The Oneida County Chapter, Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), presented service plaques last night to Mrs. Helen Rauber, salary committee chairman, and William Blom of Albany, second from left, its state research director. Others honored by president Roger Solimando, right, and meeting chairman Louis Sunderhaft, left, were Mrs. Edna Fredricks, Louis Wroblewski, Mrs. Marian Dersherl and William Freiberger. The group met in PLAC Hall and heard Irving Flaumenbaum, state membership committee chairman and president of the Nassau County CSEA, describe his chapter's growth to 10,000 members.
Senate Majority Leader Warren Anderson shaking hands with Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)attorney Jim Featherstonhaugh at the 1980 CSEA Annual Delegates Meeting in Niagara Falls, New York. Behind Anderson is CSEA Executive Vice President Tom McDunnough.
The former Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) headquarters building at 33 Elk Street in Albany, New York. A banner reading "CSEA YOUR VOTE COUNTS CSEA" hangs from the building.
New York Governor Mario Cuomo speaks at a Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Board of Directors meeting at the Albany Hilton Hotel in 1982. To his right are CSEA President William L. McGowan and Statewide Secretary Irene Carr.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Local 603 President Shelly Planty hands out information at a CSEA booth at the Ogdensburg Boys and Girls Club Expo in 1990.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Judiciary Local 335 President Ralph Hesson right, leads a demonstration in Buffalo against Office of Court Administration job cuts in 1991.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members chanting "Main Street, not Wall Street," thousands of working New Yorkers converged on the state Capitol in Albany, January 7, 2009 to participate in the March for Main Street.
Union members from the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) and other labor groups demand fairness at a November 18 rally near the state Capitol in Albany, NY, the same day Governor Paterson called for a special legislative budget session which broke down without any resolution to the state's budget deficit. CSEA's position is that the governor's budget proposals have only been about cutting back essential public services and shifting more burden to working New Yorkers.
The Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) reminding members to attend the March For Main Street rally at the Capitol in Albany, NY, on January 7, 2009, the date Gov. Paterson gives his State of the State address. The rally is a response by CSEA and other New York state labor unions to the governor's budget which puts jobs and services across the state at serious risk.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members Mary Brownell, Brenda Facin and Heidi Holcomb, all of the Greenwich School District Unit, before jumping into a frigid Lake George to help raise money for Special Olympics athletes.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member Tammy Sugrue prepares to serve a five-gallon "ice treat," a fish and juice frozen into the shape of a heart, to an elephant. In conjunction with a family Valentine's Day event, animal handlers represented by CSEA held an "enrichment day" at the Buffalo Zoo. The event is one of many ways zoo staff educates visitors about the zoo's inhabitants.
Retiring Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Statewide Secretary Barbara Reeves in a familiar role of advising and mentoring a union activist. Reeves diligently worked to codify union documents, constitutions and contracts, where possible, to make them consistent with the union's mission. Reeves has devoted her union career to improving the lives of working people on and off the job. She has served as CSEA statewide secretary since 1994. She leaves a legacy of leadership and dedicated service to the union.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Putnam County Local members Mark Semo and Mike O'Connor, joined by CSEA Political Action Coordinator Cody Peluso, react to the icy temperatures of Fishkill Creek during the Special Olympics Polar Plunge. O'Connor took the plunge in an Elmo costume. Across the state, CSEA members have been braving freezing water to take the Polar Plunge, raising money to help send athletes to the New York Special Olympics Summer Games. CSEA members this winter raised more than $10,000 to help support the summer games.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member State Office of General Services electrician Frank Salvagio installs an improved light fixture he designed into a marble wall at the Empire State Plaza in Albany, NY. Salvagio recently won the state Civil Service Department Merit Award for his suggestion to replace outdated magnetic light ballasts in the plaza's 420 security lights with more efficient electric ones. The new electronic ballasts will last five times longer and use less energy than the magnetic ones.
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. CSEA members protest an appearance by Governor David Paterson at a Department of Transportation garage in Syracuse.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Western New York DDSO Local Secretary Sue Balsano lights a candle in memory of workers who died on the job. Workers Memorial Day is observed on the anniversary of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (April 28, 1970) and is an international day of mourning for those who die on the job. CSEA also dedicates April 28 to fighting for safe and healthy work sites for all workers.
Keith Shultis, a member of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Mid-Hudson State Employees Local, operates a grooming machine at the Belleayre Mountain ski resort located in Highmount, NY, in Ulster County. CSEA members at Belleayre, Gore Mountain and Whiteface Mountain are all wrapping up a busy ski season that kept them on the slopes through April, as ski areas did much better business this year than last.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Executive Vice President Mary Sullivan, right, welcomes AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker during the Capital District Area Labor Federation's annual meeting in Albany, NY, where Holt Baker delivered the keynote address. CSEA plays an active role in the area labor federation, with Sullivan serving as the federation's executive vice president and Capital Region President Kathy Garrison serving as a vice president. Holt Baker is the first African-American woman elected to one of the federation's highest three offices, and she is the highest ranking African-American woman in the labor movement.
Guild for Exceptional Children workers stand strong in joining the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA). Workers demonstrated their overwhelming desire to form a union at their workplace in Brooklyn, NY, not just once, but twice after a new National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rule forced them into an election to defend an already successful card check campaign.
From left, Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)'s New York State Thruway Authority Local President Nick Chiesa, Thruway Authority Executive Director Michael Fleischer and CSEA President Danny Donohue sign copies of the new agreement, as CSEA Labor Relations Specialist Mike Sheldon, seated, far right, and members of CSEA's negotiating team, back row, look on.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)'s Mattituck-Cutchogue School District Unit members and their supporters attend a Board of Education meeting in an effort to spur stalled contract negotiations that have dragged on for almost three years. CSEA spearheaded a campaign to raise public awareness of the protracted negotiations.
From left, Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Standing Committee on Occupational Safety and Health members Frank Cosentino, George Walsh, Paul Blujis, and Jeannette Engle stand as Anthony DeCaro reads the name of a CSEA member who died on the job in the last two years at a memorial ceremony during the 2008 State Conference on Occupational Safety and Health. CSEA OSH Chair Jim McHugh is at right, behind Decaro. Committee member Karen Pecora also took part in the ceremony. More than 800 CSEA members attended the conference.
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. CSEA and PEF members and staff demonstrate outside the New York State Court of Appeals May 1 during a Law Day event Governor David Paterson attended. Demonstrators marched around the building chanting phrases such as "cut the waste, not the workers."
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member, Dave Cohn, a developmental aide at Broome Developmental Center in Binghamton, NY, coached his Special Olympics Division 2 basketball team to an impressive 16-2 win. Cohn is pictured with two of the athletes he coaches. CSEA volunteers of all sorts came out to help make the 2008 Special Olympics New York Summer Games a success.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member Ginny Dolph, a certified nursing assistant at Batavia Veterans Home in Genesee County, stands with a device for safely lifting patients. The veterans home has instituted safe lifting policies for workers, reducing injuries, but many direct care workers are still subjected to mandatory overtime. CSEA is pushing for an end to mandating overtime for workers.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members Joe Greco, left, an electrician at Playland, and Anthony Fogal, an electrical helper, prepare a vacant site where a ride called the Yo-Yo is slated for installation. CSEA members maintain the park located in Rye, NY, in Westchester County.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member, Kathy Filkins on her new housekeeping job at Capital District Psychiatric Center. Filkins had been employed at the CDPC in Albany, NY, as a mental health therapy aide for 20 years until an attack at the hands of a patient put her out of work for nearly two years. She is now back to work at the Center thanks to a joint effort between labor and managment.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Lansing Residential Center Local Vice President Andy Mantella displays a cell phone image of his injured finger after an attack at the youth detention facility located in Tompkins County, NY. Workers at the center are demanding more staffing and resources from the Office of Children and Family Services after several workers there were forced to confront a violent situation at the facility without adquate means to do their jos safely.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Auburn Unit President Tom Gabak, left, hands CSEA member Rich Wild, his bobblehead likeness. Wild, a recreation maintenance worker at the city-owned Falcon Park in Auburn, NY, will be retiring next year after 33 years with the city, 14 of which he has worked at the park which is home of the Auburn Doubledays minor league baseball team. He was honored with the promotional giveaway at one of the games.
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. Donna Miller, Monroe County Local 1st vice president, and Chris Routley from the Brighton Highway Unit filling balloons with helium as they get ready to march in the Rochester, NY, parade.
Delegates from Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)'s Long Island Region, all wearing matching yellow shirts, applaud during the general business session at CSEA's 98th Annual Delegates Meeting held in Washington, D.C.
A New York State Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) cartoon depicting "Belt-Tightening Time": Uncle Sam, sweating, holding an "economic crisis" document; Statue of Liberty sweating, holding a "tough times" document; New York State, sweating, "all of us in N.Y.S." with a tight belt aound it. The CSEA is New York State's largest union.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Central Region President Jim Moore, at right, presents a check to the organizers of the Blodgett Library renovation. CSEA's Onondga County, New York, area Locals participated in a huge fund-raising effort that raised nearly $6,000 to help renovate a school library in one of Syracuse's poorest public schools.
Unidentifed Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members, Troy, NY Department of Public Utilities workers repairing a broken water main, one of several that burst in the city, during a bitter cold snap. The cold weather and old pipes wreaked havoc, which kept the crew busy ensuring that the water supplies were turned off quickly without damaging the old valves and then digging to find and replace any damaged pipes.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member Hector Cruz, an animal caretaker for the Town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County, NY, maks sure the steer he is caring for at the town's Ecology Site, Park and Animal Preserve has plenty of hay.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Rensselaer County, NY 911 Unit President Todd Smith, far right, and Capital Region 2nd Vice President Mike Gifford, second from right, lead the Rensselaer County 911 Unit's demonstration outside the county's office building to urge county officials to settle a fair, equitable contract. The previous contract expired on Dec. 31, 2003 and negotiations began more than two years ago.
Van Duyn Home and Hospital Director of Safety and Security Kelly Neish makes a call at a Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)-sponsored phonebank to urge state legislators to reject the Berger Commission report. She's not a CSEA member but one of CSEA's management supporters at Van Duyn.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) VOICE Local leaders and negotiating team members Beth White, a child care provider from Ulster County (foreground left) and Patrick Hogan, a child care provider from Westchester County (foreground right) meeting with United States Senator Hillary Clinton and other AFSCME child care providers to discuss home-based childcare industry issues. Clinton announced that day the Quality Childcare for America Act. The act would increase funding for worker development programs and block grant funding by $200 million. CSEA is New York State's largest union.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) East Hampton Unit President J. J. Kremm, left, with Suffolk County Local President Bill Walsh, is leading the Town of East Hampton workers' fight against the town supervisor's proposed changes to their health insurance. 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.
Unidentified Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members arriving at the CSEA's 1987 Annual Delegates Meeting held in Rochester, New York. Dozens of tables were set up with information and materials available to the delegates to take back to their co-workers. 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 the meeting. 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.
A group of more than 75 unidentified Mohawk Valley Psychiatric Center Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members who were the target of an October 1991 layoff rally together to remind Governor Cuomo that his cuts are hurting real people. The group holds a banner stating, "Mohawk Valley Psychiatric Center layoff class of 1991."
A group of unidentified Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members sit to listen to a speaker at the October 1997 CSEA Cohoes Privatization Rally.
Three boxes of Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), "Save our School," postcards filled out by Yonkers School District Unit members at a Yonkers School District Demonstration in October 2001.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) President Danny Donohue presents a $5,000 check to the Red Cross for relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The check was donated to the Red Cross during the CSEA Day ceremony at Syracuse University's football home opener. Standing with Danny Donbohue is Red Cross' Onondoga-Oswego Chapter Board Chair John Murad and Syracuse University Athletic Director Dr. Daryl Gross.
Niagara County, New York Local President Elaine Timm volunteers at a phone bank in the Western Region on behalf of Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)-endorsed candidates. Months of hard work by CSEA activists and staff produced Election Day success for most CSEA-supported candidates across the state. All of the union's statewide candidates, including Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer and United States Senator Hillary Clinton, scored impressive victories.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member, Albany Airport Training and Safety Officer, Bobby Allen at the airfield maintenance division. Albany International Airport workers were negotiating their first contract since they became part of CSEA after 13 months of fighting for the right to join a union.
Drs. Michael Wilkins, left, and William Bronston sit for an interview for the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) 100 History project. The two were instrumental in revealing the terrible conditions at the Willowbrook School for the Mentally Retarded in the 1970s. Excerpts of the interview were featured on the publications Leading Edge page, with a note that the full interviews for the CSEA 100 History project are as part of CSEA's official archives at the M.E. Grenander Special Collections at the University at Albany.
Volunteers from the various Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) chapters in the Mohawk Valley go over reports on their candidates to determine where strengths and weaknesses lie. From left are Robert Greene of Utica State Hospital, Gerald Boehlert of Oneida County, Lewis Eddy of Oneida County, Harry Woodcock of Rome State School for the Deaf, Keith R. Davis of Rome State School, Samuel Gagnon of Marcy State Hospital (standing), Dorothy O'Brien of Motor Vehicles, Roger F. Solimando of Oneida County (standing), Loren A. Youngs of Clinton Central School and Beatrice DeSantis of Oneida County. Courtesy of CSEA Utica State Employees Local (formerly Oneida County Chapter).