21 LA members Randy Zwez, Belinda Pidgeon, Leon Goudeau and Herman Branford along with Baton Rouge organizer Barbara Carter attended a three-day retreat sponsored by Together Baton Rouge. The retreat was held at the Jacobs Retreat Center in Utica, Mississippi on February 9-11.
The training was a modified version of a week-long IAF national training, which is widely recognized as one of the most effective leadership development trainings in the country. It was conducted by organizers from around the country and focused on the concepts, skills and practices we’ve found help leaders build institutions and broad-based organizations.
“I learned alot by participating in this training and working with other community leaders,” said 21 LA member, Herman Branford.
Joynell Henderson enjoys life’s simple pleasures – spending time with her family and rooting for her favorite football team, the New Orleans Saints. The New Orleans woman has been married for more than 30 years and has three adult children and 11 grandchildren.
Things aren’t complicated to Mrs. Henderson, and doing the right thing is simple, which is why Mrs. Henderson is a leader in her union, SEIU Local 21 LA. It makes sense.
Mrs. Henderson is a cook at Dillard University as well as a 21 LA shop steward.
“I wanted to be a part of something that was growing to help other people and the community,” said Mrs. Henderson, who has been a union member for three years. “I sign up my co-workers. I fight for whatever they need. Some of them are scared to talk for themselves and that’s where I come in. I go beyond the call of duty to make sure they get what they need.”
Mrs. Henderson’s service doesn’t end with her coworkers at Dillard University. She helps wherever she is needed. In the past, she has worked to help Tulane University food service workers
“We have to get everyone on board. Not just the school system. We need city hall workers to fight to make it better. We need all workers to stand up and fight for each other,” Mrs. Henderson said. “If we pull everyone together and get a union for everyone, everyone would be better off.”
When Flanders Hall talks about his union SEIU 21 LA, the Baton Rouge man’s message is simple: “Together we stand. Divided we fall.”
The 52-year-old is a maintenance II worker for the City of Baton Rouge, and has been a member of 21 LA for three years.
“I believe in unions,” Hall said. “I’ve been with 21 LA from the beginning ,and I’m going to be here until the end.”
The SEIU International Executive Board met in New Orleans last week and were treated to some great food, a little fun and learning how 21LA is leading the fight for a fair economy in Louisiana.
21 LA Members with International President, Mary Kay Henry in New Orleans, January 2012.
21LA member Belinda Antoine met with SEIU President Mary Kay Henry and helped welcome the IEB with a gift from 21lA members. She said that, “It’s great that the IEB are in Louisiana. We did our best to show SEIU leaders both southern hospitality and how coalition building is helping to fight for good jobs in Louisiana. I think the IEB was impressed by how it’s bearing fruit in Baton Rouge and New Orleans.”
21 LA Member Herman Addision and Baton Rouge Organizer Barbara Carter present Mary Kay Henry with a welcome basket.
Mary Kay Henry talking with 21 LA members in New Orleans, January 2012.
Members from across the state of Louisiana gathered on Saturday, Jan. 21 to discuss and set the 2012 vision for their union, SEIU Local 21 LA.
Lead organizer Barbara Carter opened with a prayer.
Jefferson Parish bus driver, Everett Armand speaks about his experience participating in the “Take Back the Capitol” event in Washington, D.C. in December.
City of Baton Rouge worker, Hubert Wood and 21 LA Treasurer, Kelly Blache, participate in a group activity.
21 LA members at the 2012 Delegates Assembly.
City of New Orleans 21 LA members.
21 LA Members traveled to Washington D.C., Dec. 4-9 to join thousands of peaceful protesters from around the US to send the message that Congress needs to represent the 99% not just the 1 %.
Hundreds of participants staged sit-ins in front of lawmakers’ offices and several hundred more camped out on the National Mall.
For far too long, Congress has been catering to the 1% instead of representing the 99%. We will push Congress to renew unemployment insurance and focus on important budget and tax measures. Now more than ever, Congress needs to see us and hear us.
“I’m going to let my coworkers know it was a historical moment. We protested. We shut down K Street. I’d like our community to do the same thing. We’re here and not going to take it anymore.”– Tiea Silby, School Janitor
“We showed them that we disapprove with the way they are running the country. They are concerned with the rich people and not the poor.” — Herman Addision, City of Baton Rouge
“It was a learning experience to see how Congress is blindsiding people and not informing the people.” – Everett Armand, Jefferson Parish School bus driver
“The best part was the protest stuff … I was there.” – Quentin LeDuff, City Parish Baton Rouge
“Everyone from different races came together and there was no fussing.” – Belinda Pidgeon, City of Baton Rouge
“What’s going on is similar to the 60’s, the marches and protests. I’m happy to be a part of that. We walked in the rain. The camaraderie, the cohesiveness …We wanted to make 21 La proud.” – Randy Zwez, City of Baton Rouge
By Kris Ford
I’ve come to realize that the American dream really doesn’t apply to many people my age. Graduating from high school and college, getting a good job with health benefits, getting married, settling down in a newly bought home, and retiring after a reasonable amount of time, none of these really apply to me. I did exceptionally well in high school, so I managed to check off that part. I haven’t finished college because it was too expensive, but 15% of my monthly income goes toward paying off the one year I was able to complete.
Since I haven’t finished college, it’s extremely difficult for me to move up in my field. Can’t check off that part. My state laws do not allow my partner and I to get married, so that’s something else I can’t check off. Since such a big chunk of my income goes toward paying off the student loans from that unfinished degree, I’m unlikely to be able to save up enough money for a down payment on a house.
In New Orleans, insurance rates are so high after the storm that even if managed to eke out a mortgage payment that I could afford, I’d be fairly likely to increase that payment by half just to keep the place reasonably insured. Social Security isn’t looking like a viable option for retirement, either.
Now I’m 25 and deeply in debt for a partial education that did me no good. I am a government worker, but I’m the lowest on the totem pole with little or no hope of earning a promotion. I’m good at my job, but there isn’t any way to move up. Most of what I do is entirely above and beyond my job description, and it took me two whole years to even get full time. I still have no health insurance.
Is this the American dream I was brought up to aspire to? I don’t think so. I want to live in an America where those of us who do the legwork of making this country run on a day to day basis get our due. The nurses, the paramedics, the bus drivers, the postal workers, the sanitation workers, all of us. I hope that by being an active, vocal member of my union I can help effect a change in American social political practice.
Less millionaires complaining to billionaires that they didn’t get they tax breaks. More making sure that our neighborhoods have adequate public transit, and that the teachers in our children’s schools are paid well for their hard work. I’m a member of my union because I believe that this disconcerting trend can be cut short.
SEIU Local 21 LA members Everette Armand, Randy Zwez, Quentin LeDuff, Herman Addison, Tiea Silby and Belinda Pidgeon participated in a slate of activities in part with the Take Back the Capitol activities in Washington, D.C. from marches to visit to the offices of members of Congress.
Tiea Silby
Herman Addision
Everett Armand
Quentin LeDuff
Belinda Pidgeon
Randy Zwez
SEIU Local 21 LA members Everette Armand, Randy Zwez, Quentin LeDuff, Herman Addison, Tiea Silby and Belinda Pidgeon are in Washington D.C. through Friday, Dec. 9 to participate in Take Back the Capitol. These members are joining thousands of peaceful protesters from around the country to Take Back the Capitol and send a message that Congress needs to represent the 99 percent, not just the 1 percent.
Tiea Silby
Over the past few months the country has begun to focus on the growing disparity between the 99 percent and the 1 percent, and its impact on our cities and neighborhoods. Thousands of Americans will converge on Washington, D.C., starting on Dec. 5 to participate in four days of peaceful protests to make the voices of the 99 percent heard and counter the influence of the 1 percent.
“The problem in Washington is that too many members of Congress listen to corporate lobbyists from K Street and their campaign contributions instead of the 99 percent,” said Helene O’Brien, SEIU Local 21 LA president. “Now the 99 percent are coming to the corridors of power to make our presence felt.”
The situation for the 99 percent is dire. Nearly 14 million workers in the United States[1] are without jobs; median incomes for most workers have fallen 6.7 percent in the two years since the recession of 2009[2]; and income inequality is at its worst since the 1920s. And while the middle class and working people are suffering, taxes for the 1 percent are at an all-time low.
Everett Armand
“I’m going to Washington because I’m part of the 99 percent that Congress has been ignoring,” said Everett Armand, Jefferson Parish school bus driver. “We need good jobs here in New Orleans, not more budget cuts that make the economy even worse. We’re going down there to make sure Congress hears from the people, not just the lobbyists.
For more information, visit www.99inDC.org.
Herman Bradford knows how to build anything. The 56-year-old Baton Rouge man began learning carpentry from his father at the tender age of 9.
“My dad started you off early. He would say that if you’re in the way that you might as well be doing something,” he said.
By 15, Bradford was serious about the trade. His first solo project was turning a discarded screen door into a wheelbarrow.
Bradford’s building doesn’t end with working with wood or his hands. The Baton Rouge man is determined to build his union, SEIU Local 21 LA.
Bradford, who has worked as a carpenter for the City Parish for five years, doesn’t miss an opportunity to talk to his co-workers about the importance of union membership.
Bradford admitted that in the beginning he didn’t fully understand the benefits of being a union member. Self-employed for years in the family carpentry business – a business that he still works on the side with his 82-year-old father and his brother — Bradford says he didn’t think he needed a union.
But then he got into trouble on the job.
After his issues at work were resolved, thanks to union representation, Bradford started attending union meetings to learn more and quickly began to understand the overall value of union membership.
“I soon realized that the union wasn’t about saving your job,” Bradford said. “It’s about community and helping families. The union staff organizes and sets everything up but it’s up to us to carry it out. We are the union.”
