Essay on importance of unions to family, community, wins top prize

With the decline of union membership in the past few years, it’s nice to know that union members are doing what they can to instill union values in their children. Amber Cichy is not a union member but her dad, Jim, is. And he’s taught his daughter well. Amber, a sophomore at Menomonee (Wis.) Falls High School, was recently awarded first place in a Labor History Essay Contest sponsored by the Wisconsin Labor History Society. Amber’s winning essay detailed the importance of unions to her family and community.

Jim Cichy, a psychiatric nurse for Milwaukee County and member of the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, Local 5001, encouraged his daughter to write the essay. “Amber has always been a prolific writer and we do discuss the benefits of unions at home frequently,” says Cichy, who has worked for the county for 21 years.

In her essay, Amber noted that her parents work in healthcare but in vastly different environments: “One works at a hospital that is unionized, while the other does not. My mother, who works at a major health company as an occupational therapist, does not have the benefit of working with a union. In this case, the emphasis of her job is productivity. My father works at a hospital that is unionized. Workers in a unionized workplace do not have to worry about just meeting their productivity, and can focus on giving the best care possible to their patients.”

In concluding her essay, Amber wrote: “Whether it is increasing wages, fighting for a better healthcare policy, or working on big ticket issues such as mandatory overtime, unions help to make working conditions better.”

Amber was awarded $500 at the 26th Annual Conference of the Wisconsin Labor History Society in Madison. She plans to use her winnings to attend jazz camp at the University of Wisconsin in Green Bay this summer.