In the first part of September, UE Eastern Region President George Waksmunski visited UE locals across New England to remind them of the basic tenets of UE principles, found in the preamble to our national constitution.
“Our union believes in aggressive, militant struggle,” he said. “We believe in rank and file control, and that all workers need to be united regardless of their age, race, sex, sexual orientation, political affiliation, or anything else.”
Top to bottom: George Waksmunski (in center, in red shirt) with members of Local 222-Sublocal 23, Waksmunski with members of Sublocal 5, members of Sublocal 25.
Waksmunski brought this message in an effort to revitalize locals and members in their struggles. He provided each group he visited with a copy of the national constitution and the pamphlet “Them and Us Unionism.”
“Through this education, all locals will be stronger and more leaders will be generated from our ranks,” he told the UE NEWS.
Among the locals Waksmunski visited were several sublocals of UE Local 222, a statewide amalgamated local of public-sector workers.
Members of Sublocal 23, who work for the town of East Windsor’s Water Pollution Control Authority, annually put together an economic report for their town. The report identifies the value of the local’s membership in terms of both cost savings and the value they provide to the town when there are serious problems. The group also creates and presents UE member “baseball cards” to the town identifying each of its members, their length of service, specialty skills, accreditations and other information. “This makes our members and the town leaders see our value and humanity,” commented Waksmunski. Local 222-23 member Steve Bednarz said “We try to create a culture within our membership to work together for the bigger picture such as our healthcare and pension.”
Sublocal 5 members at the town of Suffield’s Water Pollution Control Authority operate and maintain the water treatment facility, 80 miles of sewer lines, and 19 pumping stations. They process 2.02 million gallons of wastewater a day. The sublocal’s top issue besides wages and benefits remains to improve vacation accrual, Waksmunski reports. The local has been pressing for improved vacation accrual but after Waksmunski’s visit is planning a more aggressive struggle by exercising their right to engage in concerted activities in public.
Members of Sublocal 25, New Britain dispatchers, handle fire, police and emergency calls for the city. “The members have an amazing worksite of computer screens and protocols for dealing with thousands of situations,” reported Waksmunski. “The members are dealing with issues of short staffing. Because of their efforts the city is in the process of hiring several new employees to meet the need.”
The union has been pushing for emergency sleeping arrangements at the 911 work center. During the winter, and due to natural disasters which promise to occur more often due to climate change, dispatchers have been stranded at work — or can’t get to work to relieve those stranded there. Sublocal 25 President and GEB member Margaret Dabrowski said, “The City prioritized marble stairs over public safety.” The sublocal continues to push to address this situation.
All three sublocals were energized by the visits, reported Waksmunski. Bednarz said, “It was good for our new members to get introduced to the bigger picture of the UE and the labor movement. It really brought the union to life”.
“It really meant a lot to have a Regional officer visit,” added Dabrowski.”It put a face on the union and let us know we are not alone”.