State Education Department Local member and political action volunteer Pat Whalen, "We need candidates like Bill Owens, who looks out for working people and is going to make sure [working families] can put food on the table, make a decent living, send their kids to college. Nationally, if we fail to re-elect President Barack Obama and we elect Mitt Romney, I don't know what kind of a future is going to be possible for working people to have."
State Dormitory Authority Local Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member Ira Bethea, "It's really important that we have candidates who are on our side because there is a lot at stake in these elections. Public services have been attacked by corporations and by other politicians unfairly. Millions of dollars have been put into these elections to blame working families for the fact that the economy is slow when in fact, that really hasn't the case."
Long Island Developmental Center Local President Rutha Bush, who is also chair of the Civil Service Employees Association's (CSEA) PEOPLE program (CSEA and AFSCME's political action program) accompanies a quote: "CSEA has great strength in its numbers. When we are united, there is no limit to what we can accomplish.
Activists Michele Martin, Diane Burton, Dan Meenan and Don Page are part of the teams of Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) activists who recently went door-to-door visiting labor households in the Syracuse area to get out the vote for union-endorsed candidates, including Dan Maffei for Congress and Al Stirpe Jr. for state Assembly.
U.S. Rep Steve Israel of Long Island addresses delegates to the Civil Service Employees Association's (CSEA) 102nd Annual Delegates Meeting. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair urged CSEA members to get everyone they know to vote for candidates who will support working people in the upcoming election.
Civil Service Employees Association's (CSEA) union members, including Capital Region President Kathy Garrison, second from right, and State Educational Local President Sally Bywater, third from right, participate in a protest in Albany, NY outside a forum where corporate think tank head E.J. McMahon spoke. McMahon, who heads the Empire Center for New York State Policy, has advocated for pushing back public service working families' wages, benefits and pensions.
Nancy Hoffman, hired as the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)'s general counsel in 1988, retired in December 2011. Hoffman became the driving force in the legal department's development, leading it from a handful of lawyers, limited resources and no history of accomplishment to one of the most respected and effective operations in organized labor. In this photograph, Nancy Hoffman works at her desk in CSEA Headquarters.
Brian Hassett, center, from the United Way of the Greater Capital Region, accepts a donation of $8,000 from Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Statewide Treasurer Joe McMullen, right, and CSEA Capital Region 1st Vice President Mike Gifford on behalf of CSEA for flood relief in Schenectady and Schoharie counties.
Kevin Kumor of the Erie County Unit, left, John Stading of the Erie Educational Local and Assemblyman Mark Schroeder meet outside the New York Assembly's chambers during the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)/AFSCME Lobby Day 2010.
Brooklyn DDSO Local President Adriane Hudson studies the union's positions on important issues at the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)/AFSCME Lobby Day 2010.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)'s Outgoing Metropolitan Region President George Boncoraglio gets a standing ovation from delegates during the 2011 Annual Delegates Meeting. Boncoraglio retired in 2011 after 40 years in the labor movement.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Metropolitan Region President George Boncoraglio, shown in this 1971 photo when he first began working at the South Beach Psychiatric Center, retired after 40 years in the labor movement. A hands-on leader since his days as a mental health therapy aide at South Beach Psychiatric Center, Boncoraglio was always known and feared by management. While the topic of race played a very sensitive and often tense role during his early years as region president, Boncoraglio's fairness and insistence on coalition building helped the region become very important in terms of influence within the union.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Metropolitan Region President George Boncoraglio, shown in photo at a demonstration in Manhattan, retired after 40 years in the labor movement. A hands-on leader since his days as a mental health therapy aide at South Beach Psychiatric Center, Boncoraglio was always known and feared by management. While the topic of race played a very sensitive and often tense role during his early years as region president, Boncoraglio's fairness and insistence on coalition building helped the region become very important in terms of influence within the union.
Hundreds of Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) officers and activists renewed the union's commitment to lifting all working people, on and off the job, at the 101st Annual Delegates Meeting held in New York City. CSEA Statewide Treasurer Joe McMullen urges delegates to lend support to those who were affected by Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.
Hundreds of Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) officers and activists renewed the union's commitment to lifting all working people, on and off the job, at the 101st Annual Delegates Meeting held in New York City. Levittown School District Unit activist Lisa Vanderburg was presented at the Annual Delegates Meeting with the 2011 New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA)/CSEA Excelsior Award. From left are Long Island Region President Nick LaMorte, Vanderburg, Nassau Educational Local President Monica Berkowitz and Levittown School District Unit President Roger Degroff.
Hundreds of Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) officers and activists renewed the union's commitment to lifting all working people, on and off the job, at the 101st Annual Delegates Meeting held in New York City. Delegates attended a massive march on Wall Street, joining the Occupy Wall Street movement. From left are Broome Developmental Center delegates Adam Lichtman, Thomas Reed and Patrick McHugh and Metropolitan Region delegate Eddie Schubert.
Hundreds of Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) officers and activists renewed the union's commitment to lifting all working people, on and off the job, at the 101st Annual Delegates Meeting held in New York City. Jim Garity, president of AFSCME Wisconsin Council 40, addresses CSEA delegates.