Public Employee Press

Local 1407 trains members for advancement

Local 1407 members are jumping at the opportunity to advance their careers by climbing the civil service ladder and improving their professional credentials.

Dozens of members took a recent course the local offered to prepare them for the Assistant Retirement Benefits Examiner test in October and another course to learn about the challenging process for obtaining credentials as a certified public accountant.

In September, Local 1407 President Maf Misbah Uddin, who is also treasurer of DC 37, visited the classes to encourage the members, who are working hard to advance their careers.

Greeting Local 1407 members taking the retirement examiner class at Murray Bergtraum High School on Sept. 20, Uddin said a major goal of the local’s educational push is to help members become permanent civil servants.

Over seven years, Local 1407 hasreduced the percentage of provisional workers it represents from more than 75 percent to less than 25 percent by pressing the city to hold civil service exams and encouraging members to take prep courses, Uddin said.

“The reason to take the exam is not only to improve your professional opportunities but also to get permanent civil service status,” Frederick R. Lewis, an assistant director with the DC 37 Education Fund, told members at the Assistant Retirement Benefits Examiner course, which wasarranged by the fund.

Local 1407 member Sterlyn Alexander, an Assistant Retirement Benefits Examiner at the New York City Employees Retirement System, taught the course.

Local Vice President Jed Matalon accompanied Uddin on the visits to the classes.