Published 30 Jun, 2014
The Transit, Universities, Utilities and Services Division held its annual meeting on June 12 and 13th in Philadelphia. The Division-wide meeting of local officers is a forum for open discussion, strategic planning, and solidarity building for a stronger Division across the country.
“We want to make our efforts on the International and local levels as effective as possible,” said Division Director Jerome Lafragola.
“We have some very large locals in Transit and we’re a very diverse Division in terms of the work that we do—but many of our locals are dealing the same challenges in working with their employers, regardless of the local’s size, our work, or our geographical region. We are all one another’s greatest resource.”
TWU International President Harry Lombardo gave division officers an overview of the International’s plan of action for making political inroads in this year’s midterm elections. He stressed the importance of active local participation in the TWU State Conferences—across all divisions—in order to make strides in 2014.
“America is on the wrong track,” said Lombardo. “We have to look beyond ourselves as just union people versus everybody else. We are all citizens, community residents, tax payers, and voters. We participate in community activities and church activities.
“When the labor movement grew, it grew because that’s where it was—in the communities. We have to get back to not just being labor guys fighting over labor issues, we have to push ourselves back out into our communities and talk about the value of organized labor.”
As part of the proceedings, all officers in attendance offered insights on recent developments at their locals and the political climate in their home regions.
Andrea Wohleber, a School Policy Representative at the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department (TTD), gave a legislative overview on challenges in union representation and organizing of school bus drivers across America.
The latter half of the division meeting was devoted to officer and staff training, an initiative across TWU. The International brought in John Kretzschmar, the Director of the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s William Brennan Institute of Labor Studies to lead the division’s local leadership in an education and skill-building workshop. The presentation, titled “How to Effectively Talk Union,” was aimed at targeted training for more effective political advocacy.
“We are working to put into place programs that really help to develop our local officers and staff,” said Lombardo. “The TWU is doing this on every level of our organization, so that we can deliver the best possible representation and advocacy for our members.”