I was dealing with a manager who was very nasty to me and my co-workers. Their constant monitoring, bullying, and other tactics were causing additional stress and mental health problems for people in the department. I knew thing had to change, and so I decided to organize and fight back.

In a joint process between Local 34 and HR, they investigated claims of discrimination on age, disability, race, and parenthood status. During the weeks-long process, everyone in the department wrote detailed statements about the issues we dealt with and submitted them for review. As the investigation continued some members became discouraged and wanted to retract their statements saying that nothing would happen. They feared that there would be retaliation after everything was over. I told them that sticking together and our contract were our best protections against retaliation. Ultimately the manager was given a choice of being transferred to another department where they would not get managerial responsibilities or resigning.

Afterward, people were relieved. Members were willing to come to me for questions and advice about the contract and our union. Now lots of people come to me if they have issues or need representation. It is a tiring job to lead the Union and steward my department but it feels good to have such deep trust from the members in my department.