Spotlight On Activists: Mission Achieved

It all started when Diane Klement, then a teacher's aide in New York's Riverhead School District, discovered she was getting 10 cents an hour less than she received in her first paycheck. Management ignored her inquiries, prompting her to poke around to see how others handled similar situations.

"When I found out there was no union to protect us, I made some calls and set up a number of meetings," Klement recalls. "The response was encouraging." In a few weeks, she was elected president of the newly formed teacher's aide unit of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)/AFSCME Local 1000, representing 100 members at the time.

From that day — 25 years ago — to this, she has been an activist. In 1995, due largely to her grassroots organizing work, she was elected president of the 6,000-strong Suffolk County Educational Association (Local 870). To date, she has brought in 76 school units — representing bus drivers, clerical workers and teachers aides. She also puts together an annual career day, designed to help members advance professionally.

To recognize Klement's years of "dedication, determination and tireless devotion to doing the right thing," CSEA recently presented her with its Mission Achievement Award.