CWA 1180 - News

Local 1180 members speak from across the generations
In commemoration of the local's 40th anniversary
January 2006

Annie Bowen, joined 1965
Gwen Richardson, joined 1976
Rafael Ortiz, joined 1987
Michael Lamb, joined 1993
Erin Mahoney, joined 2003, & Keramet Reiter, joined 2004

Annie Bowen, 92
Joined 1965
Retiree

While a member of AFSCME Local 371, Annie Bowen spent eight days in jail for going out on strike in defiance of a state law banning job actions by city workers. She and 18 others took over the prison, she says, holding 24-hour-a-day pickets until they were finally released.

In those days, all welfare center workers were in the same local, regardless of job title, and the experience made her loyal to DC 37. “We gave eight days of our lives to that union,” she says.

But around that time, the mostly Irish, mostly college educated city supervisors had formed a new body, the Municipal Management Society, which soon affiliated with Communications Workers of America as Local 1180. “The people who formed the Society didn’t want to mix with the herd,” says Bowen. “They didn’t want to be a union, but an association.” Still, as captain of three welfare centers, Bowen was considered a supervisor and had to come along to 1180. She brought her labor militancy with her and soon became secretary of the local.

“We didn’t have a regular place to meet, so we met in an auditorium on Worth Street, at a synagogue on Gold Street,” she recalls. “We didn’t have a plush office on Hudson Street. You worked full time, went to your desk every day, and held union meetings at night. Our positions with the city were precarious, because of our union activity. And we never got any fancy trips anywhere. The only trip I got was that trip to the civil jail.”

In her early days with the local, the bulk of her colleagues remained Irish or Jewish men. “I was one of the first blacks who joined,” she says. “But everything changed when different people started passing the exams.”

As a retiree, Bowen has remained active, serving for years as secretary of the Retired Members Club, and she remains a union stalwart. “The only thing you have to show for yourself is a show of power in the union,” she says. “Honey, it’s a lifesaver.”

Gwen Richardson, 60
Joined 1976
Officer

Gwen Richardson laughs when she thinks back to the horrible working conditions she used to face at city welfare centers in the 1970s. “They would close buildings and three years later open them up again without doing any repairs,” she recalls. “This one building where I worked was dirty, the light bulbs were dim, and it was overrun with spiders and mice.” When a visit to the director didn’t produce any improvements, Richardson called up Local 1180 and said, “I need to change this and you need to tell me how.” She became a shop steward after that, and her first union victory was to get the city to exterminate and put in new lighting.

Another battle she’s proud of was the local’s fight to open the doors to top civil service jobs. “They hadn’t given the Administrative Manager test in 10 years, and it was because they didn’t want to displace who was there,” she recalls. The union held rallies, filed a major court action, and got the test offered. Then the local had to fight to get people hired off of the list. “Maybe they didn’t want to use the list because of the race and gender of those who passed,” Richardson says, “but we won that battle.”

Over the years, the union has given Richardson, who is now 1180’s recording secretary, “a sense of empowerment,” she says. “By yourself, you can’t accomplish a lot, but as a group you can accomplish more.” In the coming years, she hopes to see Local 1180 meet the challenges of downsizing. “We can’t look ahead and say our children will have these jobs,” she says. “The challenge is to protect what we have and continue to gain more, no matter how small. We have health care that is almost free, and we need to hold onto that. And we need to keep organizing to grow this union.”

Rafael Ortiz, 49
Joined 1987
Committee member

It was in 1989, Rafael Ortiz recalls, when he, Charles Garcia, and William Santiago got together to create Local 1180’s first Hispanic Committee. “We’d bring in singing groups and organize dances,” he recalls. “We’d do art exhibits to promote the culture, and my wife would cook so people could taste some real Spanish food.” One of his favorite programs involved musicians singing Puerto Rican plenas and explaining the political history of the musical form. “If people weren’t treated right, you’d sing out a song called a plena,” Ortiz says. “It was a song of protest.”

Ortiz joined the civil service in 1978, after an expose about poor treatment of Latino clients at welfare centers spurred the city to hire some 400 bilingual workers. He joined 1180 when he was promoted to PAA and now works as a staff development coordinator. Trainers like Ortiz work at multiple job sites, and one of his challenges as a shop steward is to get everyone together to discuss their concerns.

He is now working with Garcia and others to revive the Hispanic Committee, with two important goals—celebrating the cultures of the 700 or more Latino members of Local 1180 and developing a financial counseling program for Local 1180 members. “We want to help union members get a hold of their own financial situation,” he says, “to plan for the future and maybe even be able to buy their own place.”

Michael Lamb, 52
Joined 1993
Staff rep

Health care privatization has exerted tremendous pressures on public hospitals, as Michael Lamb knows first-hand. He was working at Bellevue when an agency merger took place, designed to compete with a major private corporation. “Once they got the new operation up and running, they became very private sector-like,” he recalls. “The atmosphere became stifling, near repressive, especially in how they handled time and leave.” He’d been coming in weekends to keep up with work and chafed against the new restrictions. Soon the star employee, who rose from PAA I to PAA III within a single year, was being brought up on disciplinary charges. “We fought that back, but the experience left a bad taste in my mouth,” he says. “I became a shop steward at that point.”

Now, as a staff rep, he feels a deep responsibility to serve the members, and earn their respect. “We have to be mindful that we’re living, breathing embodiments of the labor movement whenever we walk into a hearing or an agency,” he says. “I learn as I go, but I always try to give my best.”

A highlight of his years with the local was a 2003 rally for fair taxes on the steps of the main post office. “I remember walking down Eighth Avenue, and I could hear the noise from blocks away,” he recalls. “I merged in and got lost in the crowd, just basking in the thing. We were a commanding presence, and I was proud to be a part of it.”

In the years to come, Lamb says he’d like to see the union play a stronger role on the Municipal Bargaining Committee. “In my view, Local 1180 hews closer to what the labor movement should be than DC 37,” he says. “Now that I’m a rep I don’t just read about Bill and Linda and Arthur in the paper, I talk to these folks. I’ve felt Bill’s fire for the labor movement; I’ve listened to Arthur express his old school left-wing values, which are more important now as the country shifts to the right and our labor and civil rights are being eroded.” Lamb says he wants to do what he can to “embody that 1180 spirit.”

Erin Mahoney, 26
Joined 2003
Shop steward

Keramet Reiter, 25
Joined 2004
Shop steward

When Keramet Reiter first got hired at Human Rights Watch, she was surprised to find out that the nonprofit organization was a union shop. “As time went on, I became more and more aware of why it’s necessary,” she says. “It’s a question of caring about the mission of the organization and also caring about the staff itself.” Within a year, she was elected shop steward.

At Human Rights Watch, she says, people work long hours and the pay is far lower than it would be in the private sector. “There’s this idea that as someone making the choice to do good, you’re expected to give over all of your time and resources,” she says. “But the entry level salaries just aren’t livable, especially if you’re supporting kids or paying off loans.”

On all of these issues, says Erin Mahoney, another Human Rights Watch shop steward, “the union gives us a voice. It means management has to sit down at the table and discuss issues that affect us. Without it, we’re just a bunch of individuals, but with it, we’ve been able to make changes that improve the organization.” One victory: overtime pay.

Mahoney says being part of Local 1180 also provides a connection to the broader labor movement, “a way to think of ourselves not just as workers within Human Rights Watch, but as part of the working class. It helps us raise consciousness that we’re not just fighting for human rights around the world, but for our own as well.”

She’d like to see Local 1180 help to build an independent labor party, because “we need a platform that addresses the rights of working people in America, the need for a shorter work week and universal health care. Local 1180 is doing a lot to raise those issues, but it could do more.”

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