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As part of the union’s continuing effort to better organize our clerical members on a variety of issues which concern them at work and improve their communication with MSEA, a second clerical meeting was held on January 10 at the Atrium Hotel in Waterville. Over 70 clerical employees attended the day-long gathering, cut short by a snowstorm but nevertheless a successful second step forward in the process of developing specific goals and increased clerical participation. MSEA staff member Betty Robinson, who helped organize the meeting (and the first one last November), noted that nine of those attending signed up to join as Administrative Services representatives to the Statewide Bargaining Committee, which will be monitoring upcoming contract talks. The group also endorsed a number of clerical priorities discussed at the earlier meeting. “In three short months,” Robinson said, “we’ve had some real organizing success getting peopie involved. But ifs important that we keep expectations in line with reality, too. Some concrete things should come out of this round of bargaining.” Focus on the bargaining process and the state legislature are two ways that clerical workers and MSEA intend to address major concerns like air quality standards in state buildings, overly broad job descriptions in clerical classifica tions which often prevent either promotion or reclassification, and recognition for acting capacity work, among other issues. Collective bargaining and lobbying for legislative change are two of MSEA’s basic functions and clerical employees need to learn how to use each effectively. “We do have receptive people in the legislature,” MSEA Executive Director Phil Merrill told those gathered in Waterville. “Some of them are here today.” Discussing MSEA’s current childcare pilot program in Bangor, which will hopefully mark the beginning of statewide childcare for state workers, Merrill also noted “Governor McKernan’s commit ment to daycare at the workplace.” In an afternoon session, Senator Bev Bustin (D-Augusta) and Representatives Elaine LaCroix (D-Oakland) and Omar Norton (R-Winthrop) met with clerical employees and urged them to seek change through the legislative process. “It can’t work without you,” Bustin said. “You owe it to yourself to improve your own work situation, and you owe it to our society as a whole. I’m willing to give what I can and I challenge you to do the same.” A number of those at the meeting expressed interest in being a part of what MSEA does in the legislature. Plans were also discussed for an MSEA clerical caucus as a way to monitor interests of clerical employees and help coordinate membership efforts in their behalf. Suggestions were made to hold smaller versions of the Waterville meeting in local offices, seeking support for clerical priorities. 1987 may be a year of high hopes for the clerical workforce, but it must also be a time of increased participation. What the union can do, and will do, to make the clerical job a more rewarding one depends to a large extent on the persistence of those employees who wish to see expectations become reality.
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Two-Way Street: At the January clerical meeting in Waterville, employees and several legislators met to talk about improving jobs through the legislative process. At the head table: MSEA staff member John Lemieux, Elaine Lacroix (D-Oakland), Omar Norton (R-Winthrop), and Senator Bev Bustin (D-Augusta).
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113th Legislature: House Speaker John Martin gavels the new House of Representatives to order at mid-January start of session. MSEA has a number of legislative priorities to put before legislators.
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