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An
article in the Des Register about Barb Harrington
who
for many years was a big part of this union.
First
career leads to new job
BY
PATT JOHNSON • FEBRUARY 1, 2010 Des Moines Register
Barb
Harrington took advantage of a company benefit during her 34-year tenure
at Qwest, the metro's telephone company. And it paid off in the form of
a new career for the 59-year-old Pleasant Hill woman.
Harrington
left Qwest in 2004 and now teaches English as a Second Language and Spanish
classes at Des Moines Area Community College and through the Des Moines
Public School's adult education program.
"I
always wanted to be a teacher," she says. "I have control over what I do
every day. Teaching is a very brain-draining job, but really a challenge.
It's a different kind of challenge from my other job and it's very rewarding."
She
enjoys teaching mostly adults. "There's a difference between students who
have to be in class and those who want to be in class," she says.
And
she is learning from her students, too.
"I
have students from Africa, Afghanistan, Thailand, Burma, Ecuador, Mexico,
Sudan, Bosnia, Iran and Rwanda," she says. Meeting them she has given her
a chance to "see the world through other people's eyes."
Harrington
started her career with Qwest (which went by several other names over the
years) as a central office and customer service technician. "We built trunk
and translation (lines) for 14 states," she says.
One
of the benefits the telephone company offered workers was subsidized education.
Harrington began taking night classes at Drake University, eventually earning
an undergraduate degree in history and Spanish. Then she started on a master's
degree. When Qwest offered a voluntary separation package six years ago,
Harrington did some soul searching. She was already teaching some continuing
education classes for DMACC and was financially able to retire.
"There
was also the threat that at any time you could be laid off," she says.
She left the telephone company with plans to enjoy retirement with her
husband, Merrill.
She
was teaching Spanish when the opportunity arose to teach the ESL classes.
"It
doesn't really feel like a job," she says. "It doesn't pay as much as I
used to make but I am just really enjoying it."
She
works about 25 hours a week at DMACC and six hours at the public schools.
That leaves time for her other passions - being a grandmother and gardening,
genealogy and traveling. She also works as travel agent, and dabbles in
writing and photography.
Her
advice to others considering career changes: Explore jobs and careers you're
interested in.
"I
volunteered years ago at a Spanish clinic at Guadalupe Chapel to see if
I would like it and could do it," she says. "It's always better to find
jobs that incorporate what you like to do."
CWA
Pushes to Fill NLRB
It's all hands on deck as
we plan to push this week for a Senate committee to move on President Obama's
nominations to the National Labor Relations Board. President Obama has
nominated three people to the NLRB –
Democrats Craig Becker and Mark Gaston Pearce and Republican Brian Hayes.
(By law, the sitting president appoints three members from his party and
two members from the opposition party; currently, one Democrat and one
Republican sit on the board and there are three vacancies.)
The NRLB is a critical institution
when it comes to protecting workers' rights – especially since the loss
of a Senate seat in Massachusetts makes passage of the Employee Free Choice
Act virtually impossible.
But Republicans have pushed
back against President Obama's efforts to fill the NLRB. In particular,
Republicans – and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – have pledged to oppose
the nomination of Becker, who is the associate general counsel of SEIU.
The GOP is threatening a filibuster and we can only be sure of 60 votes
if we hold the vote before Brown is sworn in on February 11.,
But first, Becker's nomination
needs to clear the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP)
Committee. A "hold" by John McCain through the 2009 session of the Senate
forced the White House to resubmit the Becker nomination. The HELP Committee
is tentatively scheduled to take up Becker's nomination this Tuesday and
vote on Thursday. Then Sen. Reid has to schedule a cloture vote Friday.
CWAers are asking their Senators to urge Senator Reid to stick to this
schedule and vote for cloture. This is the only way we can have a 2-1 Democratic
majority on the NLRB.
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