“I’m here to fight the good fight,” said Hajji Glover, co-president of the Local 888 chapter for the Boston Centers for Youth & Families, commenting on the upcoming negotiations with the city. “I don’t like to go in yelling and screaming, but I know how to hold my own.”
Glover, a newly elected member of Local 888’s executive board, has worked for the city agency for 22 years. Currently he serves as athletic director at Boston Centers for Youth & Families (BCYF) at Mildred Avenue, Mattapan. Previously, he was the lead tennis instructor at the Charlestown Community Center.
For the last eight years, he has been BCYF’s chapter co-president, currently along with Tany Lopes.
When he was first hired, he and some other BCYF workers were unfairly excluded from the bargaining unit. So that was his first successful union fight: Getting included under the Local 888 contract. “We made a lot of noise trying to get into the union,” he said.
“Without a union, management can just make changes unilaterally,” he added. He pointed to seniority rights, job security, regular raises and correcting unfair decisions as important union issues.
“The overall goal is to have a seat at the table,” he said.
As a Local 888 leader, he said, one of his most satisfying accomplishments has been getting people the schedules that will work for them. This has been a recurrent issue, he said, because the city’s management has repeatedly made schedule changes over the years.
“It’s been an ongoing struggle,” he said. “Sometimes, there’s just been no consideration for what’s going on in people’s lives.”
Such changes could involve sending employees to a different worksite or changing members’ hours — such as moving someone from a day to a night shift or rearranging someone’s days off. Some challenges come up with the changing of the seasons.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also added on another layer of difficulty.
When it comes to newer employees, he said, “I help educate them about what’s going on and the advantages of joining the union.”
Not only does Local 888 provide representation at the bargaining table, he said, but offers such programs as Local 888’s Boston Housing Trust. Glover spoke at a recent Local 888 Member Welcome Orientation. The 45-minute Zoom orientations are generally held the second Thursday of the month at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. The workshops cover collective bargaining, on-the-job rights and “just cause” protections from unfair firings.
For a schedule of Local 888 workshops and events, see https://www.seiu888.org/events/. For more info, email myunion@seiu888.org. For a full report on a Local 888 Member Welcome Orientation, see https://www.seiu888.org/2020/10/08/taking-on-a-new-way-for-member-orientation/.