Labor Power Players

Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, is president of the New York State Nurses Association, the oldest nurses’ union and association in the nation, representing more than 42,000 registered nurses and healthcare professionals across the state. Ms. Hagans is a nurse and critical care expert who was first elected to NYSNA’s Board in 2015. Ms. Hagans is a native of Haiti and started her career as a surgical intensive care nurse in 1990 at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, where she continues to represent NYSNA members.

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

What are the benefits that unions (your particular union, if applicable) offer their members?
NYSNA wins strong contracts that give members a voice in patient care and safe working conditions. Union members also negotiate good pay and health and retirement benefits.

What brought you to organizing and/or the issue of worker advocacy?
Working together, nurses have the power to advocate for better patient care and working conditions. At my safety net hospital and across the state, I have seen firsthand the positive impact union nurses have on delivering quality care to all New Yorkers.

How will New York’s labor force evolve in the next five years?
Nurses are essential – but often understaffed – in our healthcare system. New York needs a bold plan to recruit and retain enough nurses for quality care.

What kind of impact does organized labor have on local communities?
In a union, you learn that when you fight, you win. As nurses who care for our communities, we keep that same fighting spirit when it comes to advocating for health equity, workers’ rights, climate justice and more.

John Heffernan serves as president for the Pressmen’s Union #2N/1SE, an affiliate of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters that represents pressmen, stereotypers, and paper handlers. Mr. Heffernan also leads the Allied Printing Trades Council of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, which works to ensure that the men and women in the printing industry receive fair wages and benefits and safe working conditions.

Mark Henry serves as president and business agent of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1056, which represents public transit workers in New York. In addition to providing health benefits — including dental, vision, and hearing — to its members, during the COVID-19 pandemic Local 1056 advocated for mandatory masking on public transportation, ensuring that workers in some of the most high-exposure positions remained protected.

Marc Herbst is the executive director of LICA, the premier regional trade association of the heavy construction industry, where he oversees services and programming, labor, and safety training for more than 160 member-firms and acts as the voice for the industry’s public and government advocacy. He serves concurrently as president of the New York Roadway and Infrastructure Coalition. He is a former five-term New York State Assemblyman. Herbst resides in West Islip, New York.

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

What are the benefits that unions (your particular union, if applicable) offer their members?
Good paying jobs.

How will New York’s labor force evolve in the next five years?
New York’s labor force will be the biggest and best infrastructure investment operation in the world.

What kind of impact does organized labor have on local communities?
Labor creates strong economies, community investments, and collective power.

Karen Ignagni serves as CEO of EmblemHealth, which includes over 40 primary and specialty physician practices through AdvantageCare Physicians. Prior to joining EmblemHealth in 2015, Ignagni was president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans, an insurance industry association. Ignagni also directed AFL-CIO’s Department of Employee Benefits. She was a professional staff member on the U.S. Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee and worked at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

What sector does your union service (healthcare, construction, etc.)?
Healthcare, Labor, Employees and Public Programs.

What are the benefits that unions (your particular union, if applicable) offer their members?
Comprehensive full-spectrum healthcare access and coverage.

What brought you to organizing and/or the issue of worker advocacy?
Father and mother were union members and I worked for the AFL-CIO.

How will New York’s labor force evolve in the next five years?
Dynamically.

What kind of impact does organized labor have on local communities?
It brings good jobs, good benefits, and a strong voice to local communities.

Joey Jackson is a nationally recognized attorney who has for over two decades represented individuals and labor unions in state and federal court. As principal and founder of JOEY JACKSON LAW, PLLC, Mr. Jackson oversees every aspect of the practice. He has built an outstanding career as a trial lawyer representing clients who have fallen into high-stakes personal and professional crises, as well as those who are average citizens in need of his fierce and benevolent counsel. Mr. Jackson has been a member of the New York Bar since 1995.

What sector does your union service (healthcare, construction, etc.)?
JOEY JACKSON LAW primarily services public sector unions in the context of grievances, arbitrations and disciplinary proceedings. When an employer engages in any potential violation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, we protect the union members’ terms and conditions of employment. Further, when an employer seeks to discipline union members for an alleged violation of work related policies, directives and procedures, JJLAW protects union members against excessive suspensions and termination.  We also represent clients charged with criminal offenses in federal and state court. 

What are the benefits that unions (your particular union, if applicable) offer their members?
JJLAW sees many benefits in unions. First, there are strengths in numbers, especially for employees with similar issues and interests. Second, unions organize and listen to the problems being encountered on the job by the rank and file. Third, unions enhance their members’ job experience by ensuring more favorable employment terms. 

What brought you to organizing and/or the issue of worker advocacy?
JJLAW believes that employees work hard to support their families and loved ones. Employees deserve to be protected by having the best job related benefits. Unions improve their members’ lives.  When employees are suspended for alleged work violations, that means losing a paycheck. People depend upon their jobs to pay mortgages, tuition, care notes and put food on the table. When employers engage in Collective Bargaining Agreement violations or when union members need to negotiate for job related improvements, JJLAW stands with union members. We believe it’s essential to work with unions to improve their lives and that of their family.

How will New York’s labor force evolve in the next five years? 
As people continue to look for good paying jobs to support their families, unions will become even more important. As the diversity of City workers continues to grow, so too will the need for excellent representation of union members. It will become increasingly important to protect employees by enhancing the terms and conditions of their employment.

What kind of impact does organized labor have on local communities?
Unions strengthen the fabric of local communities by having workers with good paying and stable jobs working there, spending money there, and often living there. To the extent that unions protect employees from unwarranted suspensions as well as enhance the terms and conditions of their employment, local communities will be strengthened even further moving forward.

Senator Robert Jackson has taken on difficult fights on behalf of New Yorkers and never backed down: in his first elected position as school board president, he launched the Campaign for Fiscal Equity school funding lawsuit, walked 150 miles to Albany for the cause, and won a court judgment that awarded $16 billion for New York City public schools. He sponsored the Small Business Jobs Survival Act at the City Council and fought for justice and equality. Now as a state senator, he champions public education, worker’s rights, climate justice, and more.

Charles Jenkins is an elected officer of the Transport Worker Union Local 100. In 2013, Charles Jenkins was elected president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists New York Chapter. In 2014, Charles Jenkins was elected to CBTU International as a member-at-large and was also appointed by International President Terry Melvin to be the chairperson of the Mass Incarceration Committee. Charles has always had an interest in the Civil Rights movement, which led him to become extremely active in the labor movement and the community.

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

What are the benefits that unions (your particular union, if applicable) offer their members?
Health, dental, vision, safe work environment, childcare, training.

What brought you to organizing and/or the issue of worker advocacy?
The Civil Rights movement and the fight for justice, equality, and human rights.

How will New York’s labor force evolve in the next five years?
By our young workers rising up and demanding more for their labor, as shown by Starbucks/Amazon workers.

What kind of impact does organized labor have on local communities?
Political power. Elected officials and candidates continue to seek union endorsements; in exchange, unions look for officials to support the concerns of the communities.

Imogene Jones started her career in the New York State Unified Court System in 1990. She was promoted to senior court clerk in 1998 before being elected as a delegate to the New York State Court Clerks Association in 2006, and rising up to president in 2021. She represents clerks within New York City. She has been dedicated to assisting her fellow court clerks in maximizing their talents and holding the court system powers that be accountable for fairness in hiring and conditions in the courthouses within New York City.

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

As chair of the Assembly Labor Committee, Latoya Joyner has worked to enhance economic opportunities by enacting legislation protecting workers from wage theft, enhancing protections for workers impacted by COVID-19, expanding access to employment for returnees from incarceration, funding an Excluded Worker Fund that is a national model, and supporting key workforce development investments. She is also focusing on legislation to close the Gender Pay Gap by expanding salary transparency, ending the discriminatory use of employment screening tools, strengthening the minimum wage, and encouraging hiring through a robust work opportunity tax credit.

What sector does your union service (healthcare, construction, etc.)?
Chair of the Assembly Labor Committee.

What are the benefits that unions (your particular union, if applicable) offer their members?
Ever since the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory fire drew national attention to the plight of workers, New York’s labor community has been in the forefront of fighting for better wages and safer working conditions.

What brought you to organizing and/or the issue of worker advocacy?
I greatly appreciate the opportunity to serve my Bronx community in the Legislature and work with so many great partners as chair of the Assembly Labor Committee.

How will New York’s labor force evolve in the next five years?
Recent advances in technology are making it possible to enhance transparency in the workplace to a degree never previously imagined. This technology has the potential to be a very effective tool in combating discrimination in the workplace.

What kind of impact does organized labor have on local communities?
Organized labor is the backbone of so many communities throughout New York and I have seen in my own Bronx district just how important unions are to the daily lives of so many New Yorkers.