05 Jun
Gary Lucy, Vice President of the NLC Alumni Association
Upon hearing that the School of Labor Studies has reinstated Residencies for new students in the School of Labor Studies, Gary Lucy, Vice President of the NLC Alumni Association was inspired to share his thoughts.
Brother Lucy earned his BA in Union Leadership and Administration at the NLC in 2000 and a Master’s degree in Public Administration, in 2002, from the UB/NLC program.
Reminiscing about Residencies
Gary said, “The residencies were vitally important to the overall campus experience. Meeting administrators, staff, and fellow students face-to-face will be highlighted in my bank of treasured great memories of the NLC!
The camaraderie that was created during those residencies has formed into long standing alliances and friendships –consisting of members from every nationality, orientation, and economic standing in labor movement affiliations.
When like-minds come together great things happen.
By sharing experiences with other labor union members, during classroom discussions, we realized that we were not alone in the struggle for workplace democracy and fair treatment of all workers.
We realized that we needed to be well educated in order to maintain hard fought gains from past negotiations and to garner success in future collective bargaining sessions against high priced management lawyer representatives.
We laughed together while relaxing in the lounge or pool table/TV room.
We cried together when we learned of yet another unjustified death of a worker because of an unsafe workplace environment – the very reason why the worker’s memorial monument was created at the NLC.
Yes, the residencies will always be special for all of us who had the good fortune of being a part of the process and hopefully many more will gain valuable knowledge by attending NLC residencies in the future!