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2008 STEWARD OF THE FIRST QUARTER
Sonia Leon
Steward of the Quarter Sonia Leon:
‘doing good’ for her coworkers and her union
Sonia Leon’s motto is, “Do good
without seeing who it’s for.”
As a steward at Brawley Beef,
she knows she is “doing good” both for the union and
for her fellow employees.
“I’ve always tried to be a
helpful individual,” she said. “Serving as a steward
is just another way to do something for the people I
work with.
Sonia believes that her varied
educational and employment background helps her be
an effective steward.
“I worked the fields with my
dad when he picked watermelons in the Imperial
Valley,” Sonia recalls. “Later on, I went to college
in Mexico at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja
California, where I studied psychology and human
resources. I also worked in Coachella at a center
that helps people on probation and conducted
educational sessions on AIDS prevention for young
people.
“All of this has helped me
understand people,” she continues. “Everyone is
different. You can’t deal with everyone the same
way. There are always some people who are combative
and naturally hostile. You have to know how to calm
them down and find out the facts before you can deal
with their issue.”
Sonia says stewards help
maintain the strength of the union.
“The union is our first line of
defense to prevent abuse by the employer,” she says.
“Too often, the company looks at us as machines and
not as humans. It will try to get away with whatever
it can get away with. That’s where the union comes
in. It is there to protect our jobs and our
benefits.
“I have worked non-union in my
life and we did not have the health benefits or a
pension that we can count on when we retire,” Sonia
says. “We have them here at Brawley Beef because of
our union.”
In her spare time, Sonia enjoys
listening to music, especially when driving. “I sing
along to everything,” she says.
But most of all she enjoys
working with children at La Esperanza de los Ninos,
a refuge for children in crisis due to abuse,
neglect or HIV/AIDS.
“It’s living up to what I
believe in,” Sonia says. |
