It pays to read the fine print. Paraprofessional Joan Sommermeyer was doing just that, reviewing information from the New York State United Teachers that would be provided to new members of the Half Hollow Hills Teachers Association on Long Island, N.Y. When Sommermeyer read that federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards required school districts to provide hepatitis B vaccines for all employees who might come into contact with blood or other body fluids, she knew that her own school district was not meeting its obligations.

As a membership services specialist for the local, Sommermeyer received initial training from the AFT and works part-time for the union to help it address PSRP issues. "I talked to people in the district and none of them had ever been vaccinated," says Sommermeyer, who works as a nurses' clerical aide. The only ones who had been vaccinated had done it through their own doctors or when they worked in another district.

It took a series of letters between association president Dick Lee and district administrators--and several months' time--to actually get the district to provide the vaccines. And even that victory is less than perfect. For one thing, Sommermeyer notes, the district--not the union--is supposed to identify staff who should be vaccinated, and the shots should be given on an ongoing basis as new people are hired or take on new duties.

Familiar as she is with the union's membership, even Sommermeyer missed some staff who should have been vaccinated when she prepared her list. A shop teacher came into the nurse's office where she works holding a bandage on a student's cut hand--and the teacher wasn't on the vaccination list.

Nonetheless, having most people vaccinated against a potentially life-threatening disease is a vast improvement, and the district will offer shots again in the fall. "It's a great relief to have our members protected," Lee says.

From her experience with this issue, Sommermeyer is "absolutely sure" that there are similar mandates that the district is not fulfilling. And she's planning to follow up on those she finds. "I'm constantly thinking about new things to help members."

While the vaccinations have helped everyone in the union, Sommermeyer's efforts have helped change the way paraprofessionals view the union, she reports. One reason Sommermeyer was hired in the membership services position was to reach out to paras and increase their trust and involvement in the union, which is exactly what has happened.