Labor Power Players

John R. Durso is the president of Local 338 RWDSU/UFCW, representing over 13,000 workers statewide. He serves as the president of the Long Island Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO. John is proud to be a member of several different Boards and is the incoming chair for the EAC Network and on the Nassau Community College Board of Trustees, along with the board for the NCC Foundation. John is proudest of Local 338’s continued work with local charities, including the John Theissen Children’s Foundation, bringing children in need toys and school supplies.

What sector does your union service (healthcare, construction, etc.)?
Local 338 RWDSU/UFCW serves working people in several different industries, including grocery, pharmacy, healthcare and human services, agriculture, as well as New York’s cannabis industry, with workers employed across the supply chain from seed to sale.

What are the benefits that unions (your particular union, if applicable) offer their members?
We offer a full range of medical coverage for our members and their families. Local 338 has helped educate our members and their families with the Local 338 Scholarship, which has helped hundreds of students attend college and pay for books and materials.

What brought you to organizing and/or the issue of worker advocacy?
Having been a member Local 338 while working in grocery retail for many years, I know very well what our members deal with each day, and I was drawn to the opportunity to speak up on behalf of workers to make sure they are treated with the dignity and respect that they are entitled to. Being in worker advocacy allows us to ensure that workers have a voice on the job and that they have some sort of control over their future, instead of their employer.

How will New York’s labor force evolve in the next five years?
New York’s labor force is going to become stronger and more diversified. With the new industries that are coming to New York, including wind energy and cannabis—which we are proud to be leading—new opportunities will become available for thousands of workers and entrepreneurs to work with unions to develop an even stronger economy. A stronger economy is often a result of the strength of the labor movement. I see a very bright future for both.

What kind of impact does organized labor have on local communities?
The labor movement guarantees there are good quality jobs and careers available to working people. In addition to fighting for you in the workplace, the labor movement also serves as community activists, fighting for the causes that matter most to our members. I think it’s important to recognize that the labor movement is present in every aspect of our communities — we are your Boy Scout leaders, Little League coaches, and the people who collect donations for those in need. Working in the labor movement gives us the opportunity to understand what working people go through and allows us to advocate on their behalf.

Christopher Erikson was initiated into Local 3 in 1975 and appointed a business representative in 1989. Over the course of more than 10 years, he was responsible for 53 separate collective bargaining agreements negotiating improved wages and benefits for thousands of members. He was appointed an assistant business manager in 2000, and in 2006 was elected by the Executive Board to fulfill the remaining term of his predecessor and uncle, former International Treasurer Thomas Van Arsdale as business manager. He is only the third business manager in Local 3 since 1933 following in the footsteps of both his uncle and grandfather, also a former International Treasurer Harry Van Arsdale Jr. He continues to serve his Local 3 membership of more than 28,000 in various capacities on numerous boards and multi-employer trust funds. He is the president of the New York State Allied Printing Trades Council, is an officer of the New York State Public Employee Conference, and the chair of the Madison Square Garden Labor Committee.

What sector does your union service (healthcare, construction, etc.)?
Electrical construction, maintenance, and manufacturing across all sectors of the electrical industry in New York City and Westchester County. 

What are the benefits that unions (your particular union, if applicable) offer their members?
Middle-class wages and fully employer-paid medical. Good dental coverage. Pensions, retiree medical, and death benefits. Educational benefits including classes for members, tuition reimbursement, and scholarships for members’ children. Supplemental unemployment, workers’ comp, and disability benefits. Legal services benefits.

What brought you to organizing and/or the issue of worker advocacy?
My grandfather was Harry Van Arsdale Jr., an iconic labor leader in New York City and Local 3, as was his son Thomas Van Arsdale. They instilled in me that the only purpose of the union was to serve the membership, and my family has been doing just that in leadership roles in Local 3 since 1933. Our family has been in Local 3 for over 120 years. 

How will New York’s labor force evolve in the next five years?
Harry used to say if you want to know what the labor movement will look like in 5 or 10 years, ride the subway. Our membership is as diverse as NYC gets. What is evolving, however, is the renewable energy sector. As we tackle climate change, the technology will attract new workers excited to not only do the work but to also produce the results that will save our planet for our grandchildren and their children.

What kind of impact does organized labor have on local communities?
The Labor Movement created the middle class in America and has been under attack and weakened for more than 40 years. Despite companies like Charter Spectrum who forced a strike and destroyed the lives of so many families of members of Local 3 who still remain on strike, unions continue to provide good jobs in our communities. The tide is turning these days, working men and women deserve better, and they are finally willing to fight. They know a union job is a direct path to the middle class, and we stand ready to help them.

Steve Flanagan is the business manager and secretary-treasurer of Laborers Local 66, representing over 1,000 construction workers in Nassau and Suffolk counties. Mr. Flanagan is also on the Executive Board for The Building and Construction Trades Council of Nassau and Suffolk Counties, AFL-CIO, and the Executive Board for the Long Island Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, which honored him in 2015 as Labor Leader of the Year.

Shaun D. Francois I is a straightforward shooter who has come up from the rank and file and has never forgotten where he came from. His start in unionism came when he began working for the Department of Education in 1993 and quickly became a Shop Steward, fighting injustice in the workplace. He became the chapter president of his title, and eventually became president of Local 372 and president of District Council 37, both leadership positions that he continues to hold.

What sector does your union service (healthcare, construction, etc.)?
Municipality (city workers and state workers).

What are the benefits that unions (your particular union, if applicable) offer their members?
Healthcare, education, mental health, employment, etc.

What brought you to organizing and/or the issue of worker advocacy?
Wrongdoings in the workplace and the community as a whole.

How will New York’s labor force evolve in the next five years?
Bringing advocacy groups together on one accord; we all have the same aspirations.

What kind of impact does organized labor have on local communities?
100% impact.

Joseph A. Geiger is the executive secretary-treasurer of the New York City and Vicinity District Council of Carpenters. For 38 years, Joe has lived by the values of the Union. Since being elected in 2013, Joe has made it his calling to safeguard the livelihood of the District Council’s 20,000 skilled union carpenters, who represent nine local unions covering a wide range of trade specialties. He leads contract negotiations and policy decisions to guarantee that every worker has rights in the workplace, a good job, a fair wage, a healthy life, and a secure future.

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Ridgewood, Joe joined Timberman Local Union 1536 on July 4, 1984, at the age of 17, where he started his career as a timberman helper. Showing leadership in the field, Joe worked his way up to journeyman, shop steward, foreman, and finally to general foreman. This ambition translated into getting involved in leadership roles with his Local Union, where he began to exercise his voice in union activity. He became highly involved in Local 1536, where he held positions as treasurer, president, delegate, and serving on the Trial Committee. After their merger into Dockbuilders/Timbermen Local Union 1556, Joe served as president and delegate to the District Council.

In 2005, Joe was hired as a business representative at the District Council, during which time he continued to serve as a trustee. In December 2013, Joe was elected to the Office of Executive Secretary-Treasurer, and he was reelected after running unopposed in December 2014. He won reelection in 2017. In 2021, after four years of leadership, which included successfully navigating the union and its members through the global COVID pandemic and spearheading Carpenters RISE – a multi-year power building union campaign – Joe was once again elected by the union’s membership to lead the District Council for another 4 years.

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.

What sector does your union service (healthcare, construction, etc.)?
The Teamsters represent workers across dozens of industries, including transportation, food and beverage, sanitation, warehousing, manufacturing, construction, energy, film, parking, and local governments.

How will New York’s labor force evolve in the next five years?
Companies like Amazon are lowering wages and working conditions in industries that New Yorkers used to count on for a middle-class job. We must ensure that the jobs of the future are good union jobs.

What kind of impact does organized labor have on local communities?
Labor unions don’t just fight for our members, we work to improve safety and wages for the whole working class.

George Gresham is the president of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, the nation’s largest healthcare union. Under his leadership, 1199SEIU has secured industry-leading job and benefit standards for healthcare workers and positioned the Union as a major force for advancing progressive causes throughout New York and nationally. He began his career in the housekeeping department at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, and over four decades has held every elected position in the Union’s constitution, from member delegate to president, a title which he has had since 2007.

What sector does your union service (healthcare, construction, etc.)?
Healthcare.

What are the benefits that unions (your particular union, if applicable) offer their members?
Being an 1199 member means joining the most powerful movement of healthcare workers in the country. In addition to enjoying the highest job and benefit standards in the industry, our members are deeply committed to advancing causes of racial, economic, and social justice, while providing the best possible care to the communities where they live and work. The benefits of being a union member go well beyond the paycheck — we are about empowering caregivers to be leaders and have a voice in their workplaces and communities.

 What brought you to organizing and/or the issue of worker advocacy?
As a child of the Jim Crow south and who began in the labor movement as a rank-and-file member of 1199, I experienced the power of organizing from an early age. I witnessed the livelihoods of countless families — including my own — transformed through the civil rights movement, the labor movement, and 1199 specifically. This led me down the path of devoting my career to organizing and advancing the rights of working people.

How will New York’s labor force evolve in the next five years?
The experience of the pandemic has shown New York and the world that there is no such thing as “unskilled workers.” The individuals who have kept our society running during the greatest public health crisis of our lifetime will continue to press for dignity, respect, and safe and humane employment. Healthcare will continue to grow as a cornerstone of our local economy, and I have no doubt that essential workers of all stripes will continue to win groundbreaking organizing victories. Today we are witnessing renewed interest in unions and an invigorated labor movement, and we must continue to move forward to combat growing inequality.

What kind of impact does organized labor have on local communities?
Organized labor is the single most powerful force for working people to improve their conditions of life. This is true for workers of all demographics, and especially for women and people of color whose membership in unions corresponds to dramatic improvements in wages, access to affordable healthcare, and retirement benefits. Organized labor is also a major and important force in politics, from national to local. Although working people cannot alone compete dollar-for-dollar with corporations which seek to buy political influence, by organizing together in unions workers can marshal their collective resources to have an influential voice in their communities and strengthen our democratic system.