I've been a Social Worker at Harlem Hospital for 10 years, working on inpatient medical units doing discharge planning. I've been a Shop Steward for about 8 of those years, and its been the most rewarding way I've participated in our union. With the support of our DC37 Reps, I've successfully defended members in disciplinary hearings and convinced managers to make fair accommodations for our members. We've also sought out the most common contract violations at our hospital (systematically surveying for payroll and time-keeping errors, for example) and built unity around issues that go beyond what our contracts can guarantee. We can win a lot with this simple strategy, and as 2nd Vice President, responsible for organizing and Shop Stewards, I plan to transform our Stewards program into a much more powerful tool. 

My plans for building Local 768's Shop Stewards program

As hard as it is, defending our right to due-process in discipline and enforcing our contracts is only the foundation that an effective Shop Steward program builds on. We must also be ambitious, and look for the issues that are deeply important to many of our members, and fight hard for them even if our contract doesn't promise us an easy win. In 2013 Social Workers at Harlem and Lincoln hospitals were appalled that new hires were being paid roughly 10% more than they were, and after 9 months of diligent organizing -- letters, meetings, more petitions and more meetings -- we won comparable increases. Though we were only organizing at two facilities, it ended up benefiting everyone: The next year our union was able to negotiate a similar deal for all Social Workers in H+H.

To be effective leaders among their coworkers, Stewards must be accountable, skilled and informative:

• Accountable: All Stewards must be elected by the members they represent
• Skilled: Stewards need the practical knowledge on how to read, interpret and enforce our contracts effectively. Instead of history lectures, Stewards meetings will explore our most common issues our members face today and how we can resolve them definitively.
• Informative: Stewards need the basic contact information and modern communication tools to keep in touch with our members - especially now, as so many continue to work remotely

To accomplish this, we've already developed some of the tools Stewards need

• Contract summaries: For many years, we've used contract summaries specific to each title at our hospital, and detailed enough so members can easily look at their pay stubs and time sheets to be sure they are getting every penny they are entitled to and every hour of paid time off they've earned. The days of being handed a 'jump-drive' with hundreds of confusing files are over. As we negotiate new contracts, we update them and re-distribute, actively making sure our members are getting the compensation they deserve. It was this basic strategy that uncovered over $30k in pay that we were able to recover for just one small group of Dental Assistants.
  
• Modern communication tech: Stewards must be able to easily communicate with their fellow members by email and text ... its just a reality of modern life. Using a couple apps available for every smart-phone, we can make this easy Stewards and ensure members are well-informed. Our team of candidates has already been using these tools, and we're ready to roll them out to all Stewards.
• New member orientations: Starting a new job can be stressful, especially in a large city bureaucracy and our complicated benefit systems. One-on-one meetings with every new member are key to ensuring that they understand their rights, compensation and responsibilities. A good orientation takes time, but its time well-spent, and our Union can make sure that Stewards have the time and materials needed.