Members of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Erie Educational Local created the Polar Plunge Express for their dip into icy Lake Ontario on February 12, 2012.
Chautauqua County officials are threatening to sell the county nursing home, and union members are doing everything possible to make sure that does not happen. Bonnie Peters, front, leads a rally outside the Chautauqua County office building. Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members, labor brothers and sisters, and supporters from the community gathered to demonstrate against the possible sale of the county's public nursing home.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Western Region President Flo Tripi, front right, speaks with supporters of the Erie County Medical Center Downtown Outpatient Clinic.
Rick Geercken, a groundskeeper with the West Seneca Central School District single-handedly maintains football, soccer, baseball, field hockey and lacrosse fields at West Seneca East High School.
Bus driver Judy Young earns the first Excelsior Award. The Excelsior Award was developed through a partnership between New York State Public High School Athletic Association and Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) to recognize a CSEA member who has helped promote and foster athletic spirit in their local school district as well as display extraordinary dedication and support of high school athletics in New York State.
Western Region President Flo Tripi waves to spectators from Civil Service Employees Association's (CSEA) centennial cake float at the Rochester parade marking the union's centennial Labor Day.
?Greg Urbanski operates sanitary sewer cleaning equipment on a Depew village street. Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members throughout the Western Region are fighting a series of proposed village dissolutions that would eliminate small local communities and potentially add to residents' tax bills.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members rally in Rochester. CSEA members joined with Public Employee Federation (PEF) members in more than a dozen rallies.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) and Roswell Park Cancer Institute Local Women's Committee member Dale Franklin adds a toy to an Easter basket. Members of the committee received enough donations and supplies for the endeavor that they assembled a dozen baskets for children in the pediatric ward and also donated baskets to Haven House, a shelter for women and children.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) and Roswell Park Cancer Institute Local Women's Committee members Nancianne Maynard and Sabrina Mitchell assemble Easter baskets for a dozen children in the pediatric ward. Members of the committee received enough donations and supplies that they also donated baskets to Haven House, a shelter for women and children.
Rick Martinez, a Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member working for the state Department of Transportation, received recognition for an idea he submitted that has improved snow plow safety. Martinez recommended an additional mirror on the state's trucks, designed to assist drivers with blind spots.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Geneva School District Unit members and their supporters pose for a photo after a demonstration. CSEA school units throughout the Western Region are facing layoffs under New York Governor David Paterson's school funding cuts.
Cattaraugus County Probation Officer and Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member Nila McIntyre poses with her 2009 Outstanding Service by a Probation Officer Award. McIntyre received the award in recognition of her service, dedication and professionalism, and her contributions to community corrections.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Monroe County Part-Time Unit members Jaime Kennedy-Peer, front and Linda Holzapple demonstrate for a fair contract.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member and Newark Schools bus mechanic Nate Amos works on one of the school district's buses, helping ensure the safety of school children.
Genesee County Nursing Home Certified Nursing Assistant Yvette Bundy cares for resident Everette A. Johnson. Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members like Bundy provide quality care in public nursing homes across the state.
VOICE/Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) joined with Voice-Buffalo, a coalition of faith-based organizations and the YWCAs of Erie County to protest drastic cuts in child care. More than 150 providers, parents and community members attended the rally.
VOICE/Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) activist Benita Whitlock, along with a child to whom she provides day care, participate in a rally against subsidy cuts in Buffalo. VOICE/CSEA joined with Voice-Buffalo, a coalition of faith-based organizations and the YWCAs of Erie County to rally to protest drastic cuts in child care subsidies for working families. Many child care providers may also be forced to close or to lay off employees.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member Don Lynskey stands in Oneida County Supreme Court. Lynskey works hard to increase the local's communication with members.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) activist Sheri Ambuski is part of CSEA's Next Wave initiative, or "Under 35 initiative," which is designed to extend a hand to younger CSEA members and develop the union's future.
City of Rochester Library Workers Unit Treasurer Lorry Wisse and President Ove Overmyer celebrate National Library Week by accepting a dozen copies of The Main Street Moment: "Fighting Back to Save the American Dream", a book by former AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee and current AFSCME President Lee Saunders that points out the ongoing attacks on middle-class working people and how Americans are fighting back.
Erie Next Wave members Laurie Santiago, left, Alison Schoonover, Keith Ralph and Rachel Casey celebrated Earth Day by cleaning a Buffalo waterfront park, using the opportunity to reach out to their community and help educate children about not littering.
CSEA is calling on Lockport Mayor Michael Tucker and the City Council to scrap their misguided plan to send taxpayer money out of town and outsource the city's ambulance billing. The union has filed an improper practice charge against the city with the state Public Employment Relations Board, stating work performed by the current administrative coordinator has been exclusive bargaining unit work for close to three decades. Caption reads: Barb Parker does ambulance billing work that is being outsourced by the City of Lockport. The Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) is fighting that action by filing an improper practice charge against the city with theNew York state Public Employment Relations Boards stating that work performed by the current administrative coordinator has been an exclusive bargaining unit work for close to 30 years.
Wayne County overestimated spending and underestimated revenue during the years 2007-2011 resulting in $59.1 million in surplus funding while claiming the county was in the hole. Wayne County Local President Paul Peters, at podium, and Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) President Danny Donohue.
Maria Johnson of the Buffalo Psychiatric Center Local in the Western Region is the PEOPLE Recruiter for the month of March, 2013. The Civil Service Employees Association's (CSEA) PEOPLE program protects and improves our jobs, benefits and pensions in Washington, Albany and in your community.
Erie County Local Executive Vice President Denise Szymura looks at a serving line in the new Terrace View public nursing home. The new home that replaces the 87-year-old Erie County Home and Infirmary, adjacent to the Erie County Medical Center, will save about $1 million annually in patient costs and is expected to reduce operating losses by about 60 percent.
Kevin Kumor of the Erie County Local in the Western Region was the PEOPLE Recruiter of the Month for December 2012. CSEA's PEOPLE program protects and improves our jobs, benefits and pensions in Washington, Albany and in your community.
Polla Milligan of the Food Bank of Western New York, left, receives a check for $3,700 from Denise Szymura, Erie County Local Women's Committee chair. The committee raised the money through an auction basket benefitting the food bank. Local members are urged to make food or monetary donations to the food bank. Since 2004, the local and its Women's Committee have donated a total of $28,215 and 4,161 pounds of food to the food bank.
Lancaster Blue Collar Unit President Mike Rath, left, Depew Boys & Girls Club Director Jeff Kupka, Depew Blue Collar Unit President Lew Heltman, Depew White Collar Unit President Sharon Quinn, Boys & Girls Club Executive Director Dave Hoch and Depew Blue Collar Unit member Robert Miechowicz discuss the damaged game room at the Depew Boys & Girls Club. The building, which was built in the 1920s and occupied by the Boys & Girls Club since 1936, suffered significant fire damage early in January.
Paul Hybicki, Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Maryvale Schools Unit president, found an affordable replacement to dimmable light ballasts that burned out quickly by using ballasts with a five-year guarantee and a distributor who accepted burned-out ballasts for new ones. They were installed by CSEA members and all this came at no cost to the district.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member Chrs Chimera stands in support of libraries and county services during a "We Are Erie County" rally in downtown Buffalo earlier this year.
Voters elect Mark Poloncarz as the new county executive in Erie County. The victory marks the end of the reign of Chris Collins, an out-of-touch politician who became known as "King Collins" for his my-way-or-the-highway style.
From Long Island to Buffalo, Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members helped storm ravaged areas. Once workers took care of their own duties in Long Island, they headed north to help in the Catskills, while workers from Steuben County traveled to Greene County to assist with clean up efforts there. Karen Hurtgam from the Niagara state Department of Transportation Local was among the first group of Western Region members to travel to the storm damaged area of Greene County.
The October 2011 Work Force contained the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)'s 2011 candidate endorsements for the Western Region, which includes the county executive race in Erie County. The photo shows CSEA members at a We Are Erie County rally in Buffalo in June 2011. County Executive Chris Collins announced plans in June to cut 300 jobs from the county budget in 2012.
A photo of Jennifer Graley, a social worker and Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Chautauqua County Unit member, used in the special section of the September 2011 edition of The Work Force, Always Remember: A commemorative 10th anniversary retrospective. Graley traveled to New York City following the attacks, acting on a strong feeling that she needed to be in that place, at that time, doing whatever she could for those most in need.
Sheri Ambuske, an account clerk typist for the Department of Community Services and Mental Health in Olean, is using social media tools like texting, Twitter and Facebook to recruit new members and post current news for PEOPLE in the mostly rural area. She has already recruited 22 new members. PEOPLE is the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) and AFSCME's political action program which protects and improves jobs, benefits and pensions in Washington, Albany and in your community. Sheri Ambuske, left, discusses PEOPLE with her co-worker, Maureen Krueger, at the Cattaraugus County office building.
Across the state, Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members working in local government are facing job losses and difficult contract negotiations as communities struggle with loss of revenue from a weak economy. The situation will get worse as New York's new tax cap takes effect, limiting the ability of counties, cities, towns, villages and schools to manage their budgets. CSEA members Rachel Casey, left, Chris Chimera and Michele Weaver stand in support of libraries and county services during a We Are Erie County rally in downtown Buffalo.
Photo used for the cover of the July 2011 Work Force: Fighting back in Local Government: Nassau, Erie County workers fight for jobs. Across the state, Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members working in local government are facing job losses and difficult contract negotiations as communities struggle with loss of revenue from a weak economy. This photo is from a We Are Erie County rally in downtown Buffalo to support libraries and county services.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Statewide Secretary Denise Berkley, center, joined Erie County Local and Unit President Joan Bender, far right, Erie County Department of Social Services Section President Kevin Kumor and members of the Erie County Local Next Wave Committee for an anniversary party celebrating the committee's accomplishments during its first year. The section's Next Wave members participated in numerous union and community events, including the CSEA Annual Delegates Meeting, regional conferences and meetings, campaigning for State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, marching in the Buffalo Labor Day parade, appearing in the AFSCME "A Better New York For All" video, hosting a "Union 101" seminar for new members and creating a Next Wave Facebook page and cleaning up of a local park. The Next Wave program is CSEA's initiative to recruit younger activists and respond to the needs of younger members.
Things tend to run smoothly at Monroe Community College thanks to people who often work behind the scenes, including those who work in shipping and receiving. Tom Pollizi, president of Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)'s Monroe Community College Unit and a driver/mover in the college's shipping and receiving department, has been recognized for the seamlessness of his work by the State University of New York. He is recipient of the SUNY Chancellors Award in Classified Service, a statewide award that recognizes employees who demonstrate excellence in activities beyond the scope of their job description.
Mike Lagoda, a Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member and mechanic with the West Seneca Central School District, recently won a bus mechanic regional "road-eo.'' He moves on to the state competition this summer in the Albany area. It's a chance to highlight the skills he uses to keep children safe.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) is donating copies of A Century of Service: The Story of CSEA's First 100 Years to libraries across the state. CSEA's Rochester City Library Unit President Ove Overmyer and Western Region President Flo Tripi present a copy to Rochester Public Library Board President Sharon Orienter. Overall the Rochester City Library System received a dozen copies.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) President Danny Donohue presents the Local Government Mission Achievement Award to Joanne LeClair, the Herkimer County Unit president at the Spring Workshop. CSEA members from across the state met at the union's annual Spring Workshop to unite, build and mobilize New York's Leading Union. Activists in attendance learned about the fight ahead to protect the Triborough Amendment and to tell the governor no tax breaks for his rich millionaire friends. CSEA awards its annual Mission Achievement Awards at the workshop to activists who exemplify the union's mission.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) President Danny Donohue presents the State Employee Mission Achievement Award to CSEA activist Bob Bostwick, a janitor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, at the Spring Workshop. CSEA members from across the state met at the union's annual Spring Workshop to unite, build and mobilize New York's Leading Union. Activists in attendance learned about the fight ahead to protect the Triborough Amendment and to tell the governor no tax breaks for his rich millionaire friends. CSEA awards its annual Mission Achievement Awards at the workshop to activists who exemplify the union's mission.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Central Region President Colleen Wheaton, Special Olympics New York CEO Neal Johnson and CSEA President Danny Donohue pose with the Polar Cap Award at CSEA's annual Spring Workshop. The Central Region earned the award for the second straight year by raising the most money for the Polar Plunge for the Special Olympics. CSEA members from across the state met at the union's annual Spring Workshop to unite, build and mobilize New York's Leading Union. Activists in attendance learned about the fight ahead to protect the Triborough Amendment and to tell the governor no tax breaks for his rich millionaire friends. In addition to the plenary and mobilization sessions, workshops focused on state government negotiations, on CSEA's "Don't Zone Out" campaign, Working People's History, the CSEA Next Wave movement, and "Uniting for Today, Building for Tomorrow."
Teaching associates in the Niagara Falls School District took to the street to protest job cuts and stalled contract talks with management. At issue is the loss of 33 jobs, as well as health insurance proposals by the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) that would level the playing field and create fair and equitable health insurance costs for unit members. Alida Barreto, a special education associate, leads co-workers during a demonstration against budget cuts.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) and other union members take part in a Western New York Area Labor Federation We Are One rally in Buffalo. This was part of a day of action to show support for public employees in Wisconsin and elsewhere 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.
Two Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Town of Greece highway workers are credited with saving the life of an elderly man who somehow found himself in the middle of a fenced-in construction site next to the highway department and got stuck up to his armpits in mud and water and clinging to a post. The two workers heard the man's cries for help and stayed with him until emergency responders came and then helped pull the man to safety. Rescuers Dan O'Connell, left, and Ron Bandemer stand near the fence surrounding the construction site where the man became stuck in mud.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Western Region Labor Relations Specialist Penny Gleason, center, leads Dave Dunaj of the Erie Educational Local and Judy DiPaola from the Western Region Judiciary Local through a "courageous conversation" exercise at a recent state budget training, just one of several trainings CSEA will be conducting for members and activists in the upcoming weeks.
A photo of Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member Maria Johnson, Buffalo Psychiatric Center Local, appeared with a quote about the attacks on public employees and concern over budget cuts.
A photo of Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member Justin Lelonek, Department of Social Services, Erie County Unit and Next Wave member, appeared with a quote about the attacks on public employees and concern over budget cuts.
Stephen Delair, Sunmount Developmental Center Local, was a first time attendee at the 99th Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Annual Delegates Meeting.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) activists Shekema Brown, left, and Kathy Hartwig get to know each other during a break in the town hall meeting held during the 99th Annual Delegates Meeting.
Kim Kopp, Sunmount Development Center Local, was a first-time attendee to the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) 99th Annual Delegates Meeting.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) State Department of Transportation Erie Residency Local member Joe Pericozzi attended the 99th Annual Delegates Meeting.
Leslie Walls, James E. Christian Memorial Health Department in Albany, attended the 99th Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Annual Delegates Meeting.
From left, Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Silver Creek Unit member Brianna Griewisch, unit President Joe Reed, and unit members Gary Grover, Jeff Griewisch and Bill Quinn continue to work out of a parking lot following a flood that destroyed the village's public works building.
A powerful flood knocked a hole in a brick wall in a Silver Creek Department of Public Works building. The department lost all its buildings and almost all its equipment in the flooding.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members and their children deliver the message during the 2009 Buffalo Labor Day parade that affordable health care is a right.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Western Region President Flo Tripi, right, rallies Monroe County members during a demonstration outside the county office building. Members protested the county's unfair labor practices, which have included Taylor Law violations, attempts to weaken the union, and a "whistleblower hotline" that encourages people to report "illegal" or "unethical" behavior by CSEA members.
Western Region President Flo Tripi examines the boots that support the "Arch D'Boot," a sculpture built from Buffalo State College workers' boots. The boots represent the work of members of the Campus Services Department and other classified titles: their work holds up and supports the rest of the campus.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Buffalo State College Local President Jerry Richmond, addresses a crowd during the dedication ceremony for "Arch D'Boot," a towering sculpture built from workers' boots. The sculpture is a tribute of the importance of what the workers at Buffalo State College do every day to help the college run.
Probation Officers and Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members Sue Cirencione, left, and Kevin Case, helped save an Ontario County woman's life. Cirencione and Case received a chief's citation award from the county in honor of their diligence and hard work
Marcia Gould, a Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) member in Monroe County Social Services, adds a "Stand Up For Probation" sticker to her T-shirt before a recent Monroe County Legislature meeting.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Western Region President Flo Tripi introduces CSEA President Danny Donohue, left, during a news conference held during CSEA's Spring Workshop to address Monroe County management's attacks on part-time workers. Tripi is flanked by all the other CSEA statewide officers and Monroe County CSEA activists.
Angelo Costanzo shows a Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Monroe County T-shirt to Rochester Airport employee Gloria Kosta. Members wore the shirts to a county legislature member to remind politicians that "Monroe County works because we do."
Officer Aaron Dean of the Newark Police Department in Wayne County, Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Western Region, approaches a vehicle during a traffic stop on the village's main street.