2023 Labor Power Players

Rebecca is a national leader in federal workers’ rights advocacy and in great demand for her thought leadership on issues of labor, racial, gender, and economic justice. Rebecca’s commitment to advancing workers’ rights and economic justice is deeply rooted in her lived experience growing up in rural Mississippi at the intersection of race, class, and gender. Rebecca holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English from Duke University, and a law degree from Duke Law School.

What is one of your organization’s recent successes?
NELP’s reports and analysis documented the need for the Warehouse Workers’ Protection Act that workers and partners collectively fought for and won last year. The legislation addresses dangerous workplace demands that result in high injury rates at companies like Amazon. Recently, NELP and partners launched the Raise Up NY campaign for a $21+ minimum wage, and the NYC Secure Jobs Act campaign for protections against unfair firings.

John Drew was elected president of District Council 9 in 2015. In this role, Mr. Drew oversees the day-to-day operations of the organization. Prior to joining District Council 9, Mr. Drew was involved in Local 19 and served as council delegate, vice president and was eventually elected president in 2004. While at Local 19, Mr. Drew implemented the Steward Training Program and founded the Voluntary Organizing Committee.

Michelle Eisen is a 12-year Starbucks barista in Buffalo and national leader of Starbucks Workers United. She led the organizing drive at her store, which became the first unionized Starbucks in the U.S., kicking off a movement that now includes 260+ cafes and 7,000+ workers. She facilitates the campaign’s Bargaining Strategy, and she has testified on Capitol Hill on Starbucks’ union-busting. Michelle is a production stage manager with nearly two decades of experience.

What is one of your organization’s recent successes?
Starbucks workers have organized more new unions in a 12-month period than any US company in the past 20 years. Feeling overworked and underpaid after working through a global pandemic, Starbucks workers in Buffalo, NY spearheaded a national movement of young workers fighting for the right to organize a union. Through the SBWU campaign, workers have pressured Starbucks into implementing credit card tipping, a national $15 minimum wage, increased sick time accrual and more.

What are the benefits that union membership (your union if applicable) provides?
Starbucks workers are fighting for our first contract. Yet even without a contract, we have the ability to sit at the negotiating table with Starbucks. The company is legally obligated to listen to our proposals. Through our movement, thousands of Starbucks workers are now connected and working with each other to make Starbucks a better company. We have used our collective voice to demand full staffing, consistent schedules, and balanced lives.

Rafael Espinal is the third leader of Freelancers Union since its founding in 1995. Prior to his current role, he was New York’s youngest elected official when he was elected to the State Assembly in 2011. Later in 2013, he served in the New York City Council. As the son of Dominican immigrants who worked as union members as well as freelancers, he quickly became a leader fighting on behalf of workers, small businesses and artists.

What is one of your organization’s recent successes?
In the past year alone, Freelancers Union worked to secure statewide protections for freelancers by advocating for the introduction and passage of a statewide Freelance isn’t Free Act. A bill that would provide non-payment protections for freelancers living every corner of New York State. Rafael and the Freelancers Union also pushed to include independent workers in a state sponsored retirement system in an effort to give them the option of an affordable retirement program.

What are the benefits that union membership (your union if applicable) provides?
Freelancers Union’s mission is to advocate for and support independent workers. It ensures freelancers have everything they need to work on their terms and provides them with a powerful voice through advocacy, resources, and community. Freelancers have access to a full-service support system designed to help them succeed. Membership is free and open to all freelancers of all backgrounds and experience, from graphic designers and contractors to entrepreneurs and moonlighters.

Kristen Foust is a principal attorney within Hinman Straub’s Labor and Employment Department. In this role, Ms. Foust represents clients on claims of workplace discrimination, retaliation and wage and hour violations. She also represents clients before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the New York State Division of Human Rights on matters of discrimination. Prior to her role at Hinman Straub, Ms. Foust served as an assistant district attorney in both the Manhattan and Saratoga County District Attorneys’ Office.

In August of 2014, Shaun D. Francois I was elected the president of Local 372, the largest local in District Council 37. Since his election, he has increased the salaries of 2,300 crossing guards, restored the Severance Related Fund which provides health benefits to retirees and their families, created full time supervisory positions for crossing guards, received additional funding for SAPIS, and increased the number of school representatives. In 2019, Shaun D. Francois I was also elected as the president of District Council 37.

What is one of your organization’s recent successes?
Some recent successes include, maintaining full continuous work during Covid-19, saving the severance related funds for retirees and receiving funds from New York State for SAPIS. 

What are the benefits that union membership (your union if applicable) provides?

• Job security
• Contract negotiations
• Pension
• Medical coverage
• Full medical coverage for part-time workers
• Prescription, dental and eye care coverage
• Legal representation

Plus many more that we don’t have enough space to list.

As president of Local 802, Tino Gagliardi leads negotiations for all of the major music contracts in NYC, including Broadway, the Met Opera, New York Philharmonic and the NYC Ballet. He’s a graduate of the Cornell Union Leadership Institute and served on the New York City Cultural Affairs Plan Citizens’ Advisory Committee. President Gagliardi is also a trustee of the AFM Pension Fund and the AFM & SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund. 

What is one of your organization’s recent successes?
Local 802 has been a major leader in the reopening of NYC after the devastation of the pandemic. President Gagliardi and his administration have negotiated strong contracts for musicians at Lincoln Center and Broadway and are also looking out for NYC’s newest and youngest musicians, to make sure that all musicians earn the wages, benefits and job security they deserve.

What are the benefits that union membership (your union if applicable) provides?
Musicians who work under Local 802 contracts earn fair wages and job security as well as contributions for health insurance and pension, so they can retire with dignity. The union also offers instrument insurance, a referral and booking service, emergency financial aid, free mental health counseling, and much more.

Henry A. Garrido is the executive director of District Council 37, New York City’s largest labor union. Garrido is an international vice president of the AFSCME, co-chair of the Municipal Labor Committee, a trustee on the city’s Workforce Investment Board, and serves on the board of the New York City Employees Retirement System. A native of the Dominican Republic, he is the first Latino to head DC 37 since it was formed in 1944.

Joseph Geiger is the executive secretary-treasurer of the New York City District Council of Carpenters. Since 2013, Joe has safeguarded the livelihood of the union’s 20,000 skilled carpenters. He leads contract negotiations, policy decisions, and the overall direction of the union to guarantee that every worker has rights in the workplace, a good job, a fair wage, a healthy life, and a secure future. In 2021, Joe navigated the union and its members through the COVID-19 pandemic while at the same time spearheading Carpenters RISE–a multi-year, political power-building campaign.

Thomas Gesualdi serves as president of Teamsters Joint Council 16 and president of Local 282. Gesualdi began his career in the New York City high-rise industry in 1982 and worked his way up from shop steward to joint council president covering the New York City region. Under Gesualdi’s leadership, the Teamsters have prioritized bargaining strong contracts for members, passing legislation to raise standards for all workers, and organizing new workers into the union.