According to Town of Fallsburg Unit President and Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member Gene Benson, the time is right for labor activists to run for office. In November 2011, he defeated an entrenched Republican incumbent in the race to represent Fallsburg and a portion of Neversink in the Sullivan County Legislature. Gene Benson, shown here on his day job at the Town of Fallsburg, successfully ran for county office after seeing injustices done to workers.
Workers, including Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members, in state juvenile detention facilities are facing increasingly dangerous conditions in the facilities, including violent attacks by youths in their care. Workers are also victims of a complete lack of support or concern for their safety from officials at the state Office of Children and Family Services, which runs the facilities. The photograph shows the state Office of Children and Family Services Taberg Residential Center in Oneida County.
Illustration from the February 2012 edition of The Work Force, published by the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), by graphic artist Ralph Distin of Dr. Strange "Love" shows Westchester Medical Center (WMC) CEO Mike Israel destroying the reputation of WMC as a first-class facility with layoffs, less patient care and the hiring of lower-paid private contractors.
Photo of Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), Westchester County Local President John Staino, shown attending a press conference in October 2011, used as a headshot in the February 2012 Work Force. Westchester Medical Center CEO Mike Israel told local media he plans to "restructure" the hospital's Behavioral Health Center which provides a variety of services for residents struggling with mental illness. He abruptly laid off 155 CSEA members who care for some of the hospital's most vulnerable patients and will replace them with lower-paid contractors. This attack comes on the heels of 105 CSEA layoffs in December 2011.
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.
Cover of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) monthly publication The Work Force from February 2012. Vital services on the line: Nassau County services face drastic cuts due to misguided layoffs. Nassau County recently issued layoff notices to 243 Nassau Local members; and nearly 200 more county workers were demoted several pay grades, forcing a direct impact on county residents and the services they receive. Another 114 CSEA members from 16 different departments accepted voluntary retirement packages which preserved roughly 150 jobs that otherwise would have been lost to a second round of layoffs. In this photo Nassau County Probation Officer Randy Knight holds a stack of paper work previously done by clerical staff that have been laid off. Probation workers are concerned that public safety will be compromised by the layoffs.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Oswego County Local activist Jimmy Jackson, right, comes out of a full-body plunge into Oneida Lake as SUNY Binghamton Local President David Lee, left, watches.
Members of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Capital Region Team, the Polar Penguins, raised $2,200 for Special Olympics athletes when they plunged into frigid Lake George on Nov. 19, 2011. Team members made up of CSEA members, friends and family, gathered at Shepard's Cove Beach for a pre-plunge photo. CSEA members are, second row left to right, holding banner, Denise Famiano, Deb Gallachi, Mary Ann Brownell and Heidi Holcomb, CSEA Capital Region 3rd Vice President Brenda Facin and Martine Perrott and back row, left, Kim Teta, Dan Barkley, and (center) Bill Lauer.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Central Region members participate in a Polar Plunge to help support Special Olympics athletes. CSEA Central Region President Colleen Wheaton, second from right, front row, leads the region's "Polar Peeps" Team into Oneida Lake in Brewerton, NY on Dec. 4, 2011, for the Special Olympics, raising more than $13,700.