AFGE Local 1812 Takes Part in Wreath Laying Ceremony

AFGE Local 1812 President Timothy Shamble and VOA Mandarin Service employee Huchen Zhang with wreath.

Friday morning, June 8, 2018 was another bright sunny late Spring day. Officials from various embassies and interest groups gathered to remember the more than 100 million victims of communism in a wreath laying ceremony at the Victims of Communism Memorial at the intersection of New Jersey and Massachusetts Avenues NW in Washington, DC. The memorial is based on the statue that freedom loving Chinese citizens raised in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

AFGE Local 1812 once again took part in the wreath laying ceremony. Representing the members was the Local’s President, Timothy Shamble.

Each year the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation presents the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom to an individual or institution who has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to freedom and democracy in opposition to communism and all other forms of tyranny.

This year’s recipient, Oswaldo Paya Sardinas, was awarded the medal posthumously. It was accepted by his wife and daughter. He was the founder of the Christian Liberation Movement in Cuba.

AFGE Local 1812 General Vice President Dave Allison Retires

Dave Allison is retiring from the Voice of America effective June 30, 2018. Dave served as the General Vice President of AFGE Local 1812 since March 2014. Before that he served as the Local’s Head Steward and as a Steward.

Dave worked for the Voice of America as a television studio technician and helped the Local with his audio/visual skills.

Most significantly, Dave served on the negotiating team for the latest Negotiated Labor-Management Agreement (NLMA) which the Union just signed on June 7, 2018. The grueling negotiations lasted years and Dave was instrumental in presenting the employees’ positions. Those who took part in the negotiations will always remember “Dave’s analogies” in which he skillfully poked holes in many a management argument.

Dave remains General Vice President until the end of his term which ends June 30, 2018. He will remain a member of AFGE Local 1812 as a retired member.

We thank Dave for all his contributions and wish him well in his retirement.