Union Privilege and Household Credit Services launched a month-long promotion in June that is expected to add an additional $100,000 in funding to the Union Plus Credit Card Scholarship Program, bringing total 1999 scholarship funding to as much as $250,000.

Household has agreed to provide the additional funding for the program by contributing five percent of June 1998 credit card purchase totals (up to $100,000). This funding, combined with the $150,000 in funding already committed to the program, brings the total potential funding for the 1999 program to $250,000.

This year's program, meanwhile, honored 109 recipients representing 37 AFL-CIO unions with over $150,000 in scholarships in late May. Twelve students attending four-year colleges and universities were honored with the program's top $4,000 award, another 73 received awards ranging from $500 to $3,500, and 24 community/technical college and trade school students were awarded scholarships ranging from $500 to $1,250.

Andrea Bushman, daughter of Harriet and Kent Bushman, was presented with her check at the Grand Lodge Convention. Kent Bushman is a BMWE vice chairman on the Chicago & North Western System Federation. See more on this story elsewhere in this Journal.

Overcoming Obstacles

Among the program's four-year college and university award recipients is Anastasiya Nazarova of Summit, NJ, daughter of Leonid Bord, a member of Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union (HERE) Local 6. Anastasiya's family emigrated from Ekaterinburg, Russia in 1991 after her younger brother was diagnosed with autism.

In her essay, Anastasiya recalls how guilty she felt as a child after she and her young playmates threw rocks at an autistic man playing on a swing in her neighborhood, and how she later realized that her three-year-old brother was suffering from the same illness when he became similarly obsessed with the same swing.

"My brother's illness has affected me profoundly," she writes. "I will never stare at a person in a wheelchair, nor will I laugh at a handicapped child." Instead, she hopes "to become a special education teacher and help those like my brother."

Anastasiya notes that the union has "played a major role" in her life since her family's arrival in America seven years ago. "For the duration of our first and most critical year, the union more than came through for us," she writes. Because of her father's union-won health benefits, her brother received much-needed medical attention, "and that was by far the most urgent matter in all our lives."

Young Reformers

Another top 1998 $4,000 award recipient is Voltaire Sterling, son of Louis Sterling, a member of the Chicago Teachers Union (American Federation of Teachers Local 1).

A 1998 Chicago magnet high school graduate with a 4.51 grade point average on a 4.0 scale, Voltaire is a gifted young scholar who exhibited a flair for leadership and an understanding of labor early in life. In his essay, he relates how his appreciation of labor was forged during his freshman year in high school, when he served as a ball boy for the Chicago Bears NFL football team. Although honored to have been chosen for the position, he notes that he and his fellow ball boys nevertheless endured intense work schedules and were under paid for their duties, which included "everything from working in the field during practices to cleaning up the locker room."

As a result, he and his co-workers conceived of an organization that would represent "ball boys from NFL teams across the nation." This organization "would serve as the ball boys' 'advocate' in providing a means for collective bargaining with our employers for better wages, working conditions and benefits. Although we didn't know it then, the solution we were seeking was none other than the solidarity and support that a labor union provides."

Building a Better Life

A few scholarship recipients have combined work and school with union activism. One such ambitious person is American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3978 member Jennifer Clemons, of Bryan, Texas, who was voted president of her local last year. A single mother with a seven-year-old daughter, Jennifer works for the Federal Bureau of Prisons full time while also attending a community college part time. Her goal is to enter law or law enforcement.

Having taken on the role of the "voice" of her fellow bargaining-unit employees, Jennifer writes that "in a sense I have fulfilled my goal of being an attorney already, without a degree, because as the union president, I am constantly researching issues and communicating with others to assist them with their bargaining power."

Union Commitment a Factor

Past Union Plus Credit Card Scholarship recipients have ranged from high school valedictorians to union-member activists to immigrants looking for a better way of life. However, the qualities the recipients all have in common include an outstanding academic track record and an understanding of and a commitment to labor -- factors that figured highly in determining who would be chosen for the awards.

The Union Plus Credit Card Scholarship Program is funded by Union Privilege and Household Credit Services. This union-endorsed program offers a no-annual-fee MasterCard with a low variable Annual Percentage Rate. More than two million union members carry the Union Plus Credit Card, which is issued by Household Bank (Nevada), N.A., an equal-opportunity lender. Currently in its seventh year, the Union Plus Card Scholarship Program has awarded more than $943,000 to deserving students. The program is open to members of participating unions, as well as to their sons, daughters and spouses, regardless of whether they carry a Union Plus Credit Card.

Applications for 1999 will be available in September. To receive an application, please send in a postcard, with return address and telephone contact information clearly printed on it, to Union Plus Credit Card Scholarship, P.O. Box 9389, Minneapolis, Minn. 55440-9389. The deadline to apply is Jan. 31, 1999; award recipients' names will be announced May 31, 1999.

Union Plus Credit Card

1-800-622-2580

Offers a low rate and no annual fee.

Secured Union Credit Card

1-800-622-2580

Helps establish or re-establish credit.

Union Member Mortgage and Real Estate

1-800-222-2130

Home buying, selling and refinancing made easier.

Loan Program

1-888-235-2759

Low-rate personal loans.

Union Driver & Traveler

1-800-547-4663

Special motor-club, car repair and travel benefits.

Union Member Dental Program

1-800-257-8352

Savings on routine dental services and more.

Hertz Discounts

1-800-654-2200

Save on daily, weekly and weekend rentals.

Union Member Flower Program

1-888-667-7779

Send flowers anywhere -- for less.

National Ear Care Plan

1-800-766-3363

Free hearing screenings and more.

Union-Made Checks

1-888-864-6625

Union-printed checks with a union message.