For nearly 10 years, AFSCME Local 1459 Vice President Clint Stevens has worked as a high voltage electrician at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). It's his job to maintain all of the electrical aspects of the campus and to ensure that everything is safe and functioning smoothly.
"I first got involved in my union because I wanted to learn more about my union contract and to make sure I knew my rights at work," says Clint. That led to becoming a shop steward, winning cases for those he was representing, and more recently, tackling key safety issues on campus.
For years, UMBC issued highly flammable polyester uniforms to its staff, a clear violation of OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) standards. Together, Clint and his coworkers pressured UMBC management to correct their uniforms. "UMBC kept refusing to acknowledge or do something, but enough of us came together to call out this safety issue. We fought hard and pulled out all of the OSHA codes that they were violating, and in the end, they had no valid arguments or excuses," says Clint.
When it comes to raising the bar across the entire University System of Maryland (USM), Clint has been at the bargaining table for nearly two years advocating for the safe workplaces that he and his coworkers deserve. "One of the most exciting things that stands out to me in our new tentative agreement is the increase in on-call pay. I'm also proud of the pay increases that we've won across the board, and I think it's huge what we did to bring up the minimum wage," says Clint. "I hope people realize that everything we've negotiated in this contract isn't just for me or a few people. This is for every employee in every school covered by this agreement. And I hope people take away from this that we have to use our voices. The more people who speak up, the more we can go to bat. And the more noise we make, the louder and stronger we are."
