2024 Labor Power Players

Charlene Obernauer is the executive director at NYCOSH, where she oversees and develops the NYCOSH’s campaigns and advocacy work. She is also the co-founder of the New York Healthy Nail Salons Coalition, which successfully advocated for the passage of statewide legislation to combat wage theft and mitigate safety and health hazards in nail salons. Charlene heralded the release of the annual report, “Deadly Skyline” on construction fatalities and is an advocate for safe construction.

What led you down your current career path?
When I was a student in college, I became interested in the policies on our campus. Our clothing was bought from sweatshops, our food came from non-union vendors who sought better working conditions, and our university charged international tuition rates for undocumented students. I wanted to create labor-friendly policies on campus, which led me to the local labor movement on Long Island, the Long Island Federation of Labor (AFL-CIO), and Jobs with Justice.

What does your organization hope to accomplish in 2024?
Our focus on 2024 is twofold. First, we want to win concrete policy victories that will improve the lives of New York’s workers. This includes the Nail Salon Minimum Standards Council Act to further improve conditions in salons and the TEMP Act, to create an extreme temperature standard for workers. Second, we want to ensure that we educate and train 10,000 workers on safety and health, wage theft, and organizing.

What are the benefits that union membership (your union if applicable) provides?
Workers have the right to a safe and healthy job. They have a right to come home safely at the end of the day, and to be paid a family-sustaining wage for the work that they do. Unions are made up of their members who organize for a voice on the job, and who organize to be in charge of their own lives and destinies. They are essential to our democracy and building worker power.

Manny Pastreich is president of the 175,000-member-strong 32BJ SEIU. Most recently, he led negotiations for 70,000 commercial office cleaners, won historic wage increases and protected critical benefits for his members. He has also advanced policies that benefit working New Yorkers, winning new legislation that increases health care cost transparency, and is currently advocating for more housing to be built to address New York’s housing crisis. 

What led you down your current career path?
My dad founded and led a health care union so I saw the difference a union can make in people’s lives and how workers can make a change at work. I also saw my mother fight for her right to be a firefighter when I was growing up – the first female firefighter in Massachusetts! Watching my parents inspired me to fight to make positive change. The labor movement has been my home now for 30 years.

What does your organization hope to accomplish in 2024?
With 90,000 members in New York alone, we always have multiple large campaigns running. We will be bargaining to improve wages and benefits for security officers, school cleaners, and airport workers. Outside of the workplace, we hope to work with labor and legislative allies to pass legislation spurring more housing supply while limiting rent gouging. 

What are the benefits that union membership (your union if applicable) provides?
In industries that typically pay minimum wage with no benefits in non-union cities, the 32BJ Union Difference typically means tens of thousands in additional pay. It means family health insurance with no premium share or deductibles. It means representation on the job. It also means representation in the political sphere to defend and advance issues that are important to working people, and to address historical injustices as we work to create a more equitable society.

Melinda Person is president of New York State United Teachers, the union of nearly 700,000 employees or retirees of New York’s schools, colleges and health care facilities. In 16 years at NYSUT, including as executive and political director, Person revolutionized member engagement, created organizing programs to bring demands to elected representatives, and developed the Pipeline Project to train members to run for office. She is committed to equitable classrooms where students and educators thrive.

Mike Prohaska is the leader of Construction and General Building Laborers’ Local 79, the largest construction laborers’ local union in the United States. Mike started as a rank-and-file laborer and has been a member of Laborers International Union of North America for over 40 years. In addition to serving as Local 79 business manager, Mike is a trustee of the Mason Tenders Trust Funds and New York State Laborers Tri-Funds.

Leah Rambo joins NEW after serving as the deputy director of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau. She brings 36 years of experience in the labor movement with a focus on bringing equity and inclusion to the trades. Leah began her career as an apprentice in the Sheet Metal Workers Union Local 28 in New York City and was its first female instructor, director of training, and member of the union’s Executive Board.

What led you down your current career path?
Becoming the president of NEW presents an exciting opportunity for me to advance my commitment to drive gender diversity and equality in the construction trades, advanced manufacturing and green economy. There are so many women who are seeking meaningful careers with economic security. I hope to take my passion for this work and decades of experience to support, inspire, train and grow the next generation of women in NYC who enter these careers.

What does your organization hope to accomplish in 2024?
NEW will attract and train NYC women and place them into apprenticeships in Unionized skilled trades where they can build skills and experience. We will continue to offer supportive services — including, mentorship, housing and transportation assistance and a childcare program that assists single mothers (31% of our participants) — so they can have more time to practice and hone their trades skills. NEW also will educate young adults about career opportunities in the trades.

Jessica Ramos represents New York’s 13th District in the state senate, which includes the Queens neighborhoods of Corona, East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, & part of Rego Park. Ramos chairs the Senate Committee on Labor, where she’s fought to raise and index the minimum wage, pass historic legislation to grant farm and domestic workers basic labor protections, tackle wage theft and worker safety, and secured $2.1B to create a fund for workers who have been excluded from pandemic-related relief.

What benefits does union membership (your union if applicable) provide?
When you are a union member, you never have to face your boss alone. The protection of a collective bargaining agreement is the best defense against unsafe working conditions, discrimination, and workplaces that treat you as if you are disposable.

New York State Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon was appointed in October 2015 to oversee the Department’s more than 3,300 employees. Previously, Commissioner Reardon served as president of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). She then became the co-president of SAG-AFTRA when the Screen Actors Guild merged with AFTRA. After stepping down from that position, Commissioner Reardon consulted for the AFL-CIO as a special liaison for Common Sense Economics.

What are the benefits that union membership (your union if applicable) provides?
As NYSDOL commissioner and a former union president, I’ve seen firsthand the power of unions in enhancing workers’ lives. Union membership offers vital protections in the workplace, ensuring good jobs with fair wages and benefits, career advancement opportunities, and strong advocacy for workers’ rights. This collective strength fosters positive change for families across New York and the nation, underscoring unions’ crucial role in fighting tirelessly for their members.

John is a track worker by trade and started at the Transport Workers Union in 1993. He was elected president of TWU Local 100 in 2009, representing New York City, before winning reelection twice and becoming international president of the TWU in 2017. He was reelected without opposition in 2021. His mantra is “It’s always us against them, these bosses are never, ever our friends.”  

What led you down your current career path?
When I first started working alongside my fellow track workers, I learned the value of collective fightback, with subway track bosses constantly valuing maintenance production over worker safety. That’s when I became involved in fighting for better pay and better working conditions. The fight continues today. 

What does your organization hope to accomplish in 2024?
We will continue building capacity within our local unions to fight the onslaught of automation in transportation that threatens jobs. We’re going to keep launching well-thought-out strategic fightback campaigns to win contract gains. New worker organizing will be a major priority, especially in the south. And we will continue building a political program to support politicians, regardless of party, who demonstrate they care about transport workers across air, rail and transit.

What are the benefits that union membership (your union if applicable) provides?
A transport worker joining the TWU gets the immediate benefit of being in a union that will not back down from a fight on behalf of our members along with expertise in our industries. We have been fighting for decades. It’s a potent combo.

Dr. Talya Schwartz is president and CEO of MetroPlusHealth, serving since 2019. During her tenure, MPH has seen a 35% growth in membership, a five-star rating from NYS’s Consumer Guide, and a 4-star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. She spearheaded MPH’s transformation by insourcing its behavioral health services, overhauled its website and portals, modernized legacy technology, and expanded virtual visits to its 750k+ members. Her commitment to addressing the social determinants of health among NY’s most vulnerable communities is the pinnacle of her leadership. She is a mother of two daughters.

Brendan Sexton has spent 18 years building worker power among low-wage workers. He leads the largest gig worker center, as president of the Independent Drivers Guild, a Machinists Union affiliate representing 300,000 rideshare drivers in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Illinois and Florida. IDG won higher wages and led the largest protest in gig worker history. Previously, Brendan was the organizing director and political coordinator for the largest grocery union in New York.