Graphic Communicator photo by Susan Zachem

Carol Ann Occhipinti uses the new computer system in the GCIU's accounting department. She notes the dramatic change in GCIU office procedures over the past two decades as the union switched to computer operations.

(Editor's note: Per directions by GCIU Pres. George Tedeschi, Graphic Communicator editor-in-chief, this is the first in a series to introduce members to their International headquarters staff.)

Working for a union is a family thing for Carol Ann Occhipinti, a 33-year GCIU employee. That's because she grew up under the tutelage of her father, Alexander J. Rohan, a president of the International Printing and Graphic Communications Union.

"We were a union family," said Occhipinti, who works in the GCIU accounting department. "I was raised union all the way. My father was a very strong union man, so it was just natural to me."

With her background, it also was natural that Occhipinti should wind up as shop steward for the bargaining unit at GCIU headquarters, a post she has held for more than 20 years. Headquarters staff are represented by Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 2.

And, given her background, it must have been fate that Occhipinti's marriage bears the GCIU label, too. Her husband Vince was a member of Scranton 97B when they met. He transferred to Washington after they were married and joined Washington 98L as an employee of the federal Defense Mapping Agency. Occhipinti has two daughters by a previous marriage and two step-daughters. Her five grandchildren and Vince's four keep them young.

A native of Washington, D.C., Occhipinti said when she went to work for the International Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union in 1967, her father warned her that "he would be harder on me than anybody." The IPPAU was preparing to move its headquarters from Pressmen's Home, Tenn., to Washington, so Occhipinti was sent to Pressmen's Home to train for her new job in membership records.

She later moved to a job in the secretary-treasurer's office and, when Rohan became president, moved to the president's office. There she worked on the organizers' and representatives' expense forms and served as secretary to retired Vice Pres. Raymond Boland.

After her father retired and Sol Fishko became president, she moved to central filing and then accounting. When the IPGCU merged with the Graphic Arts International Union in 1983, its staff moved to the GCIU's current headquarters building.

Occhipinti said the GCIU's office systems "have changed drastically" over the past three decades. When she began, "everything was done manually." When personal computers were introduced into the accounting department, four employees had to share two computers, which cut into productivity. Now, everyone has a computer.

"We've come a long way," she said. "Especially since the new computer system was introduced last year, we're even more advanced." All of her work in accounts payable and receivable, insurance, staff expenses, strike reports, and other areas is logged into the computer, she said.

Occhipinti added that the new computer system has many features that weren't possible on the old system. For example, accounting employees can perform analyses on expenses for a particular meeting or category based on codes entered for those expenses. "I look forward to realizing the full potential of the system with training," she said.

Since 1990, Occhipinti has served as coordinator at GCIU headquarters for the United Way campaign. She said she is proud that the GCIU headquarters staff has won the Platinum Award – United Way's highest award for contributions – every year for a decade. The staff is at the 100 percent contribution level, she said.

Occhipinti's shop steward duties also keep her busy. She has negotiated nine contracts and said that working for the union has gotten better over the contract years.

Asked if it is tough to sit across the bargaining table from professional negotiators like GCIU management, Occhipinti laughed. "It is hard because they're always one step ahead. You have to be alert and very quick and, at the same, be understanding and open-minded," she said. She applies the same philosophy when handling complaints by employees or management. "I always try to see both sides of the argument and listen to both sides and try to come to a happy medium without having to go to grievance or arbitration procedures," she said.

As shop steward, Occhipinti said she is looking forward "to a good relationship between the OPEIU unit and the new GCIU administration. I believe that together we can build a comfortable and productive work environment."