Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 06/04/2008 - 12:30am.
i work for seiu, and while i agree with many of your critiques, the coverage of the call center is misleading. as it is implemented at local 1 in chicago, and is planned in california, it is to answer basic questions, determine if there is a possible grievance etc. the point is to take some of the workload off the field rep and give them more time for actual organizing. there will still be field reps out doing steward development, issue organizing, and there will still be a field rep for handling grievances, disciplines etc, and both of these local positions will still work with stewards. the call center people will even have the contact info of stewards, and what level of training they have, and will refer some cases directly to those stewards. the devil is in the details, but all in all the call centers have been effective at some locals for freeing up some time for field reps and stewards to do more proactive big picture work.
i work for seiu, and while i agree with many of your critiques, the coverage of the call center is misleading. as it is implemented at local 1 in chicago, and is planned in california, it is to answer basic questions, determine if there is a possible grievance etc. the point is to take some of the workload off the field rep and give them more time for actual organizing. there will still be field reps out doing steward development, issue organizing, and there will still be a field rep for handling grievances, disciplines etc, and both of these local positions will still work with stewards. the call center people will even have the contact info of stewards, and what level of training they have, and will refer some cases directly to those stewards. the devil is in the details, but all in all the call centers have been effective at some locals for freeing up some time for field reps and stewards to do more proactive big picture work.