SYRACUSE — Add “calendar star” to the growing list of accomplishments for Central Region activist Kathy Zabinski.
She is featured in the Workforce Development Institute’s 2017 Women Working Calendar along with other women labor activists across the state.
Zabinski, who not only serves as the Onondaga County Local president, but serves as the Central Region treasurer and a Greater Syracuse Labor Council board member. She is also a 2015 graduate of CSEA’s Labor Education and Development (LEAD) Program.
Zabinski, who works as a sergeant of corrections at Onondaga County’s Jamesville Correctional Facility, said she was honored to be included.
“I was extremely humbled and honored to be chosen for this calendar,” she said. “I just look at myself as a union officer, making sure our members’ rights are not being infringed upon or violated.”
That’s a daily task for Zabinski, who for years has been dealing with a very labor-unfriendly county administration.
She recently ended a more than three-year battle to settle a contract for her members, which included bringing charges against Onondaga County for imposing an illegal contract.
“It’s a daily issue, based on our administration, where they feel it’s OK to step on workers’ rights on a regular basis,” she said.
It’s also one of the reasons she was nominated to appear in the calendar.
“Kathy is committed to help all workers as you will see her at countless labor events, work pickets and community rallies,” read the nomination letter. “She has proven herself against the odds as a female representative in a male-dominated profession within corrections. All her efforts are about ensuring that her union brothers and sisters are supported, protected and able to provide for their families.”
Zabinski was recently honored at an Albany-area reception for the union women featured in the calendar.
CSEA Region 5 Treasurer Kathy Zabinski was recently honored by the Workforce Development Institute, where they presented her a copy of her calendar photo. Pictured from L-R are: WDI Childcare Assistant Director Brittany Buffum, CSEA Executive Vice President Mary E. Sullivan, Zabinski, and WDI CNY Regional Director David Goodness.
Photo by Eleanor Goldsmith.
You can request a calendar by emailing: calendar@wdiny.org.
— Mark M. Kotzin
