Bronx Psychiatric Center Local President Abraham Benjamin, Metropolitan Region Executive Vice President Lester Crockett and Health Research Inc. Local President Deb Hanna, far right, join other members on the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) float at the 2009 New York City Labor Parade.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Metropolitan Region President George Boncoraglio demands respect for CFS (Child and Family Service) workers at a rally, surrounded by CFS workers and other supporters.
From left, Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members Betty Robinson, Health Research Inc. Local President Deb Hanna, Damaris Rodriguez, Lizette Smoak, newly elected AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, Suzy Lopez, and Division of Housing Local President Janet Ventrano-Torres. Trumka and his officers held a news conference on Wall Street.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members from the Southern Region march up 5th Avenue in Manhattan during the New York City 2009 Labor Parade.
A photo used in the special section of the September 2011 Work Force, Always Remember: A commemorative 10th anniversary retrospective published by the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA). Co-workers at the state Department of Taxation and Finance and survivors who worked on the 86th floor of Tower 2 of the World Trade Center, from left, Margaret Ramsay, Terrel Silver and Marcia Smart, pay their respects to 39 co-workers who perished on September 11, 2001 at a memorial in their Brooklyn office.
AFSCME Council 95 members show their union pride. AFSCME workers in Puerto Rico had collective bargaining rights ripped away (in 2009) by a reactionary governor similar to what workers in Wisconsin and Ohio faced. The Council 95 members were able to get the laws overturned.
?A Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Yonkers School District member gets some help during a demonstration from one of the district's pupils. More than 300 CSEA members, other school workers, administration and Board of Education representatives, PTA representatives, students and concerned community members demonstrated in Yonkers against proposed budget cuts and layoffs in the district.
Lovetta Nixon, a therapy aide at the Pilgrim State Psychiatric Center was used as a voice in the Work Force: Making Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) stronger with PEOPLE. PEOPLE (Public Employees Organized to Promote Legislative Equality) is AFSCME's political legislative and fund-raising program.
Activists from the Civil Service Employees Association's (CSEA) Metropolitan Region, including region Executive Vice President Lester Crockett, gather on stage during the One Nation Working Together march in Washington, D.C.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Lifespire Local President Pam Marshall, right, with bullhorn, leads CSEA members in demonstrating for a fair contract outside the Empire State building in Manhattan.
Judy Richards, Pat Gooden and Lee Pound, shown at the 25th annual Retiree Delegates Meeting in 2009, were chosen to lead the union's Statewide Retiree Committee.
A photo of Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member Herman Williams, a Mental Hygiene Therapy Aide at Pilgrim Psychiatric Center, appeared with a quote about cuts to the proposed state budget.
Members of the Youth Arts Group perform street theater at the Union Square Green Market to draw attention to the plight of farmworkers amidst a seven day tour throughout New York state.
The cover of the May 2010 Work Force. More than 300 Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members, other school workers, administration and Board of Education representatives, PTA representatives, students and concerned community members demonstrate in Yonkers against proposed budget cuts and layoffs in the district.(12 x 13 photograph)
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Metropolitan Region President George Boncoraglio was honored by the New York Chapter of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) with its Distinguished Service Award.
Photo of the Month for September 2011, edition of The Work Force. Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members and activists including Health Research Inc. Local President Deb Hanna, Jacqueline Stanford, Mary Harmon, Angelina Black and Damaris Rodriguez join Communication Workers of America (CWA) members on the Verizon picket line in lower Manhattan. Harmon's son is a Verizon worker. CWA members and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) struck at Verizon for two weeks in August over the bargaining terms for a new contract. The unions and Verizon have returned to the bargaining table.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Metropolitan Region President George Boncoraglio, shown in this 2011 photo, 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 Lester Crockett testifies before the New York state Assembly Health Committee that the economic benefits of SUNY Downstate MEdical Center to Brooklyn, NY and surrounding areas far outweigh the savings that would result from privatization of the hospital.
Metropolitan Region President Lester Crocket, left, and SUNY Downstate Medical Center Local President Althea Green-Pruitt take part in a demonstration demanding that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo keep the teaching hospital open.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member Thomas Rosa, a filter plant operator at Riverbank State Park in Manhattan, uses the large skimmer to clean and maintain the park's pool for thousands of visitors.
Southern Region President Billy Riccaldo, Long Island Region President Nick LaMorte, statewide Secretary Denise Berkley and Metropolitan Region President George Boncoraglio lead the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)delegation in the 2009 New York City Labor Parade.
After assisting numerous crime victims for the last eight years, no such help net existed for Fabian Feliciano who was among nearly 900 workers laid off at the end of 2010 when the Crime Victims Board was abolished.
The Photo of the Month in the April 2011 Work Force. Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Statewide Secretary Denise Berkley joins other activists in delivering a letter from workers to Assemblyman Peter Rivera, during the Annual Black and Puerto Rican Legislative Conference in Albany. The letter, which was distributed to attendees through the conference, illustrated the devastating impact Governor Andrew Cuomo's budget will have on communities and encourages Assembly members to fight for a better New York for all. The annual conference draws hundreds of legislators, community leaders, groups and organizations from across the state.
Youth Developmental Aides William Ponder, Erika Watson, and Anthony Hinton stand near the basketball court where they spent many hours playing and working with youths at state Office of Children and Family Services Bronx Residential facility.
SUNY Downstate Local activist Mary Harmon and Local President Althea Green rally to keep SUNY Downstate open during a rally at Albany's Legislative Office Building.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) statewide Treasurer Joe McMullen, Executive Vice President Mary Sullivan and Secretary Denise Berkley joined CSEA members at the union's booth during the 2010 Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Conference in Albany. Members participated in several workshops and panel discussions on topics ranging from public education to economic development. AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer William "Bill" Lucy also delivered the keynote address during the event's labor luncheon.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) and State Department of Taxation and Finance Local activist Douglas Murphy, left, with his son, Douglas Murphy Jr.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) New York City State Employees Local activist Marie Rogers and State Insurance Fund Local activist Lester Crockett demonstrate against the governor's furlough plan.
The Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) volunteer member organizers from the Metropolitan Region were honored with the Nadra Floyd Award at CSEA's 100th Annual Delegates Meeting. The award recognizes members who have made an extraordinary contribution to the growth of CSEA's membership. In the picture, Metropolitan Region Organizing/Membership Committee Chair Ramon Lucas accepts the award from CSEA President Danny Donohue, left, and is joined by Metropolitan Region President George Boncoraglio, second from right, and Statewide Treasurer Joe McMullen, right.
From left, the Civil Service Employees Association's (CSEA) Metropolitan Political Action Coordinator Matthew D'Amico and Lottery Marketing Representative John Montelbano meet with State Assemblyman Micah Z. Kellner, far right, and his staff about privatizing and other issues at the New York State Lottery.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Bronx Psychiatric Center Local President Abraham Benjamin speaks with a television station reporter while CSEA members demonstrate outside the center. The workers demonstrated over a lack of workplace violence law enforcement and layoffs.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) participated in memorial events in New York City and Albany on March 25 to mark the centennial of Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York's Greenwich Village that claimed the lives of 146 people, mostly young, immigrant women. In this photo Metropolitan Region President George Boncoraglio places a flower outside the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory building in Manhattan.
A photo of Omayra Camacho, a crime victims specialist for the state Office of Victim Services, used in a special section of the September 2011 Work Force: Always Remember: A commemorative 10th anniversary retrospective published by the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA). Camacho was among the first responders assisting the families and victims of the September 11 attacks. She now assists people who were involved in the cleanup, many of whom have developed cancer, were exposed to asbestos and have other illnesses.
Kingsboro Psychiatric Center Local Vice President Crispin Booker, top, holding Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) sign, and Division of Housing Local President Janet Ventrano-Torres, right of sign, and other CSEA members demonstrate in front of New York Governor David Paterson's midtown Manhattan office in May as CSEA fought the governor's proposal to lay off 8,700 workers.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member Brigitte Higgins-Havlicek, a registered home health care nurse from Fulton County, testifies at a state New York State Assembly hearing in Manhattan about her concerns about mandating H1N1 vaccinations for health care workers.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) memberr Anabel Rosa, a worker at the Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped and the only Spanish-speaking keyboard specialist in the state, is one of hundreds of state workers facing the loss of their jobs. She was one of hundreds of state workers targeted for layoffs by New York Governor David Paterson.
The cover of the May 2011 Work Force: We Are One! Unions fight back against attacks on rights, public sector services. A day of action was held across the country on April 4, culminating in hundreds of We Are One rallies, emphasizing workers' rights and the growing gulf between the super rich and everyone else. Pictured here is a group of Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) activists crossing the Brooklyn Bridge.
Bayview Correctional Facility, New York state's last remaining women's prison south of the Tappan Zee Bridge, located next to high-priced condominiums and apartments in the Chelsea, NY neighborhood, will soon close as part of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's budget proposal.
The Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) joins a broad coalition of faith, labor and community leaders to call on New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to save vital health care services for the people and communities of Central Brooklyn at SUNY Downstate Medical Hospital as Rev. Al Sharpton addresses the crowd.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) volunteer member organizers demonstrate on behalf of Center for Family Support workers looking to join CSEA. On far left is Sheila Conroy, Staten Island DDSO Local president. Fourth from right is Abraham Benjamin, Bronx Psychiatric Center Local president, and to his left are Lester Crockett, Metropolitan Region executive vice president; Rosemary Hampton, Creedmoor Psychiatric Center Local president and Metropolitan Region President George Boncoraglio.
Crispin Booker, Vice President at Kingsboro Psychiatric Center, hands out campaign literature to subway commuters in Brooklyn's busy Atlantic Terminal on Election Day.
Lifespire Local President Pam Marshall, flanked by members Marion Frampton and Helen Hane, testifies before a panel of OMRDD representatives at Bernard Fineson that the elimination of the Medicaid trend factor make it difficult for workers to perform their jobs to the fullest extent.
Long Island Region members, including Region President Nick LaMorte, second from right, show union pride at the reviewing stand at the 2009 New York City Labor Parade.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Metropolitan Region activists Delphine Moultrie, far left, and Joe Aravena, chair of the region's Education Committee, far right, helped U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Region Director Dr. Jaime Torres coordinate a local launch for First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative, which is aimed at solving childhood obesity within a generation.
A photo used in the special section of the September 2011 Work Force, Always Remember: A commemorative 10th anniversary retrospective. Deborah Hanna, Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Health Research, Inc. Local president, stands in front of the nation's largest construction project, the World Trade Center. Following the attack, it was the nation's largest toxic waste site, which led Hanna and other union activists to create the 90 Church Street Coalition in order to protect the safety and health of workers and local residents being relocated. The 90 Church St. building is the smaller one on the right. On the left is the Liberty Tower under construction and next to it is World Trade Center 7, which is already occupied.
Photo of the Month in the October 2011 Work Force. Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Statewide Secretary Denise Berkley lights a candle in honor of the CSEA members and other workers lost from the state Department of Taxation and Finance on September 11, 2001, at a September 8, 2011, ceremony at the department's New York City offices. CSEA honored all of those who lost their lives to the attacks, including 2,753 people at the World Trade Center. Among the World Trade Center losses are CSEA members Yvette Anderson, Florence Cohen, Harry Goody, Marian "Marty" Hrycak and Dorothy Temple. All were employed at the state Department of Taxation and Finance.
The Civil Service Employees Association's (CSEA) Metropolitan Region President Lester Crockett addresses the crowd at a rally to save SUNY Downstate Medical Center and maintain the essential health services it delivers.
SUNY Downstate Local members lobby state legislators in their Albany offices regarding the restructuring that threatens the SUNY Downstate Medical Center.
Metropolitan Region office assistant Moses Merisier and office manager Jessie McQueen, who have relatives in Haiti, help organize food, clothing and other supplies that Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members donated to earthquake victims in Haiti. McQueen lost a cousin and his two young children in the collapse of Port-au-Prince's Hotel Montana. Merisier's family was spared fatalities, but they lost their homes and livelihoods. After the devastating earthquake, Merisier and McQueen organized the donation drive. They are also helping coordinate a March 27 fund-raiser to benefit local humanitarian organizations, along with the region's Women's and Education committees, other unions and community groups.
Ruby Mims, the top statewide Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) PEOPLE (Public Employees Organized for Political and Legislative Equality) recruiter for 2009, poses with AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer Bill Lucy at the 2010 Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Conference in Albany.
Lelia Hoskins, with State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, from the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center Local in the Metropolitan Region was the October 2010 PEOPLE recruiter of the month.
Taxation and Finance Local President Patricia Metzger, left, and Lottery Division activist John O'Brien, center, meet with State Senator Eric Adams to discuss outsourcing of Lottery jobs.
Kingsboro Psychiatric Center Local Vice President Crispin Booker, left, and Kingsboro Psychiatric Center Local President Fitzroy Wilson discuss the recent report calling for the closure of inpatient services.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member Blanca Maldonado enters the kitchen of her Staten Island home that was devastated by Hurricane Sandy.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member Blanca Maldonado looks through a photo album, one of the few of her possessions to survive Hurricane Sandy's wrath.
The Civil Service Employees Association's (CSEA) Bronx Psychiatric Center Local President Abraham Benjamin, right, holding bullhorn, fires up CSEA members and other workers at a rally blasting New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's plan to lay off workers and cut the number of beds at Bronx Psychiatric Center.
A. J. Smith of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Town of Hempstead Local in the Long Island Region is the PEOPLE Recruiter of the Month for February 2012.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Westchester County Local President John Staino, a Westchester Medical Center employee, testifies about working conditions at the hospital to county legislators at a legislative hearing in Greenburgh, NY.
Southern Region President Billy Riccaldo, second from left, Statewide Secretary Denise Berkley and Westchester Medical Center Unit President Peter Piazza speak with Westchester County Legislature Chairman Kenneth W. Jenkins, far left, following a legislative hearing in Greenburgh, NY about the harmful nature of cuts on the Weschester Medical Center.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member Desiree Stewart, a plebotomist at Westchester Medical Center, tells Westchester County legislators about working conditions at the hospital during a legislative hearing in Greenburgh, NY.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), Westchester Local 2nd Vice President Junio Ismael Alvarado, center, dressed as King Melchor, joins retired CSEA member Donald Michael Friedman, right, as King Gaspar and SEIU Local 32BJ member Marcus Luna as King Baltasar in the annual Puerto Rican and Latino holiday tradition of celebrating Three Kings Day. On January 6 of every year since he was 7, Alvarado has worn an intricate, homemade costume, which usually takes him about a month to make, and participates in celebrations and parades.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Westchester County Local President John Staino, second from right, meets with Westchester County Legislators Catherine Borgia, far left, and Virginia Perez. (Person on far right is unidentified.)
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members employed by Westchester Medical Center recently attended a press conference to blast hospital management for outsourcing jobs with a company with a record of failure.
Workers at Kingsboro Psychiatric Center held a lively lunchtime demonstration in front of the offices of Stephen Berger's investment firm, Odyssey Investment Partners. Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Metropolitan Region President Lester Crockett leads workers in a demonstration in front of Berger's Manhattan investment firm.
Workers at Kingsboro Psychiatric Center held a lively lunchtime demonstration in front of the offices of Stephen Berger's investment firm, Odyssey Investment Partners. Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Kingsboro Psychiatric Center Local President Fitzroy Wilson, right, demonstrates to save his facility and SUNY Downstate Medical Center.