About Local 476

Find us in Room 3143 of the HUD Headquarters Building or call us at 202-402-3077. You can find a steward on our Stewards page, which is updated each quarter.

Officers

Edward Eitches, President

Eddie has served as President of Local 476 since 1999. He is well known throughout the national union movement for proactive bargaining on issues like transit subsidy, student loan, flexible work hours, telework, volunteerism, clearinghouse, and emerging professionals. Eddie was given AFGE's highest honor, the A. Philip Randolph-Hubert Humphrey Civil Rights Award. A senior trial attorney in OGC and a Harvard Law School graduate, Eddie has been at HUD since 1978. Read more about Eddie below.

 

Ashaki Robinson-Johns, First Vice President

Ashaki is a Social Science Analyst in Policy Development and Research and has been at HUD since 2006. She is vice president of the HUD Child care Center Board. Before coming to HUD, Ashaki worked in the field of social work and community organizing. She is currently working on her PhD dissertation in social policy at Brandeis University.

 

William R. Taylor, Second Vice President

Will has been a trial attorney in the Office of General Counsel since September 2008. As a steward for Local 476, Will has provided advice and assistance to HUD employees in connection with a broad range of personnel issues. Will comes from a family with deep roots in the civil rights and labor movements.

 

Monique Love, Treasurer

Monique began work at HUD in May 1989 as a clerk typist. In 1997 she was selected for the Upward Mobility Program and Monique is now a Housing Project Manager in Multifamily Housing/Asset Management. Monique has extensive training from AFGE National to ensure that she is knowledgeable and capable of handling her fiduciary responsibilities as Local 476 Treasurer.

 

Sandy Krems, Secretary

Sandy came to HUD in 1988. Sandy helped develop policies, procedure and guidance for Single Family Housing. Sandy is an attorney and has been a steward for Local 476 for 4 years, handling personal representation issues ranging from grievances and alternative dispute resolution, to arbitration and appeals to the Merit Systems Protection Board. Sandy is especially interested in expanding upward mobility opportunities.

 

Delegates

Keith Fudge, Delegate

Keith started as a Presidential Management Fellow. Keith's family has long been involved in the labor movement.

Mark Matulef, Delegate

Mark, a lawyer with OGC, has been instrumental in developing the student loan repayment program and enforcing telework agreements. He serves on the AFGE HUD national contract team.

Bernard Morton, Delegate

Bernard is an attorney and has been Chief Steward for Local 476 for the past 3 years. He has successfully represented bargaining unit employees on issues such as career ladder promotions, prevention of terminations, mitigating suspensions, obtaining hardship transfers, and upgrading performance appraisals. Bernard has been with HUD since 2001. Bernard served 21 years in United States Air Force, retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

Tim Colon, Alternate Delegate

Jerry Gross, Alternate Delegate

Rodney Rose, Alternate Delegate

 

Stewards

Almost every HUD HQ cylinder has a steward assigned. Find yours.

Local President Eddie Eitches

Eddie Eitches has served as President of Local 476 (HUD Headquarters and Washington Field Office) since 1999. He serves 1,800 bargaining unit employees, of whom 1,100 are members.

Over forty years ago, Eddie began work as a community organizer in migrant camps. Eddie attended college at Columbia in New York City, and graduated summa cum laude. Eddie graduated from Harvard Law School, where he was Executive Editor of the Harvard Civil Rights/Civil Liberties Law Review. Before coming to HUD, Eddie was employed at the Federal Trade Commission in 1974, where he served as a litigator, an attorney-adviser to a commissioner, and counsel to the FTC's Bureau of Economics. He was also an Assistant Professorial Lecturer at George Washington University, where he taught antitrust economics.

Eddie came to HUD in 1978 as an attorney where he headed up a unit that focused on increasing Fannie Mae's purchase of inner city mortgages. Eddie is currently paid as a Senior Trial Attorney for the Office of General Counsel but under the terms of the the collective bargaining agreement, he spends all his time on union work. Under Eddie's direction, the Local has proposed a free gym with incentives to encourage all to use the facility, affirmative action plans, and a personnel clearinghouse to facilitate transfers within HUD and promote upward mobility.

During the Bush Administration (2006-2008), the Local negotiated a progressive student loan repayment and child care subsidy program; maximum flexible and compressed work schedules (10/4; 6 a.m. start with a 7:30 p.m. close; three-day telework); and developed mandatory No Fear Act training (in conjunction with BIG). The Local successfully lobbied Congress to prevent the Bush-led HUD from terminating the Community Development Block Grant, HOPE VI and Senior Citizen Housing (Section 202) programs. Since President Obama took office and Shaun Donovan became HUD Secretary, the Local has really flourished. In accordance with the agreement that the Local negotiated with management, employees were no longer required to go through magnetometers machines (a health hazard), the transit subsidy was increased to a maximum of $230 for all HUD employees, and gender equality has been promoted (with Congressman Barney Frank).

The Local is involved with major mission-related legislative initiatives. Secretary Donovan said at the transit subsidy ceremony, "Eddie has been an incredibly thoughtful, reliable, important partner in helping my team understand what's working and what's not working at HUD and what we can do to make the agency a better place for all of you, our valued employees, but also a more effective agency to serve the millions of American families who are suffering from the housing crisis that we see across this country today."

Eddie also has served as vice chair of the McLean Community Center, which has tax authority. He was President of the Washington, DC Phi Beta Kappa Association. He became involved with Africare in the 1970's when that organization was very young, and was president of Africare, DC for fifteen years. Eddie has served as President of AFGE Council 1, which is made up of the AFGE Federal locals in the Washington, DC area.

Eddie has been awarded the NAACP Fairfax County's Community Service Award. In August 2009 he was awarded AFGE's highest award, the A. Philip Randolph-Hubert Humphrey Civil Rights Award.