Bobby Roy
Taking the Local 1000 Path to Success

Post

The strongest steel is forged from the hottest flame. Like in the case of Bobby Roy, an Education Programs Consultant with the California Department of Education, life’s turns can feel like Hell, but the heat can forge your strength and push you toward success. It also helps if your army in battle is Local 1000.

In 2000, Bobby Roy’s mother, a preschool teacher at the YMCA, died and left the 21-year old with their South Sacramento house and the care of his grandmother. His mother also blessed him with a concrete goal for survival.

“When my mom died and I did her final tax returns,” Roy said, “I saw that she had earned $17,000 that year. That immediately put in my mind the goal ‘I need to earn $17,000 a year.’ If I could do that, I knew I could maintain the household.”

A friend helped him get a job as a student assistant at the Department of Education. That small success put him back on his feet during a traumatic time and helped him keep the house. Roy was hired full time as an Office Technician in 2006 and joined Local 1000, which helped his career take off.

Thanks to the career development provisions in the Local 1000 contract, Roy was able to advance rapidly and to finish the college degree that was sidetracked by his mother’s death. He was given an Individualized Development Plan (IDP) to move up to the Staff Services Analyst level, then to the Associate Governmental Program Analyst and then to Education Programs Consultant, his current position. His modest goal of $17,000 long surpassed, Roy has almost tripled his salary since his initial Office Technician job. His grandmother died in 2010, but he still lives in his mother’s house where he’s been able to provide a home for his cousin and her son.

Roy’s ability to save his home, care for his family and make a successful career is a perfect example of Local 1000’s commitment to serving our members at their worksites and in their lives beyond the job.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did if it weren’t for the provisions that were in the contract. It took a union to get that,” Roy said. “It’s a privilege that’s been fought for. I wouldn’t be here if not for the union.”