GOLDSTEIN TO BE GIVEN TIME
TO GROW INTO NEW ROLE

By Bob DiCesare
President

The Guild's Search Committee will propose the hiring of Carol Goldstein as officer manager at the Jan. 25 meeting.

Why officer manager? Why not service representative? It's a two-part answer.

Although Carol is highly experienced in contract administration, grievance handling, arbitration preparation and procedures and negotiations, she is unfamiliar with our contract history. Instead of hiring Carol as service representative and creating the expectation that she is ready to tackle problems unique to our union, she'll receive a period of acclimation.

The Search Committee's proposal is to give her the title of service representative somewhere down the road. Maybe in six months. Maybe in a year. We shall see.

The second part of the answer is traced to the Strategic Planning Committee that was created in the wake of our last contract negotiations.

The committee felt strongly that the Guild had become overly dependent upon its service representative, that the officers needed to take a more active role in the day-to-day operations of the Guild. It's happening.

Bob Snyder, our treasurer, is overseeing our day-to-day finances. Pat Gormley, vice president of contract administration, is handling all aspects of the grievance procedure. And it is our expectation that at the January Local meeting the Guild will fill the vacant office of vice president of mobilization, a vital post particularly now that contract expiration is less than 2 ½ years away.

But the workload, particularly for Gormley and Snyder, has been enormous in the three months since Tina Destro left the position of service representative. Carol has the experience to ease the strain immediately. She can assist Snyder with some of the bookkeeping and be a vital resource for Gormley in the research and preparation of grievance material. She'll sit in on our grievance meetings, attend our Local meetings and serve as a Guild ambassador in the labor community while familiarizing herself with our contract and the important history behind the language.

Her duties will expand as she grows into the job, but the officers should never lose sight of the mandate set forth by the Strategic Planning

Committee. It's not brining in a head coach. We're welcoming aboard a teammate.