Stewarding the Movement

David Prosten can’t sit still. The founder and head of Union Communication Services (UCS) keeps jumping up to fetch another publication to show me. And with more than 100 books and dozens of editions of Steward Update, UCS’ flagship publication, Prosten’s got plenty to show. Founded in 1981, UCS is dedicated to “putting real union-building tools in the hands of stewards, activists and leaders,” Prosten told UNION CITY during an interview last Thursday in the UCS offices in Annapolis. “Stewards are the frontline union troops who workers see every day” Prosten says, “and too often they’re sent out to do battle with little more than a handshake and pat on the back.” A former daily newspaper journalist who began his career as a copyboy for columnist Ann Landers at the Chicago Sun-Times, Prosten moved over to editing union publications in 1968, serving stints at the IUE, 1199 in New York, AFSCME, SEIU and PAI before striking out on his own in ’81 with UCS. The bi-monthly Steward Update – packed with tips ranging from how to investigate a grievance and deal with a difficult boss or co-worker to how to get members to help build the union – is now distributed in English and Spanish to more than 2,000 locals across North American and has an 80,000 press run. But with an estimated million volunteer union stewards toiling away in American workplaces, Prosten obviously feels UCS still has plenty of work to do to arm these rank and file activists against “ever more aggressive employers who are getting away with more and more.” In 1997 UCS published The Union Steward’s Complete Guide, a highly popular book recently updated in a 2006 second edition. Another hit has been The Union Member’s Complete Guide which covers everything from how unions operate to member’s rights and responsibilities and how to “Get the most value out of your union card.” In 1998 UCS published its first annual Labor Books Catalog, which claims to be “the largest, most varied and helpful selection of hand-picked books ever created for union leaders, activists and rank-and-file members.” Eleven categories include “Tools for Activists,” “Labor Law” and “Popular Reading & Cartoons.” UCS also maintains two websites, unionist.com – which includes an online steward training course – and biglabor.com, which offers a veritable cornucopia of labor material, from links to union websites across the country to labor cartoons, quotes, jokes, books and songs of the week, as well as the labor history featured in UNION CITY. Long-time UCS staffers Chris Rolling and Dana Balaz, "whose day-to-day work keep this place running," are represented by UFCW Local 400. An Annapolis resident for 15 years, the 62-year-old Prosten is active in the Maryland environmental movement; his wife, Sarah Flynn – a freelance book editor – serves as President of the District 30 Democratic Club and is deputy secretary of the Maryland Democratic Party. -Report by Chris Garlock