New York, NY – Carolyn Rinaldi, Chief of Staff at ATU Local 1181-1061, is an individual who, over her diversified career, has worked hard to bring about positive change in each position she has held.
LaborPress was able to find out more from Rinaldi about her trajectory, what has motivated her, what inspired her and kept her going in her work challenges, and more.
LP: You began working in the school bus industry in 2014. What was your initial title and how did your work progress from there?
CR: I was initially a consultant to recruit for paratransit, and thankfully I grew and learned a lot. My role changed many, many times. Then I became head of customer service and dispatch while still consulting. I was hired early on in 2015 as head of HR, labor relations and compliance, and finally, as General Manager.
LP: Your work providing a better work environment is of course paramount and commendable. Can you give some examples that other leaders can look to, of the things you focused on improving?
CR: There’s a long list. One of my goals was to get operations and safety on the same page – that was definitely a challenge – another goal was to find the patterns and mitigate. I believe there is a solution to every problem, so focusing on what the problems were, and it could be anything from high call out volume to accident trends, etc., identifying the cause/es and then brainstorming on solutions.
LP: Are there specific victories you can share?
CR: Increasing morale, being honored by a workforce for efforts to build professional relationships within the industry and community, being honored for general manager spotlight twice, teaching classes as well as training and teaching all over the country. Communication is key (at least to me) so the more I learn, I grow, and become a better person which leads me to becoming a great leader with the best Union, in my eyes.
For keeping her eye on the betterment of Labor, and working towards her goals in every position she held, LaborPress is proud to extend its congratulations and give its Labor Leadership 2024 Award to Carolyn Rinaldi, Chief of Staff at ATU Local 1181-1061.
