News: Do'ers Profile
Mike Jette

Name and Profession: Pam Williams, women's health nurse-practitioner.

NEA Local Affiliate: Public Health Nurse Council/Delaware State Education Association

Position: Council vice president

Recent Accomplishment: Williams wears three hats--union rep, negotiations committee head, and de facto membership chair--at a time when the Public Health Nurse Council and the state are at impasse over a new contract for 140 public health nurses who work in clinics, in the field, and at the Delaware Hospital for the Chronically Ill.

It's difficult to keep a diverse, dispersed membership united throughout mediation, fact-finding, and binding arbitration, but Williams and her colleagues are finding ways to maintain morale. They're producing newsletters, exchanging information "more than management would like," and getting the Delaware State Education Association more involved in nursing issues.

Williams, who's proud of her role in helping create a fairer DSEA dues structure for nurses and K-12 support staffers, is encouraged by the Association's growing sensitivity to nurses' concerns. "DSEA has put National Nurses Day on its calendar," she reports, "and we see more articles about nurses in its newsletter, DSEA Action. Now we're trying to get a group together to send in more nursing news."

After bargaining a new contract, Williams and other council leaders will confront the challenges of making the PHNC organizational structure more member-friendly, and gaining legislated pay increases that put Delaware nurses on a par with counterparts in the private sector and elsewhere in the public sector.

"We've already put together a committee that has investigated nursing salaries in other states," Williams notes, "and our findings will shake management up a bit. While they keep increasing front-end salaries for nurses, they do nothing for current people."

Words of Wisdon: "The Delaware State Education Association is a strong union, because it's locally based and very visible in the state legislature. Lawmakers know we are there. But DSEA is not a bunch of people sitting in Dover, the state capital. It's all of us.

"Members need to ask themselves, 'What am I doing for the union?' and they need to start talking to people who are active as officers and committee members. If they make the effort to reach out and find out what's going on with their dues dollars, they'll be pleasantly surprised."

(To contact Pam Williams, send a message to pwilliams@state.de.us.)