2023 Labor Power Players

As partner at New Deal Strategies, Camille draws on deep ties to the labor movement. There, Camille has worked with SEIU to build out the National Latino Civic Engagement Table and overseen the SEIU Latino independent expenditure program in battleground states. Camille advises on electoral and advocacy campaigns at every level, most recently helping State Senator Rivera’s campaign through a hard-won primary election. Camille previously held political and legislative leadership roles at RWDSU and SEIU.

What is one of your organization’s recent successes?
New Deal was behind some of the biggest wins in NY the past two cycles, creating big media moments for Jamaal Bowman’s insurgent primary election victory in 2020 and creating a powerful comms and coalition strategy to clinch another term for State Senator Gustavo Rivera in 2022. NDS was also the driving force behind John Fetterman’s win in PA, creating the groundbreaking creative communications operation that flipped the only seat in the country in 2022.

Eduardo Rosario has served as chapter president of LCLAA in New York City and San Francisco.  He has a master’s in labor studies from CUNY, and a bachelor’s in labor studies from the National Labor College. His master’s thesis is titled, “U.S. Labor Combating Environmental Injustices: organizing opportunities locally and globally”.  His bachelor’s thesis, “The Dismantling of the Manufacturing Clause: another victim of deregulation”, earned him a “Distinguished Paper Award” from the National Labor College.

What is one of your organization’s recent successes?
The establishing of the NYC LCLAA Puerto Rico Relief Foundation, dedicated to repairing the roofs of homes that have been damaged since Hurricane Maria. In addition, NYC LCLAA has made a commitment to developing new leaders in the labor movement via the NYC LCLAA/SUNY Labor Studies Program. Such an opportunity opens the door to pursue one’s goal in earning a SUNY college degree.

What are the benefits that union membership (your union if applicable) provides?
Unions help reduce wage gaps for women and workers of color. Union members have better job safety protections, better paid leave than non-union workers, and are more secure exercising their rights in the workplace. Union contracts are a critical tool to realizing the right to organize and collectively bargain—free from fear or employer interference. They’re especially important where local management and governments routinely ignore these rights and are vital in environments where norms are anti-union.

Howard, president of the Realty Advisory Board since 2009, has represented the real estate industry in labor negotiations, arbitrations, and litigation for nearly 40 years.  Of note, Howard was counsel on a seminal U.S. Supreme Court case that cemented the centrality of arbitration as a means to resolution of labor-management disputes.  Howard also serves as an officer and trustee on various Taft-Hartley multiemployer benefits plans, and is active in those funds’ governance.

What is one of your organization’s recent successes?
In 2022, on behalf of the RAB, I served as lead negotiator for two industry-wide collective bargaining agreements covering approximately 32,000 Local 32BJ building service workers and approximately 5,600 Local 94 building engineers.  The successful completion of these Agreements ensured continued building operation without interruption, provided substantial wage and benefits increases for industry employees, and minimized the impact of increased employment costs to employers.

What are the benefits that union membership (your union if applicable) provides?
RAB membership provides skilled representation by attorneys who know the industry at minimal cost.  We also maintain excellent relations with our counterparties, which enables us to take a proactive approach to addressing issues. Members of the RAB are represented for collective bargaining, advice and counsel in all manner of labor and employment matters, as well as for grievances and arbitrations arising out of collective bargaining agreements, all without additional cost beyond our membership dues.

Henry Rubio was recently elected as president of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators. Prior to this role, he served as the union’s executive vice president and first vice president. Mr. Rubio is also the president of the New York State Federation of School Administrators, High School Principals Association, Association of Dominican-American Supervisors and Administrators and a vice president of the American Federation of School Administrators. Additionally, Mr. Rubio currently serves as a board member of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement.

Casey Ryan is a partner within ReedSmith’s Labor & Employment Group as well as the global head of legal personnel. As a member of the Labor & Employment Group, Ms. Ryan represents employers in a wide variety of employment-related disputes and has successfully litigated in federal and state courts. Ms. Ryan earned her bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Notre Dame and her J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School.

Christopher Schmidt currently serves as president and CEO of Healthplex. Prior to his appointment as president, Mr. Schmidt had been a part of the Healthplex management team for over 30 years. In this time, Mr. Schmidt fostered the growth of Healthplex’s commercial, municipal and union business, in addition to government-funded programs. Mr. Schmidt holds an M.B.A. in accounting, finance, and operations management from Columbia University.

Dr. Talya Schwartz is president and CEO of MetroPlusHealth. During her tenure, MetroPlusHealth has achieved a 35% growth in membership, a five-star rating from New York State’s Consumer Guide and a 4-star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. She spearheaded the organization’s transformation by bringing its behavioral health services in-house, overhauling its public website, modernizing legacy technology with a single integrated platform, and expanding virtual visits to its over 700,000 members.

Brendan Sexton has spent over 17 years building worker power among low-wage workers. He currently leads the largest gig worker center in the U.S., as president of the Independent Drivers Guild, a Machinists Union affiliate which represents more than 250,000 for-hire vehicle drivers. Previously, Brendan served as organizing director and political coordinator at UFCW 1500, the largest grocery union in New York. Brendan began as a union organizer working in a grocery store in college.

What is one of your organization’s recent successes?
During Brendan’s tenure, the Guild led the largest protest in gig worker history. Thousands of Uber and Lyft drivers banded together to shut down the Brooklyn Bridge and FDR Drive to protest new app policies and the city’s failure to help drivers. He expanded the Guild across the country into Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Illinois. Under his stewardship, IDG has quickly become the place where gig workers unite to fight for dignity on the job.

What are the benefits that union membership (your union if applicable) provides?
For-hire vehicle drivers have long been denied the kinds of basic rights that other workers take for granted. As a result, this workforce, which is 90% immigrants in New York City, was exploited and desperate. While we continue to fight for full union rights, the Independent Drivers Guild has made huge strides to improve working conditions for drivers with substantial pay increases, protections, and benefits, like free mental health care, telemedicine, vision and dental.

James R. Sheeran, Jr. joined Local 638 in 1984, beginning a career as a union steamfitter for 19 years. In 2004, Sheeran became an organizer, and starting in 2007, was lead organizer for the NY Pipetrades, helping grow 638’s membership to nearly 9,400 members. In November 2021, he became president of Local 638, where he currently oversees the union’s organizing and political activities. He holds a degree in political science from Western Liberty University.

What is one of your organization’s recent successes?
Local 638 has been an active participant steering NY legislation and the Climate Action Council’s scoping plan for the transition to clean energy, ensuring that NY maintains good, union jobs and is inclusive of clean technology that will maintain reliability and employ members of the pipetrades, such as green hydrogen, geothermal and biofuels. Along with that advocacy has been an  investment in the union’s training capacity to prepare members for jobs in the ‘green’ economy.

What are the benefits that union membership (your union if applicable) provides?
Members of Steamfitters Local 638 receive a family-sustaining wage, health benefits for themselves and their families, even in retirement, a defined-benefit pension and access to no-cost education through a five-year apprenticeship program and ongoing ‘upskill’ training and certification at 638’s member and industry funded, state-of-the-art training facility.

Kate Shindle was elected president of Actors’ Equity Association in 2015, the youngest member ever to lead Equity’s National Council. During her tenure, Equity has made major strides in contract negotiations, financial stability, member communication and governance. An award-winning actor, Shindle has starred in shows ranging from Broadway and national tours (including Cabaret, Legally Blonde, Fun Home) to regional theaters nationwide, and appeared in numerous TV/film projects (The Good Fight, Capote, Law and Order: SVU).

What is one of your organization’s recent successes?
Every worker who wants a union deserves a union. Our new Open Access policy provides a pathway to membership that doesn’t depend on our employers, or on our industry’s hiring practices. In the 18 months since it launched, we’ve seen a significant increase in the diversity of our new members. Joining a union is a personal decision; I’m proud that Open Access has moved that decision into the hands of actors and stage managers themselves.

What are the benefits that union membership (your union if applicable) provides?
The scarcity of theatre jobs and the social nature of our workplaces compound typical challenges, so it’s important that Equity empower members to collectively create change in everything from wages to safety to EDI. We focus on organizing and access for arts workers nationwide, because subjective hiring practices can cover a multitude of sins. Creative workplaces often lack HR, so we have to go the extra mile to eradicate workplace harassment, discrimination, misclassification and more.