Newly Minted Stewards at Envoy

CWA-Envoy Steward trainings were held on April 19 and May 24, adding 12 more locations to the list of stations with trained stewards. Participants came from locations ranging from San Diego to Buffalo. The steward training included information about newly negotiated improvements to the grievance procedure, such as a “just cause” requirement for discipline and a 30-day maximum time limit after an incident occurs for issuing discipline.   

[caption caption="New Envoy stewards ready for action at the April 19th training session."] [/caption]

Back at their Locals, several of the new stewards have already begun their work, which includes signing up coworkers as CWA members and explaining exactly what it means to be a member. 

[caption caption="Envoy stewards preparing to fight for fairness at the May 24th training." align="left"] [/caption]

[caption caption="Envoy steward Quinton Cintron of Lawton, Oklahoma, knows \"2 years is 2 long.\"" align="right"] [/caption]

Will Estrada of PNS, who attended the May training, is no stranger to the labor movement. As a New York City police officer, Will was a union member for over 20 years before he came to work at Envoy last fall. “Since the training I have been asking my coworkers to join the union,” says Will. “It hasn’t been hard for me to get members at my station to join. All I do is hand them a CWA card and ask them to fill it out. Most of my peers fill out the card because they trust me.” When people ask what the card represents, Will says he answers honestly that the purpose is “to be united."

Jennifer McKenzie of SBA has been at Envoy since 2012. She says that the training gave her “the tools to make Envoy accountable to provide every agent with fair treatment and equal opportunities.” Jennifer also explains, “I feel empowered to provide representation to every employee that needs assistance.” 

[caption caption="Discussing strategies and role-playing situations in small groups is key to preparing stewards to serve workers back in their Locals." align="left"] [/caption]