By MIKE LEE

As part of the ongoing effort to expand the union’s power base, District Council 37 hired long-time union leader and activist Fareed Michelen in September to head the union’s Organizing Department.
Michelen brings more than two decades of experience and dynamic leadership in labor to the department, which has recently secured new waves of membership from New York non-profits, the private sector, and cultural institutions.

Before arriving at DC 37, Michelen served as an organizer for 1199SEIU, Special Assistant to the Secretary-Treasurer for the New York State AFL-CIO, and Director of Organizing at the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA).

His family was a strong inspiration and influence early on.

“My mom was a teacher and later an administrator, active in pro-union and other causes,” Michelen said. “Dad is a doctor and now the Chief Medical Director of Arch Care. While at Bronx Lebanon Hospital, he supported the formation of the Committee of Interns and Residents. The interns who graduated med school were working 18-hour days, several days a week. He helped them organize and got the doctors to support their strike actions.

“My grandfather was always politically involved,” Michelen continued. “He was actually the first commissioner of the Dominican Day parade. He helped establish Hostos College and served as its first president. Social activism is, to me, a family legacy. I was always looking for ways to get involved, engage, and actively fight for social justice.”

A formative moment for Michelen came in 1995 when Fidel Castro visited the United Nations. Castro spoke at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, where he met with Malcolm X decades earlier.
“I got tickets. I was actually in that room when Fidel spoke at the church in Harlem. I had the opportunity to be a part of it. That was an amazing experience as a teenager,” he said.

Michelen went to college at SUNY Binghamton. When he was a junior, he became a volunteer organizer with UNITE! HERE (formerly HERE) for the national Sodexo card check campaign. In 2002, the union succeeded, becoming the first college campus to win a card check in the campaign.

“As a student leader, I saw we could change people’s lives by addressing class consciousness and social justice,” Michelen said. “When I went to college, I learned that there are solidarity actions and activities that lead to tangible change. I felt that much of what I was doing in high school and early college was taking stances but not moving the needle to create change. When UNITE! HERE came around looking for people to work with them, they approached me.

“The bells went off and I realized this was my calling. This is where I need to be,” Michelen said.
When the opportunity came for the position of Organizing Director at DC 37, Michelen did not hesitate. “After leaving NYSNA, I wanted to go to DC 37 and bring my skills to move the union’s organizing forward,” he said.

Michelen spoke of his vision for the department and its role in the future of the union.

“One of the reasons why I came to DC 37 is when you are a union of this size, you can set a national standard, set benchmarks that other unions are going to want to follow,” he said.

“We are seeing a generation of workers who are more class-conscious, socially aware, and cognizant of their role in this capitalist structure. I believe labor has not fully harnessed these aspects as a tool to make institutional change. For me, the first question is how we tap into the culture of the workers, not just how we bring the union to someone’s door. Second, how do we build strong workers? This is about empowering working people to shift the power paradigm they have with their employers,”Michelen said.

“I think the way we change the tone and tap into the community is by viewing organizing as a comprehensive program that goes beyond the facility we’re organizing and engages the community and other players who are invested in that process. If we take these approaches, we can create the premier organizing department, not just in the state, but in this country.

“One of the great things about DC 37 is that it is a moving train. I’m catching up because there’s already been a lot of organizing. We’re in the middle of several campaigns and contract fights. I’m running and catching up to all the different parts of the machine, which is actually challenging and exciting at the same time,” Michelen said.