Sacramento stewards meet new EDD Director
Local 1000 gains an ally in its ongoing efforts to improve working conditions, service levels

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After months of collaboration with state officials to address issues facing EDD, Local 1000 hosted new Director Patrick Henning Jr. in a meeting with Local 1000 stewards, to hear first-hand the comments and concerns of rank-and-file workers now in his charge. He came to underscore his commitment to “helping Californians when they are at possibly the lowest point in their lives.”

The gathering was just one stop of many planned by the newly- appointed Henning, who plans to visit EDD stewards up and down the state as part of his efforts to “move the department forward with greater efficiency.”
“This represents a real opportunity for us to have an real partnership with EDD,” said Yvonne R. Walker, Local 1000 president. “It’s clear that we share the same goals of improving working conditions and delivering on our promise to vulnerable Californians.”

Among the topics raised with the director: understaffing and the challenges of increased workloads; the proper use of permanent intermittent employees; technology issues; and, improving relations between workers and management.

Henning is a veteran labor union activist, from a family with a strong record of supporting working families. His father served as EDD director from 2004-2009, and his grandfather was an undersecretary in the Labor department for both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.

EDD’s new director made a commitment to ‘walk a day’ in our shoes to better understand what EDD workers face every day. He plans to “get on the phones so I can personally experience how we interact with the public,” and added, “together, we can do better, and I’m looking forward to looking closely to working with Local 1000.”