Text Box: Page 4

Text Box: Page 2

Text Box:  SEIU Members Get Organized as Union Stewards Submitted by Silvia Rodriguez     Text Box:          

Text Box: On a recent Saturday in January, over twenty members of SEIU Local 620 joined together to collaborate and to improve their skills on how to be a Union Steward in their workplace.   Members from Goleta Water District, City of Santa Barbara, County of Santa Barbara, and Santa Barbara Courts attended.  Some of the reasons attendees cited for wanting to become a Steward was to hold management accountable and to know their rights in the workplace.    Several veteran Stewards also attended the training to give some feedback on their experiences as a Steward.  Dawn Lester, a member from the County of Santa Barbara, talked about her most recent experience on the Political Action Committee (PAC) and the process for endorsing candidates.  Members of a PAC represent SEIU members’ interests in the endorsement process for political candidates.  Ms. Lester described her experiences on the PAC as “amazing” and strongly encouraged other members to be involved in the PAC process.   This included interviewing the candidates face to face, Ms. Lester, in the end, voted to endorse Janet Wolf, as a result of Ms. Wolf’s position on the issues most important to SEIU 620 members.  Ms. Lester’s participation in the PAC was a direct result of her being a Steward and a leader in her workplace in the County of Santa Barbara’s Social Services Department.    At the training, much of the discussion centered on members’ rights in the workplace.  Members learned about Weingarten Rights, the right to due process and the right to a Skelly hearing.  Members also learned about alternatives to filing grievances.  In the workplace, while filing a grievance is necessary for documentation, it allows production to continue without disruption.  True Union power is when Union members come together to take action on an issue of concern.  Some examples of effective actions to move an issue are: members signing petitions; members writing letters to City Council; members showing up at a City Council meeting; members wearing purple on a given day; members taking breaks together, also known as ‘Unity Breaks’, and so on.  All of these actions are examples of ways Local 620 members have come together to exercise their power as a Union and have won on behalf of our members to bring about change in the workplace.  After all, we are stronger together!  

Text Box: One other highlight of the Stewards’ training was the introduction of Local 620’s new Political Director:  Mario Chavez.  Mr. Chavez previously worked as Local 620’s Organizer and also helped with the November 2006 elections.  Currently, Mr. Chavez is working to help re-organize the Steward Program as well as working on politics as they affect our members’ interests.   Future Stewards’ trainings will be held as soon as practicable.  If you are interested in becoming or being trained as a Steward, please call 963.0601 to be placed on the list.  All attendees must RSVP for their attendance.  Until the next Stewards’ training, please note your Weingarten Rights listed on page 5.  (See pictures of the Stewards’ training below).