The first African American president of AFSCME Local 1954? It had never occurred to Zellastein (Zella) Brooks until a colleague pointed it out a few years after she’d been elected to head the local, which represents rehabilitation and social service workers.

    “I was too busy, I guess. But I thought it was pretty nice,” says Brooks, who’s spent the past three decades artfully balancing the demands of a working mother-union leader-community caretaker, and believing in herself all the way. “I guess I made some history.”

Local 1954 President Zella Brooks

    She’s not finished making it.

    “If you know there’s a need, and you can fill it, you should,” she says. “And I plan to.”

    Doing what you say you’ll do – as well as what you think is right – has always been a top priority for the pragmatic Brooks. She was born in Arkansas but didn’t live there long; her family moved to Milwaukee’s central city in the mid-1940s. She’s been here ever since.

    “My father was in the UAW, and I’d sometimes go with him to meetings,” she says. “So I was always union. You just can’t get along without it.”

    A natural organizer. She carried that sentiment with her when she went to work as a “unit chair” for Legal Action of Wisconsin Inc. (LAW), a staff-based provider of civil legal services for low-income Wisconsin persons, in 1976.     At the time, she also was going to school at night to earn her Bachelor’s of Science degree in education from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. And it wasn’t long before she was helping to organize the office. Why? Simple, Brooks says.

    “The attorneys had gotten raises, and we hadn’t gotten any,” she says. “So [UWM] Professor Harris put us in touch with AFSCME.”

    And the LAW unit of Local 1954 was born.

    “Over the years, [Local 1954 as a whole] grew to 700-800 people," Brooks says. "Now, due to budget cuts, we’ve got 289.”

    She was active in the union from the get-go, attending meetings (and talking them up) and participating in literature drops, as well as serving in a variety of officer positions, including vice president for “10 to 15 years,” she says. Brooks was elected 1954’s president in 2001.

    Brooks also isn’t shy about speaking out about the struggles of her brothers and sisters in other unions. At times, she’s joined them in their respective fights.

    “One day, I was walking down Wisconsin Avenue, near the American Express building and the old Pill & Puff, and I saw picket signs,” she says. “So I joined the picket line. If there’s a struggle going on, I’ll stop”

    Brooks’ activist bent may be a byproduct of the respect she has for her aunt, Zella Nash — “she’s 99 and has worked for all the elected officials — Mr. Barrett, Senator Feingold, all of them,” Brooks says. “When Clinton got inaugurated, she went.”

    As a result, the list of public service and professional organizations Brooks is involved with is a long one. She’s a member of the Coalition of Labor Union Women, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and the A. Philip Randolph Institute. She’s also a voter-registration volunteer (“I’m a deputy registrar”) and does charity through her church.

    Brooks also has made it a point to be an active member of PEOPLE, AFSCME’s political, legislative and fund-raising arm.

    “I just think it’s so important,” she says. “We have to keep the unions strong.”

    How to instill passion in others? At 1954, it’s meant staying sharp on the bargaining front. Last month, the Local ratified a contract, with health insurance serving as “the big issue.”

    One thing Brooks would like to accomplish before she retires — she’s 63 — is figure out how to instill the passion she has for the union movement in her younger 1954 colleagues.

    “You can go to meetings, you can do lit drops, go to a workshop — whatever you do, get involved in the union,” she says. “Because AFSCME isn’t just Local 1954 or DC 48 — we have a whole army out there.”