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[The Public] March *Spring Newsletter*

March 2022


Spring 2022 Issue

This month’s [The Public] BULLETIN is highlighting member contributions to the newly re-issued Local 768 quarterly newsletter, landing in print at your doorstep soon! We are proud to announce that this issue was wholly written by members of Local 768, covering issues you care about, in ways only frontline workers like you can express.


IN THIS ISSUE | President's Memo | Social Work Chapter election results | SI Amazon Workers Unionize


IN THIS ISSUE

All articles are available by clicking them above or accessing them through the blog.

PRESIDENT'S MEMO

The Fight for Telework

Exciting Start for the
Social Work Chapter

FAQ: Your Weingarten Rights

SPOTLIGHT: H+H Coders Petition

UPDATE: DC 37 Executive Board Elections

MEMBER ACCOUNT: Lillian Roberts Women's Leadership Academy

BUILDING POWER: Member Action Teams (MAT)

Get in touch with your New Council Reps


President's Memo

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

I cannot thank you enough for the work that has been done over the past year and continues to this day. Members of our local have felt overworked, underappreciated, abused by our State, City, and in some cases, our Union. It has been a chaotic year on the job with added duties, changes in assignments, and vaccine mandates. While a majority of our members got vaccinated, there were members who were forced to take leave without pay, resigned, or were terminated. Additionally, the return to office policies came with broken assurances of a safe work environment.

Despite all of this, we members of Local 768, whether on site or remotely, worked to serve our City and its citizens.
Again, THANK YOU.

Local 768 has been through many changes within the past year. The new officers of 768 have worked hard to improve communication with members.

We want to be aware of what is happening with our members, and we want to keep members informed as well. While things have not been perfect, we are making every effort to ensure issues among all job titles are heard and addressed. As a team who ran to Rebuild our union, we cannot do this without your strength and knowledge. Change will not come overnight, but the team of officers are working hard, and with your information from the field and your active involvement, we can make this happen.

Let me go over some of the past events through the last year. Many want to know what happened to Hazard Pay/Essential Pay. DC 37 continues to fight for this. It has not been easy, and it has yet to be determined who will be entitled to this compensation, if anyone. Former Mayor de Blasio told the New York Times that in order for compensation to take place, New York State would have to give the City more money. It is the hope that with Mayor Adams some resolution can be found.

The policy changes regarding vaccine mandates were probably the hardest issue our union faced in the past year. DC 37 sought injunctions for the vaccine mandates and was unsuccessful in the court system, but reached the best possible agreement given the circumstances to give members the time needed to decide what was best for them.

The last is teleworking. Local 768 is committed to bringing the issue to the forefront for our members. We as the Local will continue to advocate for the passage of the NYC Telework Expansion Act. We also need you, the members, to help us achieve this goal.

There is much more work to be done in our Local and this work cannot be done without the members. As I have said before in Title/Chapter meetings and at General membership meetings, we as officers need feedback as to what is happening at your workplaces. Management’s primary goal is to make the Union weaker and disempower the members of their rights. To counter this, I call on you to step up and get involved. Let’s work together to Rebuild this local.

In Solidarity,
Carmen De León, President
and Local 768's Leadership Team


Social Work Chapter election results

Thank you to all the Social Workers who participated in our recent Social Work Chapter elections! Out of 971 eligible voters, 114 voted, and we now have new Chapter leaders elected directly by you!

Our Chapter Chair and Secretary were unopposed, and therefore automatically elected:

  • Chair: Karen Ramirez (H+H / Elmhurst)
  • Secretary: Sharon Bryan (H+H / Community Care)
Here are the results for the election of Vice Chair:
  • Jane Lima-Negron (H+H / Gouverneur): 77
  • Lawrence Harewood (H+H / Elmhurst): 18
  • Sabu Thomas (H+H / Woodhull): 2
  • Dana Newton (H+H / Queens): 3
  • Waheeda Sohan (H+H / Kings County): 8
If you are not a Social Worker, but interested in helping start a Chapter for your title, please let us know here.

Victory for Staten Island Amazon Workers

Congratulations to the Amazon workers at the JFK8 Staten Island Amazon warehouse who just voted overwhelmingly to be represented by the Amazon Labor Union! The 8,300 workers here will be the first Amazon workers in the US to unionize, which marks a stunning victory for organized labor against the second largest employer in the country. Solidarity!

Want to contribute to the next Local 768 Newsletter? Email [email protected] with your draft or idea.
The deadline for submissions for the next issue (June 2022) is May 1st, 2022.

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Summer 2024 Chapter Leadership Election Results

September 09, 2024

The Local 768 Election Committee oversaw the elections for the following officers of four Chapters over the two few months: Social Work Chapter: Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary Public Health Sanitarians: Run-off election for Vice-Chairperson Public Health Advisors and Assistants: Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary DCWP...

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