BESS WATTS NAMED TO NATIONAL POST AT PRIDE AT WORK

Rochester, N.Y.--  In an email sent to constituents, Pride At Work (PAW) national executive director Peggy Shorey named Bess Watts and Stephen Dinion to serve on the national executive board representing small chapters.


Bess Watts

Shorey stated, "On behalf of co-presidents Donna Cartwright & Stan Kiino, this email is to let you know the mid-term vacancy election for Small Chapter Representatives has been concluded. The small chapters in good standing unanimously elected Hawaii Chapter president Stephen Dinion and Rochester, N.Y. Chapter president Bess Watts as their representatives. Please join us in welcoming them to the NEB."

The NEB drives national policy around LGBT workplace issues and is composed of seven executive officers; chapter representatives elected from the chapters; a member appointed by the president of the AFL-CIO; members from each recognized international union's LGBT union caucus (with a maximum one member per international); and a maximum of six diversity representatives appointed by the aforementioned members of the NEB. PAW's National Executive Board meets at least once a year.

Pride At Work was founded in 1994. It became a formal constituency group of the AFL-CIO in 1997. Today, Pride at Work is one of the leading labor organizations promoting healthier and more democratic workplaces in America. Primarily a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender group (LGBT) of labor union activists and their supportive allies, Pride At Work seeks full equality for LGBT workers in their workplaces and in their unions.

Local 828 officer to serve on national board

Bess Watts is a community leader in Rochester, New York and involved with many progressive organizations. She is employed at Monroe Community College at the Brighton Campus, serving student needs at the Leroy V. Good Library as an interlibrary loan specialist.

She has served as president since the creation of the Rochester-Finger Lakes Chapter of Pride At Work since 2007. In 2009, she was elected President of Civil Service Employees Association Local 828, representing 3,500 Monroe County workers in 21 bargaining units.

Bess is a delegate to the Rochester Labor Council. Her dedication to the labor and LGBT movements was recognized by the council in 2008, when the Rochester-Finger Lakes Chapter of Pride At Work won the Community Solidarity Award. In her workplace, she was instrumental in the "Safe Zone Project," for which her employer awarded Bess and her co-workers the League of Innovation in 2011.

Under Bess's leadership, Rochester Finger Lakes Chapter of Pride at Work has built unprecedented support for LGBT issues in the labor community. The chapter has led rallies for equal marriage, gave finanical and highly visible support to the Mott's workers when they went on strike in 2010, drawn attention to unfair taxation of same-sex couples at Tax Day protests and made award-winning Labor Day parade floats. The chapter also participated in One Nation Working Together rallies in Washington, D.C. and western New York state. Bess frequently speaks on behalf of labor and LGBT persons to the Rochester media and volunteers for the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley's Speakers Bureau program.

Bess married Anne Tischer in 2004. Having won marriage equality in New York, they are now planning a honeymoon and are contemplating different strategies on how to overturn DOMA and pass ENDA.