2023 Labor Power Players

Aaron Sirulnick is a fourth-generation affordable housing provider in New York City. For over 100 years, the Sirulnick family has strongly believed in a balanced housing market that allows property owners to provide safe and adequate housing to the city’s millions of tenants. Since 2013, Aaron has proudly served as the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Rent Stabilization Association.

Jonathan Smith is in his fourth term as president of the New York Metro Area Postal Union, the largest local in the APWU. President Smith is a national leader in the fight to maintain a public Postal Service and resist privatization. President Smith is a vice-president and member of the executive board of the New York City Central Labor Council.

Wayne was re-elected as president of the Public Employees Federation in June 2021 for a third three-year term. He is one of only two PEF presidents to be elected to a third term. Under Wayne’s leadership, the union negotiated three successful contracts that included across-the-board raises and no givebacks. Wayne is known as a leader who demands the union and the state follow through on mandates.

What is one of your organization’s recent successes?
In October 2022, after more than a decade of lobbying by PEF, the Department of Civil Service restructured nursing titles statewide. Almost 20% of PEF members are nurses and the restructuring will result in tens of thousands of dollars in additional pay for many of them. It opens the door for the examination of other titles and PEF won’t stop until the public employees of New York are compensated on par with the private sector.

What are the benefits that union membership (your union if applicable) provides?
Unions are strong because of our collective power. We secure contracts with fair wages and benefits because 50,000 PEF members fight for them. We make sure the State adheres to the terms and conditions of our employment and we represent dues-paying members whenever management does not. We also protect the health and safety of members, who often take great risks serving New Yorkers – from hospitals to prisons to mental health facilities.

Janice Sued Agresti represents employers in a wide range of labor and employment matters. This includes employment litigation matters involving a wide-range of issues, including discrimination, trade secrets, employee mobility, wage and hour issues, and ADA Title III cases. Janice is also a trusted advisor to her clients and counsels them on many matters – including compliance with applicable law, restrictive covenants, due diligence in mergers and acquisitions, WARN considerations, workplace investigations, and prevailing wages.

For more than 35 years, Mary E. Sullivan has fought tirelessly for working people’s interests at the grassroots, statewide, and national levels. By mobilizing workers and encouraging internal communication, Sullivan has helped strengthen CSEA’s position as one of New York’s largest and most influential unions. She has been a driving force behind CSEA’s Labor Education and Development program, helping to mold and mentor the next generation of union leaders.

What is one of your organization’s recent successes?
CSEA continues to organize new members throughout New York State who understand the value of being part of a union.  Recently we have welcomed EMTs, zoo employees, library workers and many more into our union family.  It is clear that workers today understand the value of being part of a union and CSEA is happy to represent them. We all know that with each new group CSEA grows even stronger!

What are the benefits that union membership (your union if applicable) provides?
The strength of any union is the power in numbers at the bargaining table with employers.  It is a fact that union workers earn more for doing the same jobs as non-union workers. We’re also safer on the job, because safety and health is a cornerstone of labor. Union members also feel more secure about their retirement because we have advocated for strong pensions and expanded Social Security benefits.

Since 1995, Robert A. Ungar Associates have been lobbyists and consultants to numerous public and private sector labor unions in New York. Mr. Ungar has lobbied at the state and local level on issues important to the worklife, health and safety of union workers and their families. He has represented both uniformed and civilian union members in their quest for a better and safer workplace and has fought for their right to a dignified retirement.

What is one of your organization’s recent successes?
Over the last couple of years we successfully lobbied 16 enacted bills for our union clients.

What are the benefits that union membership (your union if applicable) provides?
There is strength in united efforts by workers to better their lives and those of their families. Being a member makes you part of a much bigger whole than any one individual.  Union members stand together to collectively and strongly fight for their needs. Unions built the middle class. Unions built career ladders. Unions give workers a united voice at work and politically by helping elect officials who understand the value of a hard day’s work.

Michael Volforte has served as the director of the New York State Office of Employee Relations since 2013 and worked in the public sector labor field for over 26 years. As director, he oversees collective bargaining with 10 unions that represent approximately 170,000 executive branch employees and implements negotiated compensation and other benefits provided through labor-management committees. As counsel, he also oversees representation of agencies in contract grievance and administrative matters before PERB.

What is one of your organization’s recent successes?
My office developed and distributed a Gender Identity Toolkit which informs all employees about the protections in place for transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals and helps them identify best practices for addressing changing workplace policies and cultures that relate to our TGNC colleagues and customers.

What are the benefits that union membership (your union if applicable) provides?
Union membership provides a voice to employees. Under Governor Hochul’s leadership, my office is proud to work on a daily basis with representatives of executive-branch employee unions. Our collaborative efforts benefit our workforce as a whole, and union input is invaluable in arriving at the best possible solutions for issues important to our employees.

Anthony Wells has served as president of SSEU Local 731 since 2011. SSEU Local 731 has 17,000 members who work in the New York City Housing Authority, district attorneys’ offices, social services, borough presidents’ office, and community planning boards. Mr. Wells graduated from Baruch College and has a M.S.W in social work from Stony Brook University as well as a law degree from New York Law School. Mr. Wells chairs the DC 37 Civil Service Committee and is a co-chair of the Municipal Labor Committee.

Michael Winship is president of the Writers Guild of America, East. Mr. Winship is the Schuman senior writing fellow at Common Dreams and a veteran television writer and producer who has written programming for America’s major PBS stations, CBS, the Discovery and Learning Channels, A&E, Turner Broadcasting, the Disney Channel and many others. Mr. Winship, alongside his collaborator Bill Moyers, has received an Emmy and three Writers Guild Awards for Writing Excellence.

John has been a labor neutral for 16 years, having served as PERB’s deputy chair before his appointment as chair. He is a graduate of Fordham University and of Columbia Law School.  He has authored several books on labor law and on literature. PERB’s jurisdiction has been expanded to include farm laborers and farmers under the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act of 2019 granting workers the right to organize and collectively bargain.

What is one of your organization’s recent successes?
Since the enactment of FLFLPA, John and Sarah Coleman, deputy chairs of PERB, have set up outreach and educational programs to inform both farmers and laborers of the impact of the new law, its application, and the standards at issue. PERB is issuing revised rules that are designed to respect due process for all parties while eliminating unnecessary delays, and moving cases forward expeditiously.

What are the benefits that union membership (your union if applicable) provides?
Union membership gives employees a seat at the table, and a chance to be heard. Collective bargaining protects the rights of workers to participate in creating a work environment that is fair and free of intimidation. PERB has the privilege of assisting the parties to reach fair and sustainable relationships.