Message from Long Island Region President Jarvis Brown

A message from CSEA Long Island Region One President Jarvis Brown

I believe that a team aligned in purpose is unstoppable, and emphasizing the importance of accountability will lead our organization to a powerful future. Your Region One Board and I holding ourselves accountable by taking on our self-created CSEA’s Project 2025 and have started addressing the points one by one.

Communications – I started the process by assigning every region officer a group of units and locals to work with. The Region One Board joined unit and local presidents in visiting members at work, attending information days and member meetings to have strong conversations about the importance of electing someone on the local and unit level to represent the membership. We have triumphantly pulled several units out of administratorship with conversations in which we explain the responsibilities of an officer.

We assure members that if they decide to take on a leadership role, they will not be alone – and so far, they have not been. The Region One officers and I have been guiding the new activists as they transition into officers, while making sure they attend CSEA officer trainings. Filling the vacant officer positions is what we have been tasked to do, but developing properly trained officers is what is needed to keep this organization moving forward in a positive direction.

Member Engagement -The Region One Board and I reached out to local and unit officers in our region to discuss strategies for boosting member engagement within their areas. Once local and unit officers established contact, Region One officers visited the locals to encourage members to become more involved in both CSEA actions and day-to-day activities within their units.

I can see members’ eyes widening as they learn more about our union. We can tell their interest is growing every time we receive a call from a curious member, yearning for knowledge. Seeing their growth is tremendously satisfying.

Accountability – Making sure election committee chairs were established in every unit and local is another important task that the Region One Board and I tackled head on. Back in November 2024, Region One was sent a list of locals and units that did not have election committee chairs.

Region One initially had 216 locals and units without election committees. I am proud to say that we reduced that number to 50. For the remaining 50, most are in adminstratorship, and LRSs have been assigned to those units and locals. The Region One Board and I held ourselves responsible for member participation in the election process in our region and doing something to fix the issue.

Health and Safety – The Region One Board and I have continued our work with the Region One School Districts Committee. Established in 2022, the committee was created to support our region’s school district workers in addressing issues unique to their needs. I have been closely involved with them from the start and have witnessed committee members become stronger and more assertive activists.

The Region One Board and I have begun accompanying unit presidents and LRSs to school district contract negotiations and labor/management meetings. We believe the presence of these individuals in the room has helped units receive better contracts.

Holding required labor/management meetings to address health and safety concerns has encouraged some school districts to take member issues more seriously and collaborate with CSEA to resolve the problems.

To strengthen this group method, I hope CSEA will consider creating a specialized LRS position, with LRSs that have expertise in specific types of negotiations, such as school district, private sector, towns, villages, county, and so on. As an alternative, I would encourage CSEA to consider hiring in-region attorneys who can attend contract negotiations. School districts consistently enter negotiations with their union-busting attorneys, leaving CSEA at a significant disadvantage. Without the crucial addition of CSEA lawyers, we are entering a battle with wiffle ball bats, while the school districts brandish Uzis. When we sit down with the school districts, we are at war. CSEA needs to be armed with the proper ammunition to win.

Succession Planning – It is essential to always have leaders in place who are educated and are prepared to take office if someone decides to step down, retire, or gets promoted within the organization. On CSEA’s statewide level, we have recently experienced this exact situation. Because of the leadership of our statewide president Mary E. Sullivan, CSEA was able to fill the vacant positions with our newly sworn in CSEA Executive Vice President Rich Bebo and CSEA Secretary Stacey Baldwin-Deyo.

I am proud to say the Region One Board and I have achieved tangible results from our dedication. We have been working hard as a cohesive group to transform “what was” to “what needs to be.” A region is only as strong as the effort put into it, and the Region One Board and I will continue to focus on enhancing our leadership skills while supporting CSEA’s statewide leadership.

In solidarity,

Jarvis Brown

CSEA Long Island Region President