Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) activist Steve Abramson, left, joins Town of Oyster Bay Local President Bob Rauff in 'Freezin' for a Reason' in the Long Island Region Polar Plunge. CSEA members from the Long Island Region raised more than $5,000 for Special Olympics New York, the most money CSEA has raised at a Polar Plunge during the winter 2007-2008 season. CSEA members across the state raised a total of $9,300 in three Polar Plunges.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Statewide Secretary Denise Berkley was recently presented with the prestigious Bertram Harris Civil Service Award during the 56th Annual Brotherhood Observance and Awards Luncheon in New York City. Berkley, center, poses with Metropolitan Region 1st Vice President and Brotherhood Co-Chair Linda R. Williams, left, and Brotherhood Chairman Randy Johnson, right.
Across New York state, Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members are showing up wherever the Governor appears to protest and confront him about his threat to lay off 8,700 state employees. Union members are also holding rallies and demonstrations in front of the offices of legislative leaders who are backing the governor's plan. Television reporters interview Buffalo State Employees Local Vice President Paul Blujas during a picket at Assemblyman Sam Hoyt's office in Buffalo. CSEA demonstrated against state layoffs that will destroy essential services and put lives at risk.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member, New York State Court Officers Gregory Hartman, left, and John Pezzino used an automatic external defibrillator to revive an unresponsive woman who had collapsed in the middle of the street in front of Buffalo City Court. The New York State Court officers in CSEA Region 6 Judiciary Local were honored with awards from the Erie County Deputy Sheriff's Badge & Shield Club, an organization encompassing several area law enforcement organizations, for saving the woman's life.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Long Island State Parks and Recreation Local member Linda Kasten leads guided tours through the Connetquot River State Park Preserve's main house, which once hosted famous guests. CSEA members of the local who work at the preserve, located in Suffolk County, NY, have long played a key role in preserving the high quality of life many Long Island residents make a priority, striving to maintain and enhance attractions such as a gristmill, nature trails, horseback riding paths, bird watching venues and the main house, which is more than 100 years old and features an antique kitchen and dining room complete with paraphernalia from that period.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Occupational safety and health activists Scott Brown, Susan Thew and Abraham Benjamin represent the union team in a skit's bargaining session during a conference workshop. More than 800 CSEA members attended CSEA's 2008 Statewide Conference on Occupational Safety and Health.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members including Metropolitan Region President George Boncoraglio, center, demonstrate outside state Senator Majority Leader Malcolm Smith's district office in Queens. CSEA's response has been swift and unrelenting in a drive to expose the dangers of Governor David Paterson's strong-arm threat to lay off 8,700 state employees if CSEA and other unions won't agree to his concession demands.
From left, Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Sullivan County Jail Unit President Robert Brewster, Corrections Officer Jonathan Kurtz, and Col. Hal Smith, jail administrator. Kurtz was presented a plaque honoring him as the unit's second annual Officer of the Year. Brewster said Kurtz, a 17-year corrections officer at the county jail, is a role model for other corrections officers and is known for his professionalism on the job. From left, Sullivan County Jail Unit President Robert Brewster, Corrections Officer Jonathan Kurtz, and Col. Hal Smith, jail administrator. Kurtz was presented a plaque honoring him as the unit's second annual Officer of the Year. Brewster said Kurtz, a 17-year corrections officer at the county jail, is a role model for other corrections officers and is known for his professionalism on the job.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members, Bob Dunlap. John Mase, Mark Weaver and Ted Condie of the Hornell State Employees Local recently saved the life of a fisherman who had fallen through the ice in Horseheads, NY.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)'s Onondaga County Local President Phil Graham addresses the Onondaga County Legislature at a public hearing. CSEA activists beat back a proposal to contract out the Onondaga County Mental Health Department's School Based Support Program, which places counselors into area school districts to provide full-time mental health clinical services throughout the school year.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)'s Retiree Benefits Under Attack! Cover of the June 2008 Work Force illustrates the attempts by two New York State corporations to mislead the media and the public over legislation to protect local government retirees' health care benefits.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)'s Don Williams of the Chautauqua County Unit, left, and Western Region 1st Vice President Hank Hoisington place a wreath at the workers memorial during a May 3 ceremony at Erlandson Overview Park in Frewsburg. The Chautauqua County Workers Memorial Committee hosts the annual event, led by CSEA retiree James Kurtz. Ceremonies were also held by the state Department of Transportation Region 4 (Rochester) Local and Western New York Developmental Disabilities Service Office Local.
Kerry Kennedy, human rights lawyer and activist, and daughter of former U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, speaks at the Justice for Farmworkers rally in Albany. Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) joined the Justice for Farmworkers campaign taking part in a rally to support farm workers in their fight for the same rights enjoyed on the job by non-agricultural workers.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Metropolitan Region members joined other AFSCME activists and members of the Coalition of Labor Union Women at the 3rd annual Walk to Beat the Clock in Washington, D.C. The walk helps to raise money and awareness about cervical cancer. It was started by Tamika Felder, an AFSCME member and cervical cancer survivor (holding the CSEA banner on the left) who formed Tamika and Friends, a movement to end cervical cancer.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)'s Long Island DDSO Local President Daryl Wilson makes a point during a workshop during CSEA's annual Spring Workshop which focused on building skills that will carry CSEA into its next 100 years.
Sabrina Mosseau, left, a nurse and volunteer at the American Cancer Society, with Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Statewide Secretary Denise Berkley. More than 800 union officers and occupational safety and health activists attended the conference to learn more about how to keep workers safe in the workplace.
Harry Albright discusses his experiences withthe Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)during a 2005 interview for the CSEA 100 History project. Albright, who served as counsel to CSEA from the mid-1950s until the mid-1960s, passed away in October, 2008. As counsel, he was deeply involved in advancing the association's agenda and representing members' interests through the legislative and legal systems.
Director of the state Division of Probation and Correctional Alternatives Robert Maccarone, left, congratulating Warren County, NY, Probation Supervisor John Adams and the county's Supervisor of Preventative Services and Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member Maureen Schmidt on their award for outstanding collaboration between probation and social services.
Nearly 1,000 Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) delegates and guests attend the opening business session of CSEA's 98th Annual Delegates Meeting in Washington, D.C. The goal of the meeting was to develop short-term and long-term strategies that put the union's stamp on the future.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)'s Cindy O'Bara, shown here at her office, has been recognized for her efforts in organizing "Law Day" in the state's 8th Judicial District in Buffalo, NY. The annual event gives the public, particularly students, the opportunity to learn how the courts work. For her efforts, O'Bara recently received the "Outstanding Educational Efforts Award" from the state Unified Court System.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members across the state marched in several 2008 Labor Day-related events. Union members and their families and friends marched for change this year, getting out the word to support Senator Barack Obama for president. Western New York DDSO Local members and their families on the union's float in the Buffalo, NY, parade.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)'s New York Parole District Local President Peggy Eason sings "The Star Spangled Banner" to open CSEA's 98th Annual Delegates Meeting held in Washington, D.C.. Part of a Marine Corps color guard is seen behind her. It was Eason's last ADM, as she is retiring.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) President Danny Donohue, center, posing with CSEA St. Lawrence County Local President Betty Thomas and County Administrator Donald R. Brining outside the county office building in Canton, New York. Donohue had traveled to the North Country in the aftermath of a devastating ice storm in January 1998 to help recognize the efforts of CSEA members responding to the disaster that left much of the region without power for weeks in the heart of winter. The CSEA is New York State's largest union.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) President Danny Donohue, CSEA Nassau County (New York) Local 830 President Tony Giustino, Unity Committee member and Local 830 Parks and Recreation Unit President Tim Corr, CSEA members Moses Newsome and Concetta Walker celebrate diversity at the eighth annual Martin Luther King Jr. ceremonial brunch held on Long Island. Walker, who lauded the union for honoring and celebrating its diversity through its many events, gave the invocation and sang the anthem "Lift Every Voice and Sing." Hundreds of union members and community supporters turned out for the Nassau County event, which was among several held statewide to honor the memory of the slain civil rights leader and to commemorate Black History Month. The CSEA is New York State's largest union.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members demonstrated outside SUNY Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, New York, to oppose the Berger Commission's proposed cuts, mergers and privatization of public health care facilities. Supporters at the rally included members of the United Auto Workers union. Van Duyn Unit President Barb Taylor is at far left.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Nassau County Municipal Local President John Shepherd fires up the crowd at a demonstration in Glen Cove, New York, to fight the county's sewer district consolidation plan. CSEA is blasting a secretive City of Glen Cove vote to transfer sewer operations to Nassau County. CSEA represents many full-time employees in the city, some of whom work at the water pollution control facility. These members now face the choice of reassignment to other city jobs, retirement or resignation. CSEA is New York State's largest employee union.
Unidentified Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) East Hampton Unit members demonstrate outside the town hall against the town supervisor's plan to change health benefits. It was agreed under the current contract with the town, that runs through 2010, that medical benefits would not be changed in any way until the current contract expires. The town of East Hampton is in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members, Irene Tossone with Norman Ebanks inside the Supreme Court Appellate Division 1st Department building in Manhattan, New York, where they work. Tossone is a secretary to a judge; Ebanks serves as a court officer. CSEA is New York State's largest union.
Governor David Paterson's announcement of Represntative Kirsten Gillibrand as Junior Senator of New York to replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Executive Vice President Mary Sullivan is seen on-stage, top row and fourth from left, among other prominent Albany dignitaries showing support for Governor Paterson's announcement.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Administrative Services Unit negotiating team member from the Western Region Sara Sievert and Operational Services Unit member from the Central Region listening and taking notes during contract negotiations with New York State. The negotiating team and the collective bargaining specialists assigned to each of the three bargaining units, Administrative Services Unit, Operational Service Unit and Institutional Services Unit, prepare demands to improve the contract language in each unit. CSEA staff and the negotiating teams use contract demand sheets sent in by thousands of members as a basis for formulating the union's demands. The CSEA is New York State's largest union.
An unidentified Civil Sevice Employees Association (CSEA) delegate reading over material presented at the CSEA 1987 Annual Delegates Meeting in Rochester, New York. For the 77th consecutive year delegates elected by the membership to help determine the present and future course of their union participated in the democratic process known as the CSEA Annual Delegates Meeting. More than 1,200 delegates attended. Delegates rejected a proposed dues increase; approved several changes in the union's constitution and by-laws; approved the affiliation of CSEA's Retirees Division with AFSCME and reaffirmed overall union policy. The CSEA is New York State's largest union.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Metropolitan Region President George Boncoraglio and Congressional Representative Richard Gephardt (D-Missouri). Gephardt was a speaker at the Legislative Breakfast sponsored by CSEA's Women's and Political and Legislative Action committeees during CSEA's 86th Annual Delegates Meeting held in New York City. He is holding a cartoon by CSEA Graphic Artist Ralph Distin which was presented to Gephardt during the breakfast. The CSEA is New York State's largest union.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) activists Barbara and Warren Maloney march with signs at an October 1997 rally protesting a plan to contract out some public services in Cohoes, NY.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Chataugua County Unit President Jim Smith converses with CSEA delegates at the October 2000 CSEA Convention in New York City.
Dorothy Temple, a keyboard specialist for the state Department of Taxation and Finance, was one of five Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members who lost their lives in the World Trade Center attack on September 11, 2001.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members, Deleware County Department of Public Works employees Ryan Boice and Jerry Ford work on landscaping around pipes from a newly built co-composting facility. CSEA Delware County Local CSEA members fought for the construction of the co-composting plant to extend the life of the county landfill and save it from privatization.
Parent Barbara Stevens testifies about the security she feels when leaving her children in the care of Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)/VOICE activist Joyce Burch. More than 100 independent daycare providers from across the state attended a two-day child care advocacy summit in Albany hosted by CSEA and the Voice of Independent Childcare Educators, a professional association of more than 700 family child care providers working with CSEA to improve their profession and the quality of care for the children they serve.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation workers Andrea Taylor and Sahadewa Sadya work in Gantry Plaza State Park in Queens, NY.
Utica, NY area labor leaders joined in a united effort to discuss area problems of common concern last night in the Ramada Inn, New Hartford. Discussing problems were, from left: Louis Sunderhaft, president of the City and County Chapter of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA); Dwight E. Vicks Jr., president of the Greater Utica Chamber of Commerce; Jay Hagenbuch, president of the Utica Teachers Association; George Dooley, labor liaison representative, Northeast region of the United Way of America and dinner speaker; Martin Berger, president of the Greater Utica Federation of Utica. Courtesy of CSEA Utica State Employees Local (formerly Oneida County Chapter).
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Delegates Bob Nurse, left, and John "Bunny" Jackson listen at a special delegates meeting on September 9, 1986 to consider CSEA developing an in-house legal department.
A Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) cartoon that depicts "Dammed if you do . . . " Panicking, sweating "Dutch Boy" (New York's Local Governments) trying to plug the leaks (new mandated programs, increased medicaid costs, Governor George Pataki's tax cuts, revenue short-falls) in the dam (Budget Crises) thats holding back the flooding water (tax hikes, less service, layoffs). Sign taped to the dam: "Less State Aid for Localities." The CSEA is New York State's largest union.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)'s 2002 Irene Carr Leadership Award winner Ellen Burke, third from left, at the 2002 CSEA Women's Conference as she receives the award from (left to right) New York Statewide Secretary Barbara Reeves, President Danny Donohue, and CSEA Standing Women's Committee Chairperson Jackie Stanford. Burke, a former SUNY Albany Local activist and now member of the Capital District Retirees Local, has dedicated more than 37 years of activism with CSEA. Burke was interviewed in 2005 as part of a video documentary for CSEA's 100th anniversary. The CSEA is New York State's largest union.
This Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) cartoon, urging people to get out and vote on November 8, 2005. It sends a message to CSEA members to vote for CSEA-endorsed candidates and to vote yes on Proposition 1.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)'s first graduating LEAD class. LEAD is CSEA's Leadership Education and Development Program. Thirty-two CSEA activists from across the state completed the first-ever CSEA LEAD program, an intensive, 18-month program to help emerging union activists gain the skills and knowledge necessary to better address the challenges facing the union at every level.
Civil Services Employees Association (CSEA) members, Putnam County child support specialists, Sue Watkins, Dawn Alterman, and Michelle Aaronson pose for a photograph. The three CSEA members are dedicated to helping Putnam County families secure the financial support needed to raise children.
Members of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Capital Region, NY Veterans Committee honoring the memory of the late John J. Kelly along with United States Congressman Michael R. McNulty and Kelly's son, John J. Kelly Jr. following a Veterans Day ceremony honoring Kelly at the Joseph E. Zaloga American Legion Post in Albany. From left: Gail Stewart, McNulty, Bob Plunkett, Kelly and Joe McCormick. John J. Kelly Sr., an Albany native, was a decorated World War II veteran who saw action in North Africa, Sicily and in the invasion of Normandy, where he suffered serious injury. Following the war he served for a dozen years as lead counsel for CSEA from the law firm of DeGraff, Foy & Holt-Harris, until his untimely death in 1960 due to complications from his war injuries. The CSEA established a scholarship fund in his memory at the time of his death to provide college tuition help for Kelly's five children. The John J. Kelly Scholarship Fund continues to provide assistance to the children of CSEA members who have lost a parent.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)'s Greene Correctional Facility Local members Dinorah Perez and Mary Ellen Yurek learning self defense during the New York State CSEA Women's Conference. More than 400 CSEA members attended workshops and other presentations throughout the weekend to sharpen their union leadership skills and better manage their lives in and out of the workplace.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) President Danny Donohue paying tribute to former Statewide Secretary Irene Carr at the union's 2006 Women's Conference before presenting the Irene Carr Leadership Award to Catherine Custance. The award is given in honor of Irene Carr, a former CSEA statewide secretary who died in 2004, who fought for what she called "work and family issues," including encouraging women to take union leadership roles and building more than 50 child care centers at state agencies. The CSEA is New York's largest union.