As a Labor Standards Investigator at the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection I help workers win back stolen wages when their rights have been violated by their employers under NYC labor law. I have been a DC37, Local 768 member for two years and have served as a shop steward for the past year. My most meaningful union experiences have been organizing coworkers for health and safety in the middle of this pandemic, which was informed by two years as a shop steward at my previous job and a background in Labor at CUNY’s School of Labor and Urban Studies. As Recording Secretary I am responsible for maintaining union minutes and communications, to not only provide members transparency and accountability for the decisions made as a union, but to actively listen and work with my union brothers and sisters to provide the tools you need to make a difference.

Contact Information

Email: [email protected]

Cell: (434) 321-1238

Prior to working for the City of New York, I was a TWU Local 100 shop steward representing my coworkers at Citibike. Through this formative experience, I learned the power of organizing direct actions against the boss to win tangible improvements on the job. This was how we won job security and substantial pay raises as formerly temporary workers, and demanded the respect we deserved from front-line supervisors.

The lessons I learned from rank-and-file organizing carried over to my current position when, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, everyone’s safety was put at risk. Through organizing in my office to hold our agency head accountable, I saw how – in the darkest times – members will step up to support each other and collectively take control over their working conditions if given the tools to do so. Unfortunately, during this same period, I also witnessed our Local leadership discourage, disrupt, and outright dismiss those same activists from participating in efforts to open up the union to greater member involvement.

As city workers, we are facing immense challenges: a global pandemic that’s ravaged our communities, a political-economic crisis that’s put our lives in a tailspin, and a system of racist state violence that compound both issues, harming Black and Brown communities the most. We don’t expect “business as usual” to get us out of this mess in the white house – why should we expect any different in our own union?

I pledge to not only provide transparency and accountability for the decisions made as a union but to also facilitate and complement the bold structural changes to our union that the Rebuild slate is seeking. I will work to establish a rank-and-file communications network that includes:

• Messaging, email and app-based services for Chapter leaders to communicate with members in their title and Local leadership
• Advanced database facilities to support a bottom-up reorganization of the Steward network
• Online networks to reflect the voice and aspirations of the rank and file

These communication structures will provide the tools needed for our members to truly have a voice and build strong, organized units at the workplace capable of winning.