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Public Employee Press: PEP Talk

New Lifeguards: New union members

Photo by Mike Lee
By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

As the Dept. of Parks and Recreation prepares its parks, pools, and beaches for the busy summer season, Lifeguard Supervisors Local 508 and NYC Lifeguards Local 461 signed up dozens of newly hired City Lifeguards as card-carrying members of DC 37.

Leaders for Locals 508 and 461 work diligently to maintain the 100 percent union participation of its rank-and-file members and to protect members’ rights, salaries and benefits.

City Lifeguards and their supervisors prepare well in advance of the unofficial start of summer on Memorial Day weekend. Supervisors in Local 508 teach courses on cardio pulmonary resuscitation, rescue and First Aid, and they administer the timed swim test.

Candidates who pass these grueling exams qualify as City Lifeguards. They are the Parks Dept.’s first responders who protect the lives of millions of people who visit the city’s free outdoor pools and public beaches in summer.

Taking the step to sign a union membership card is important to each of these Lifeguards because serving others and belonging to a union will always be at the core of their work experience,

“Many new Lifeguards are still in high school when hired and for some this is their first job,” said Franklyn Paige, president of Local 461. Members of Local 461 are some of the city’s fastest swimmers and the union’s youngest members.

“We tell members how much the union has done and continues to do for them to improve their wages, safety, and conditions at work,” said Local 508 President Peter Stein.

“Taking the step to sign a union membership card is important to each of these Lifeguards because serving others and belonging to a union will always be at the core of their work experience,” Stein added. “Labor solidarity, union membership and the experiences and benefits that come with belonging to our locals in particular will carry them throughout their careers.”

Local 508 Lifeguard Supervisors and Local 461 Lifeguards are on duty at New York City’s 14 miles of public beaches beginning May 25, each day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The city’s outdoor pools reopen on Thursday, June 27. They are open daily from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. through the end of the 2019 season, Sunday, Sept. 8.

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