Photo of the Month Photo by David Galarza Alex Shugarts tosses CSEA giveaways into the crowd at the Buffalo Labor Parade. See page 7 for more Labor Day event photos. Photo by John Normile. State contract negotiations: stay in the loop! One of the ways you can communicate with CSEA about the upcoming 2016 state negotiations is to fill out a contract survey online. The survey is available by going to https://cseany.org/state-contract-update. You will need to know your CSEA ID to complete the survey. You can access it instantly at cseany.org, including via your smart phone. Don’t forget to join the contract communication network to help spread the word about what is happening in negotiations. Go to https://cseany.org/state-contract-update. ALERT NEW YORK’S LEADING UNION CSEA President Danny Donohue to meet Southern Region members on Oct. 29 President Danny Donohue will visit the CSEA Southern Region on Thursday, Oct. 29, to meet with members. The meetings will be held at the Southern Region office, 568 State Route 52, Beacon. Donohue will meet with union members from 1 to 7 p.m. Please call the region office at: 1-845-831-1000 for an appointment and directions. Dorothy Breen, 78, longtime activist CSEA is mourning the loss of longtime activist Dorothy Breen, 78, who passed away Sept. 10 after a short illness. Breen, of Clinton, was not only known as an outstanding CSEA leader, but as a loyal friend and mentor to many CSEA activists and staff. She served in numerous roles on every level of the union for more than four decades, most notably as CSEA Statewide Political Action Committee chair, Oneida County Local president and CSEA retiree program specialist. Most recently, Breen was an activist in the Oneida-Madison-Herkimer Tri-County Retiree Local. “Dorothy was not only an outstanding union activist, but was a true friend to all in our CSEA family,” CSEA President Danny Donohue said. “She dedicated her career and her life to improving the lives of working people and Dorothy truly made her mark in her union work and as a wonderful person. She will be missed.” “Dorothy was a dear friend to many of us. She will be missed by all who knew and loved her. She dedicated her life to her family and to her CSEA family. She was a very special person who did many things for many people,” said CSEA Statewide Executive Vice President Mary Sullivan. “Dorothy was warmly known as the queen mother of the Central Region, who took everyone under her wing to guide them on the right path, both in life and in the union. All who knew her loved her and a big part of us is now gone with her passing,” CSEA Central Region President Colleen Wheaton said. The Rev. Terrence Melvin, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists president and New York State AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer, conducted Breen’s funeral service. Melvin was a CSEA activist and served as assistant to the president at CSEA. He and Breen were longtime friends. Breen became a CSEA member in 1967 when she began her job as a bookkeeper machine operator at the Oneida County Department of Social Services, later becoming an accounting supervisor at the county. As a union activist Breen served in numerous unit, local and region leadership roles, including 19 years as the Oneida County Local president. Standing up for working people In the early 1990s, Breen became CSEA’s Statewide Political Action Committee chair, a position she would hold until retiring from public employment in 2006. As the committee chair, Breen played a key role in helping the union advance its ongoing fight for working people, not only across the state, but across the country. Former U.S. Sen. and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who addressed CSEA activists at that year’s Annual Delegates Meeting, participated in the presentation of the union’s Irene Carr Leadership Award to Breen at the meeting. Voice for retirees After Breen retired from public employment in 2006, Donohue appointed Breen as the union’s retiree program specialist, where Breen helped advance the union’s Retiree Division. She retired from that position in 2011, but continued to fight for retirees and working families as an activist in CSEA’s Retiree Division, including serving as 2nd vice president of the Oneida-Madison-Herkimer Tri- County Retiree Local. Breen also served on the board of directors of the NYS Alliance for Retired Americans, an organization of union retirees that fights to advance retirees and middle-class workers. — Janice Gavin, Mark M. Kotzin and Ed Molitor Breen 2 The Work Force October 2015
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