Message From the Working Womens' Committee Chair

Giselle Martinez — Chair, Working Women's Committee

By Giselle Martinez

As Mothers, We Have to Take Care of Ourselves, Too.

As women, we don’t take time for ourselves.

We’re too busy taking care of the kids, taking care of the husband, taking care of the house, and working. That’s why I have been organizing wellness screenings alongside our women’s events at the Union Hall.

At our March 22 International Women’s Day – and this should be a wake-up call to all union women – fifty percent of our Sisters who were screened for thyroid and heart issues were told to get follow-up visits with their doctors.

We get too busy on the job, and we don’t think about our own health. As a women, I want to say to all of our other sisters – take care of yourself.

Back in the Domincan Republic I began selling contracts for a cable company at the age of 16. I was very hungry to work, and I became the head of my group. We sold the whole neighborhood in less than a month.

When I came here from the Dominican Republic in 2006, I came here to work. I came to America and decided to take the Bus Operator test. I had a daycare business. I was called by Transit four years later.

In 2016, while I was a probie, I got pregnant five months into my probation and because I couldn’t take days off or take sick days, I ended up with a miscarriage at eight weeks. I was under a lot of stress at the time, because I was on Staten Island, traveling all the time, around the clock, 24/7. A lot of our members, when they come on the job, had a lot of hardship. I understand that. I connect with that and I have four children. The job we do is not an easy job, and not everybody is ready for it. But if you mentally prepare yourself for this job, you make it.

When I got the offer to become the chair of this Committee, I decided to say yes, because I feel I have a calling to help others. It gives me more resources in order to provide assistance to our members.

Some Saturdays I’m on the bus driving around because I like connecting with the members. I go to work every weekend if I can. I like to feel what they feel in the field. When I’m driving out of East New York on the weekends as a Bus Operator. I let the members know that the Union is here for them.