1st Vice President

First Vice-President. The first vice-president shall assist the president in the work of the president’s office. In the absence of the president or in the president’s inability to serve, the first vice-president shall preside at all meetings and perform all duties otherwise performed by the president. The first vice-president is authorized to act as co- signer of checks drawn on Guild funds in place of either the president or the treasurer. The first vice-president shall be responsible for the coordination of contract administration within the Guild. The first vice-president shall be an automatic delegate to all AFSCME and NYS AFL-CIO conventions.

  • Josh Barnett
  • Mitchell (Mitch) Feder
  • Mike Kenny

Questions:

1. What makes you the best candidate for 1st Vice President?
What drives you to serve the members in this role?

Josh Barnett
No matter if you’re a public or private sector worker, our only protection on the job is unity. I’m third generation union. But there are far fewer workers in unions now than when I grew up, and many unions don’t fight hard enough for their members. We need to turn that around. We make this city run. But public sector unions are under attack. We can’t operate the union business as usual. At NYCHA we’re fighting hard against outsourcing and downsizing. We need that in every agency. I’ve been active in the local for 18 years, this is the fourth union I’ve been in, and I want to work with the members to have the strongest union we possibly can.

What’s vital is for each member to participate and vote for whoever they think is the best candidate. It’s more important in the union to talk about “we”, not “I”.

Mitchell (Mitch) Feder
Of the three candidates, I have more combined experience working for various agencies in my 35-year career in Civil Service and my 21-years of active service in the Local as a 4-term Housing Authority Chapter 25 President, 7-terms as Ch. 25 Local 375 Delegate, Local 375 Treasurer, DC 37 and Central Labor Council Delegates.

Couple the above with my Master in Business Administration (MBA), my insight to administrating our Local is second to none.

Having a vested interest in this union as it also affects my life, I strive to serve the members to make this union a better representative organization. I detest the past lame-duck elected officers that failed to assist our members, especially those brought up on disciplinary charges. Additionally, they also failed to bring up our wages compared to our counterparts in the Federal and NY State governments; both whom enjoy and receive step-pay-plans.

Mike Kenny
I will work for the members in each agency and try to bring harmony to the Local. I will support the President in unifying our proud Local.

2. What are your top three priorities for Local 375 if you are elected?

Josh Barnett
Reach out to the members and establish a climate of inclusion for everyone in the Local. We can’t afford to continue bickering and arguing. What’s most vital is not what we do for the members, it’s what we do with the members.

Increase union actions on the job in all chapters, whether it’s with labor management meetings grievances, defense of Weingarten rights, petitions. We have a lot of on the job experience, we need to bring it to every situation affecting any of the members. Work much more closely with other locals, unions and the community. Solidarity is simply survival.

Mitchell (Mitch) Feder

  1. INTRODUCE A SALARY STEP-PAY-PLAN FOR ALL OUR MEMBERS
    We will, for the first time in Local 375 history, introduce our salary STEP-PAY-PLAN to the City for ALL our Local 375 members! 
  2. DEMAND SAME CITY CONTRACT ANNUAL INCREASES THE CITY’S TECHNICAL CONSULTANTS RECEIVE 
  3. SAVE THE LOCAL $250,000 ANNUALLY 
  4. HIRE AN IN-HOUSE STAFF CIVIL SERVICE LABOR ATTORNEY
  5. NEGOTIATE BETTER BENEFITS IN THE NON-ECONOMIC AGREEMENT 
    e.g. fight to restore lost benefits such as sabbaticals, compressed time schedules & the floating holiday & widen use of flex-time. 
  6. NEGOTIATE FOR 20 and 25 YEAR LONGEVITY just like the Teachers and Staff Analysts have. 
  7. DEMAND EQUITY for the ACCRETED MANAGER’S Level-1 for LONGEVITY or SERVICE INCREMENTS. 
  8. VIGOROUSLY FIGHT AGAINST OUTSOURCING OF OUR MEMBERS’ JOBS. 
  9. GREATER OUTREACH TO AND ADVOCACY FOR MEMBERS.

Mike Kenny
Raises and step plan pay for all titles. Professional training and Licensing. No give backs and returning the floating Holiday to new members

3. Have you participated in or lead any of our local’s committees?
What were you able to accomplish for our union?

Josh Barnett
The Local’s committees are one of the most important ways to increase member involvement. I chaired the Local’s civil service and organizing committees, publishing a Q&A info list for the members and labor history timeline for the delegates handbook, and for four years I’ve chaired the DC 37 NYCHA Coalition. The Coalition’s established a network of people from DC 37, other unions, and residents fighting to save public housing and for better working conditions. We all face cutbacks and privatization, right-wing attacks on the unions, pressures on workers of color and immigrants, and that kind of unity can be the model for our Local. After 9/11 I represented our local in a vigorous coalition of city, state, and federal unions fighting for better air quality at 90 Church St., and we won after a year and a half of organizing. That’s the kind of movement we need in our local.

Mitchell (Mitch) Feder
Yes; I was Chair of the Local’s Anti-Privatization Committee during 911. As Chair of the Local’s Anti-Privatization Committee, I personally spearheaded and coordinated the union’s counter-attack / publicity against Mayor Giuliani’s move to privatize the work that our DDC Construction Project Managers (upwards of 60+) were performing at Ground Zero after the 911 catastrophe. The Mayor wanted to replace our professional members with the Bechtel Construction Management firm. I coordinated the fight against this by having then President Fort be interviewed on 1010 Wins radio which afforded us great exposure and then coordinated the union’s public speaking before the City Council. In the end, we were triumphant, and we saved the more than 60 DDC member’s jobs at Ground Zero and the City saved the $20,000,000 construction management contract that they intended to award Bechtel.

Mike Kenny
As Safety and Health Chair, 2nd Vice President and Chapter 4 President, I testified in front of Congress for the passage of the James Zadroga Act of 2010 to provide health monitoring to Local 375 members who worked at the WTC site in 2001.

I just testified at joint NYS State and NYC City Council hearing on unlimited sick leave for Local 375 members who worked at the WTC Site also.