Class attendees discuss issues with LA County Federation of Labor Political Director Charles Lester.

Discussion groups pass on their ideas about candidate considerations to instructor Nancy Romero.

Shop Stewards Training Class:
Labor and Political Action

Over the past year and a half, Local 18 has offered Shop Steward training classes. Sponsored by Los Angeles Trade Tech, these classes have covered such relevant topics as Grievance Handling Skills, Critical Issues for Labor, and Organizing for Political Action. Students were awarded one college unit for each class; the credits are transferable to the California State University system.

A number of speakers came in to talk to the last class, Organizing for Political Action. They discussed their areas of expertise with the students. Speakers included Miguel Contreras, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, County Fed Political Director Charles Lester, and Assemblywoman Cindy Montanez.

Brother Contreras leads the County’s 800,000 unionized working men and women. Lester has been the Fed’s chief political strategist since Fabian Nunez, the current Speaker of the State Assembly, left for Sacramento. Democrat Montanez, representing the 39 th State Assembly District (Northeast San Fernando Valley), is the youngest woman ever elected to state office in California (she was 28 years old).

Our speakers discussed a wide variety of topics, including: what candidates should consider before running for political office; how candidates are selected for endorsement; how ballot propositions and bills are developed; the legislative process for enacting bills into law; members’ voting records on key labor issues, and technological advancements in labor mobilization.

We are able to offer college level classes because Nancy Romero is on staff at Local 18. She is credentialed to offer college-credit classes through Los Angeles Trade Tech College. Shawn McCloud and Barry Poole have helped develop the class curricula. Gus Corona has put together Power Point presentations, and Bill Lewis hooked up live internet feeds for presentations to the classes. All the Business Reps pitched in to help with module presentations and support for the classes.

Special congratulations go to the graduates of the Organizing for Political Action Labor Studies Class. In order to get credit for the class these Shop Stewards attended the September, October and November Shop Stewards’ meeting, as well as attending an eight-hour class on Saturday, November 20. We thank each and every Shop Steward who attended for their time, effort and commitment to become involved and learn more about the union-political movement so they can help their brothers and sisters by sharing this valuable information.

In groups, students discuss what has to be considered if someone were contemplating a run for political office.

The class graduates are:

Patrick M. Moore, Gary J. Duffin, Donald Taylor, Val Fernandez, Mostafa Haji, Jesse Mercado, Thomas V. Holmes, Pierce Watson, Larry Lomeli, Lloyd Harvey, Vincent Kaplan, Edmundo Sosa, Kristie S. Leslie-King, Virginia M. Cook, Philip T. Anninos, Reuben Sepulveda, Lorena Rosas, Christy Mauk, Aaron Westbrook, Laura Kellgreen, John Billinger, John Gutenberger, Guillermo Honles, Gary Rounds, David M. Bond, Dwayne Patterson, Mark S. Smith, and Joseph M. Morones.

We look forward to offering more classes in the future, and to having even more Shop Stewards attend!