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 District Council 48 Staff Representative, Malou Noth |
Outspoken, direct, candid, forthright, straightforward: these are all adjectives that can be used to describe the style of District Council 48 Staff Representative Malou Noth. Friends and adversaries alike know to expect nothing short of frankness from Noth when the subject centers on Union issues that are close to her heart.
She once told a potential employer at a job interview, “ I don’t respect you as a person, but I will respect you as my boss.” For most anyone else, such a brash statement would have ended any chance of getting the job– Noth was hired the next day. This no nonsense approach, and ability to put aside personal differences to effectively come to an agreement both sides can live with, has come to define Noth’s career as a top notch Labor negotiator.
Noth credits her upbringing for giving her the tools to understand people and get beyond “non-issues” that otherwise prevents two sides from coming to an agreement. Her mother, Elena Fels Noth, and father, Erich Noth, fell and were married. Elena was a well-known Opera singer of Jewish descent, and Erich was a writer for a Frankfurt newspaper who was becoming increasingly well known for publicly criticizing Hitler’s party. The couple was forced to flee to France to avoid being arrested. After the Nazi’s invaded France, Erich, Elena and their two sons, Pierre and Jean, were forced into hiding until friends helped to smuggle them to the United States.
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Once the family moved to the United States, they weren’t exactly welcomed with open arms because they were immigrants. The couple had two more children, Dominique and Malou, while in the U.S. and lived in New York and Oklahoma prior to settling in Milwaukee where Erich became the Dean of the Modern Language Department at Marquette University and Elena became a Professor of Voice at the University of Illinois. Because of Erich and Elena’s profession in the world of academia, the family often had foreign exchange students living with them. “We always had multi ethnic groups living with us and that’s one thing I can thank my family for,” Malou Noth said. “A basic value our parents gave us was not to embrace everybody, but you’ve got to give everyone a chance. I was never raised to see color; background or where a person came from economically, I was just raised to see people. That’s very important in this business,” she added.
Noth delights in telling the story of how she first became active in union activities in 1977. She was working as a Secretary for Milwaukee Public Schools, a career that lasted 25 years, when the president of her Local, Margaret Silkey, approached Noth about taking a position on a bargaining team she was assembling for Local 1053. Silkey explained that she was trying to put together a balanced team that would provide equal representation from high schools, middle schools, elementary schools and a cross selection of older workers, younger workers, black, white etc. Noth asked Silkey, “Well, which group will I be representing.” Silkey responded by telling Noth that she would be the team’s black representative. “But I’m not black,” Noth said. Silkey replied, “Well, the manager thinks you are – and I thought you were – so you’ll be our black representative.”
“So, that’s how I got started on my first bargaining team – as the African American representative,” she joked. From that day forward, Noth has given tirelessly to union causes. She served as Vice President and Chief Steward of Local 1053 from 1978 to 1990, and President from 1990 to 1993. She credits Margaret Silkey for being a terrific mentor and leader. “She was very much ahead of her time, she put Local 1053 on the map, and she was a women’s rights activist before it was fashionable.”
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As president of Local 1053 Noth enjoyed many successes, but perhaps the legacy she is most proud of is planting the seed of union activism in AFL-CIO Community Liaison, Annie Wacker. Noth recalls the day Wacker showed up to her first 1053 membership meeting visibly angry with an MPS long standing policy of hiring only one secretary at an elementary school regardless of the school’s population. “This made the job unbelievably hard,” said Noth. If an elementary school had 500 kids they only employed one secretary, but if a High School had 500 kids, they sometimes had four or more secretaries. Noth questioned the MPS School Board about the rationale of their policy by asking them if the number of secretaries hired at each school was based on the number or the size of the student. “They didn’t get it,” she laughed.
Noth and Wacker organized a committee whose mission was to prove to the school board why more secretaries were needed at the elementary schools. Wacker served as Chairperson of the committee, and with the strong backing from the membership of Local 1053, they were able to convince the school board that full time secretaries at MPS elementary schools should have at least one half time or one full time assistant as needed.
In January of 1993 Noth became a Staff Representative for District Council 48. She adjusted quickly into her new role, though she is quick to credit D.C. 48 Public Policy Director Patty Yunk, with helping her make the transition. Yunk passed on to Noth the responsibilities of representing Local 587 (Milwaukee Area Technical Employees), Local 1486 (Milwaukee Suburban North Shore Municipal & School Board Employees), and 1261 (The City of Glendale Employees).
During the past ten years, Noth has gained credibility through building relationships based on trust with bargaining teams, management and her employers. “I’m very much an advocate of Labor/Management Committees and Consensus bargaining,” she said. “When I started bargaining in the North Shore area everyone had an attorney.” I pride myself on the fact that there are very few attorneys left sitting at the bargaining table anymore – except maybe two.”
“Whenever you have two sides in a tumultuous relationship, there’s a point where people need to talk,” Noth said. Although Labor/Management Committees take a lot of work, she believes they are worth the effort. “Typically the results that come from these committees can be measured in fewer grievances filed, a better working relationship between the two sides to resolve issues rather than simply complain about them, and a sense of ownership and pride by employees on the worksite because they are now part of the decision making process.”
Consensus bargaining fits Noth’s style because she is very up front and does not like to play a lot of games. “With consensus bargaining you’re sharing ideas instead of taking a hard rock stand on an issue,” she said. Noth believes that when dialog opens and the rationale of each side is explained and understood, the veil of paranoia, secrecy and distrust disappears. “Many times you find that both sides have the same issue, but they are just coming at it from different angles,” she said. Once this has been established, she believes an agreement can be achieved. “You may not get everything you want, but at least your getting a happy medium,” she said.
Through the years, Noth has been instrumental in many victories for Milwaukee area workers, but the part of her job that truly stirs her passion is organizing. Noth has successfully organized the Village of Brown Deer Community Service Officers, Bayside DPW workers, Fox Point/Bayside School District Custodians, Shorewood Library workers, Glendale/ River Hills School District Secretaries and Teachers Aides, and River Hills DPW workers.
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“I love organizing. Organizing to me is just the heart of what we do – it’s our job. I enjoy it because people who have not been represented and who have not been given their due are very very grateful. The enthusiasm is just effervescing – it gives me life,” she said.
Noth said that organizing is enriching to her because much of her time is spent representing people who have enjoyed many wonderful benefits from their Union contracts, yet they don’t understand or fully appreciate the significant role the Union has played in their lives.
“Whether they’re going on vacation, taking their boat out on the lake or driving their SUVs, people have to understand that without a good wage, without having vacation language in their contract, without sick leave or medical insurance, they wouldn’t have these things. They have to understand that their union made those things possible and that their employer did not just hand them these benefits. The union worked hard to get them those benefits and people should not take those things for granted. Sometimes the only way people know what they’ve got is after they’ve been taken away.”
Malou Noth’s unequivocal style has earned her the admiration and respect of foes as well as those who have benefited from her organizational skills and representation.
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© 2002 AFSCME District Council 48 Your e-mail feedback welcome!
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