Second Vice-President: In the absence of the first vice-president or in the first vice-president’s inability to serve, the second vice-president shall assume the duties performed by the first vice-president. The second vice-president shall be responsible with providing each chapter an up-to-date membership list and actively involved in activities to increase membership. The second vice-president shall be an automatic delegate to all AFSCME and NYS AFL-CIO conventions.
- Migdalia Acevedo
- Thomas M. Constantine
- Harry Donas
- Zach Schultz
Questions:
1. What makes you the best candidate for 2nd Vice President?
What drives you to serve the members in this role?
Migdalia Acevedo
The rampant abuse in the workplace against employees led me to the union. The desire to change the status quo kept me there. Becoming second Vice President For Local 375 will give me an opportunity to become an active part of the leadership that can help effect that change. I believe the union needs people who will work tirelessly to improve working conditions, promote pay equality and create career opportunities for all members. It’s not the union that makes the member, it is the member that makes the union.
Thomas M Constantine
I am excited and engaged to serve the members of our Local 375 in this new position for me. As the past Local 375 Treasurer I had the pleasure to serve under 4 past Presidents and during very challenging Executive Boards. I work well with people and have always respected opinions and given respect back. Our members deserve a 2nd VP who will listen to members concerns and mobilize the disenfranchised to count on me to be there for them. Membership in unions is faltering and we must rise to embrace there concerns and serve them at the highest level.
As current NYCDOT Chapter 37 President and past First VP, 2nd VP and grievance representative at NYCDOT service to you the member has alway been paramount. I have embraced transparency, honesty, integrity and a fighter for members rights.
Harry Donas
I think the most important factors that members must feel about their union officials are trust and confidence: To trust that union officials will always put the interests of the members first and to have confidence in the advice and actions of their union reps. I have been President of what is now the largest Chapter [Chapter 8, DEP] in Local 375 since 2008 and I believe that my members feel I have these qualities. I cannot say I am better than other candidates but I do get great satisfaction when we confront management and stop their illegal actions such as DEP's recent attempt to limit excused latenesses. I treat my ~650 members as if they are my bosses (who also expect me to hold monthly chapter meetings full of information and food)! Ultimately, I want members to like and appreciate their union.
Zachary Schultz
The 2nd Vice President is responsible for outreach to, education of, and enrollment of membership for the union. I have experience with all of those roles both in and out of the union. Outside, I have worked on campaigns to gain rank and file support for raising the minimum wage to $15 in multiple states. Inside the union I have been the Next Wave committee chair where I planned and facilitated multiple events teaching union members about their benefits and protections on the job. I am also a member of the Local 375 delegate body where I take detailed notes and let members at my worksite know the goings on of our union.
I want to be the 2nd Vice President because I know myself and many others are tired of a union that doesn’t even do the basics of informing its members or soliciting feedback and priorities.
2. What is the most important thing you will focus on if you are elected?
Migdalia Acevedo
Equality in the workplace on all levels, pay out of accumulated sick time in the event of death, the granting of snow days, the restoration of alternative work schedules for all members and the promotion of S.T.E.M (Science, Technology, Enginneering, Math) so union employees can grow and change their career paths and work locations within those 4 disciplines with ease.
Thomas M Constantine
The duties of the 2nd VP as per our new Local 375 Constitution is to serve in the absence of the First VP, provide current membership lists to Chapter Presidents and be actively involved in activities to increase membership. These functions in the past administrations of the local were not properly maintained and timely to the Chapters. I will be timely and efficient with my duties as I was Treasurer for over ten years working with all elected Chapter Presidents and Executive Board members. Working cohesively and respectfully in all functions of the position of 2nd VP towards members is important at this cross road for uniting us as a Local 375 CSTG. Taking our Local back from AFSCME administration is important now and restoring the pride we deserve will embrace more members to participate and maintain there status as members.
Harry Donas
Along with my constitutionally required duties, I will focus on the abuses of civil service that are currently ongoing that nobody seems to be doing anything about. I recently complained about QIE exams being held for Administrative Project Manager only a few months before Open Competitive and Promotional Exams were offered for this title. This gave provisionals who are favored by management an unfair advantage over our rank and file members. The current Administratorship did nothing, as far as I can tell, to stop this, but members can trust that, if I were in a position of higher authority in the union, I would have fought this abuse. Other civil service issues I would advocate for include establishing citywide promotional lists; currently promotional lists are only valid at a member's current agency, therefore their citywide opportunities are unjustly limited.
Zachary Schultz
Getting members the information they need. My team and I will make sure there are regular meetings, events, and newsletters that educate our members about their benefits, their protections, and what they’re owed. We will also ensure that chapter presidents and delegates have the resources and training they need to conduct productive meetings and provide members with the best quality union support possible.
3. What are your plans to expand membership in our local?
Migdalia Acevedo
I believe that if you provide good service you don’t have to go out there looking for members. New members come looking for you. I think we need to:
- Change the landscape in the workplace. There is no union presence in the workplace. That’s a problem.
- toot our horns. Let the world know what we are doing through the members! They are the best marketing you can have.
- Pass the baton! We must first educate the younger generation through hands on participation and structured education so they can be prepared to take charge and catapult the union into the 21st Century and beyond!
- Use technology to lure in the millennials. I would advocate for the creation of nteractive kiosks in every city (these can be public/private partnerships with schools, banks, etc) where they can come in and learn to use or leverage the latest technology to use or leverage the
Thomas M Constantine
Stemming the loss of members from the Janus decision is paramount at this time in order to grow our membership. The Local 375 with DC37 leadership needs to expand our role with M-2 titles and M-3 titles (non-managerial) as additional members.
Within all our titles there are pay equity or parity of pay within all agencies. This fight to increase pay for any inequities will be at the front to energize and increase membership enrollment. Hiring within titles from the outside sector at higher salaries then career civil servants is blatantly wrong and must stop. At NYCDOT we are starting to address these issues of improper pay equity for woman and men performing the same function. All titles deserve this review and higher salaries are a must in these financially challenging times.
I am asking for your vote to the Local 375 Executive Board as your 2nd Vice President.
Harry Donas
To expand membership in the Local, we must provide valuable services to the members. Too many members feel that the union just takes their money. I want to change the mindset of these members. We also need to be able to reach out to new employees right away and discuss the benefits of membership and the drawbacks of not being a member. There is a saying that "All Politics is Local", meaning that your neighborhood politicians and your union probably have a bigger impact on your life than even the President of the United States. So we have to help convince members to get involved in their union in order to have a say in their future. The more members are involved, the better and stronger the union will be, and the more likely that management will respect us.
Zachary Schultz
Currently, chapter presidents get monthly updates on the status of their membership. I will make sure that each president stays on top of member outreach each month by having them submit a list, with documentation, of each potential member that they have contacted. Additionally, I will make sure that Local 375 hosts meetings and events closer to work sites so that all members, and potential members, are aware of the benefits that they receive from the union, which I have experience conducting through my work with the Next Wave committee. Now that unions are entitled to access to employee orientations, this is also a prime opportunity for making sure that new employees learn about their union benefits and protections and get integrated into the union.