Local 170 is slowly gaining back its membership after the state legislature outlawed dues deduction for public-sector workers — and still fighting for its members.
We have been having weekly meetings to discuss plans to re-sign up members that were lost to dues deduction. We called all our members to answer questions and walk them through the new ways to sign back up. We called and talked to current members to see if they could have a conversation with their co-workers to sign up.
Local 170 had a Zoom meeting with workers at Sharp Hospital to discuss problems in that location and how to sign up workers. There are also plans to host Zoom meetings with other state hospitals in the near future.
Other members have picked certain locations to organize. The Department of Highways has a rodeo each year, and members attended to sign up workers. Members have also chosen several other locations to organize workers from the Department of Highways and the Department of Health and Human Resources.
Members of Local 170 have also been attending stewards trainings, both over Zoom and in person, and traveled to Wilmerding, PA in April to support of Local 610.