I am writing to respond to my coworker’s (Russ D’Amico) letter in the October 16, 2002 edition of The Polytechnic (“Not everyone wants a Union”). Russ, maybe you have worked at RPI for too many years and aren’t aware that there are many private sector employers who appreciate employees that work as a team for the benefit of all. For those of us who fit into that category, we are not grateful for having employment at RPI, but rather we feel satisfied knowing we have earned every penny (regardless of how few there are) of our weekly paychecks.

Russ, you mention that “you have been here long enough to know that RPI is improving things here.” I have to wonder if it is taken over 20 years and RPI still hasn’t gotten it right, how much longer will it be before we gain the wages, benefits, staffing levels, and respect we truly deserve?

Going further, I’m wondering if you have some special arrangement with RPI as to how much they pay for your health insurance. As for me, and many of our other co-workers I have spoken with, we pay 18% of our health insurance premiums. Are you sure you weren’t confusing RPI with Marist College or Sage, whose janitors and housekeepers are represented by SEIU? All of these workers have formed their own union and truly have fully paid health insurance.

I could go on, but I will end by saying that an overwhelming majority of our coworkers signed authorization cards expressing a serious interest in forming our own union. They did so because they are tired of receiving a $.08/hr raise, of being told “we’ll look into it,” and of seeing some people get treated like gold and others treated like dirt. Most of all, we don’t want to “blame others for [our] problems and frustrations in life,” as you said, but rather want to address our concerns by making sure RPI has to negotiate, rather than pushing us aside and telling us to go elsewhere if we don’t like it.

Sheila Lozo

Environmental Specialist