommend nearby unionized hotels and restaurants. That's easy, thanks to a nationwide free database kept by the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union.
A Word of Thanks
When you're at home enjoying the holidays with friends and family, say a few words of thanks for the hundreds of thousands of AFSCME members on the job in hospitals, prisons, water treatment plants, police stations and emergency response units across the nation. Their work enables Americans to enjoy their holidays in safety. One such worker, Local 1705 (Council 93) member T.J. Cooper, reminds parents to check all new toys for small parts that could choke a child. Cooper, a senior dispatcher with the Lowell Police in Massachusetts, last year helped save the life of a 2-year-old who was choking on a game piece.
