The ASEA statewide Women’s Issues Committee continues to work on behalf of all ASEA members. We want to thank Hettie Hume for her dedication and hard work which helped to bring about this committee and offer her our best wishes to her in her new endeavor. We also recognize our two new members to the WIC, Laura Ghormley and Toya Winton, both from the Anchorage area.

The Women’s Issues Committee has prepared a second on-line survey to address your most pressing concern of health care issues. This is not a gender specific survey; we do hope that all union members will choose to participate. The survey will be posted on the www.afscmelocal52.org Pink Link and will remain available for your participation for one month.

Regarding career and leadership training, we have taken multiple approaches to your needs. These include Pink Link power point presentations and group training sessions.

The Women’s Issues Committee members have been creating three Power Point Presentations to help the membership with their State of Alaska career needs. The first three topics will be Resume Writing and Interviewing Skills, Workplace Etiquette and Mentoring, and Communications and Listening. The intent of these quiet coaches is to be available to any and all forward looking ASEA members whenever they want some insight or assistance to enhance their job performance or prepare for career advancement. Our intention is to have these Power Point presentations remain posted so that interested persons can access them when they might need the information.

We are also planning to bring another AFSCME supported member training session to you. AFSCME is interested in “Training the Trainers”. They want to empower us to train our own membership in the future. Juneau and Fairbanks Chapters and the Executive Board have expressed financial support for this effort. We need to hear from each member and chapter regarding the number of persons interested in this training so that we can schedule dates and locations.

The Women’s Issues Committee wrote and presented seven resolutions to the convention delegates in February 2004. We have asked the Executive Board about the status of these resolutions and what if any actions have been taken. We have not gotten any response on this matter from neither the Executive Board nor the Health Benefits Trust. All of these resolutions are available for you to read at www.afscmelocal52.org click on the Pink Link.

The Women’s Issues Committee contact information is posted at the Pink Link. Please contact any or all of us with your concerns, ideas, and input.

In solidarity, Women’s Issues Committee