SEIU Local 1000 Member Resource Center deals with range of member queries

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Since it opened five years ago, Local 1000’s Member Resource Center (MRC) has fielded more than 426,000 calls from members, including over 67,000 so far in 2014.

Queries at the call center a block from the Capitol in Sacramento are usually simple requests such as the location and time of a union meeting or question about pay dates or holidays–most calls are resolved in less than three minutes. However, the calls can also involve distraught members who have just come from an upsetting confrontation with a supervisor.

“Speaking with state employees every day, you get a real sense of the importance of our contract and our union in the daily lives of members,” said Carmen Ledesma, an Employment Development Department steward who has worked at both the MRC and the Union Resource Center (URC). “You get a real sense of the diversity and complexity of our work force.”