Page 12 - Work Force March 2020

End of an era
A tribute to our departing officers
As our new statewide officers begin their elected terms, we would like to extend our appreciation and sincere thank you to three of our officers who recently left their CSEA leadership posts:
Bill Walsh,
who served as
our Statewide
Treasurer. Walsh
started his CSEA
activism career
in the Town of
Brookhaven
Blue-Collar Unit
in 1982 and was
elected unit
president and Suffolk County Local President in 1989, serving in both posts for 26 years until his election as Statewide Treasurer in 2016.
Throughout his CSEA service, he also served in numerous region and statewide leadership posts, including as Chair of our Statewide Political Action Committee.
During his tenure as Statewide Treasurer, Walsh worked to modernize CSEA’s technology to improve our member services and make our union more accessible to younger members while spending member dues in an efficient manner. He also played
a leading role in revising our union’s Treasurer Training class, overseeing training for more than 1,500 treasurers.
Nick LaMorte,
who served
as our Long
Island Region
President.
LaMorte began
his union
career while
employed at
the Farmingdale
School District as a custodian.
He rose through the ranks before becoming president of the Nassau Educational Local. In 1993, he was elected Long Island Region President and served in that post until 2020.
As our union’s longest-serving Long Island Region President, LaMorte fought nonstop for working people in Nassau and Suffolk counties. He also fought for working people across our country through serving as an AFSCME International Vice President from 2016 to the present.
He also led efforts to help community members in need, most notably by serving the State Employees Federated Appeal, an annual fundraiser to benefit those in need, including as State SEFA Council Chair.
Bob Pyjas, who served as our Western Region President. Pyjas had served as an Erie County Local activist for more than 32 years, including as Local Treasurer, and held numerous region and statewide leadership posts. He became Western Region President in October 2019, serving until 2020.
12 The Work Force
Above, one of the final labor cartoons published by labor cartoonist Mike Konopacki,
who along with Gary Huck, had syndicated their cartoons to the labor press in the U.S. and Canada from 1983 until last month, when they ended publication. In addition
National Labor Movement
to labor issues, Konopacki and Huck would publish monthly cartoons on political and social issues. Union members themselves, Konopacki and Huck have also presented several programs at CSEA conferences and re-designed our CSEA Canary in 2006.
White House seeks to limit government workers’ rights to organize
WASHINGTON — In yet another attack against workers, the current administration has recently taken action to limit workers’ union rights.
In a memo to the Department of Defense, the White House recently gave Defense Secretary Mark Esper the authority to deny department workers the freedom to bargain collectively, citing the need for “flexibility.”
CSEA is joining our brothers
and sisters throughout the labor movement, including those currently represented by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) in urging
members of Congress to protect the rights of DoD workers to join a union.
“These federal workers play a vital role in protecting our national security, and deserve the right to have a voice in their work through a union. They have had these rights since President Kennedy was in office, and they deserve to continue to have these rights now,” said CSEA President Mary E. Sullivan. “We will fight alongside our sisters and brothers in Labor to make
sure their rights are respected and maintained.”
— Mark M. Kotzin March 2020