Nassau County Local 3rd Vice President and CSEA Nassau Community College (NCC) Unit President Ana O’Gorman accepts her honor from the Nassau Community College Foundation Board of Directors.
GARDEN CITY — Small in stature, but mighty in tenacity, Nassau County Local 3rd Vice President and CSEA Nassau Community College (NCC) Unit President Ana O’Gorman has been building on CSEA’s strength at the college since she became unit president eight years ago.
Both the faculty and the staff have come to both admire and respect O’Gorman for her devotion to unionism and her tireless work ethic.
For those reasons and more, O’Gorman was recently honored alongside State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer at Northwell Health Joseph Moscola at the annual Nassau Community College Foundation Gala, which was held virtually this year due to the pandemic.
CSEA Long Island Region President Jerry Laricchiuta introduced honoree Ana O’Gorman in a pre-recorded video at the Nassau Community College Foundation Gala.
CSEA Long Island Region President Jerry Laricchiuta had the privilege of introducing O’Gorman in a pre-recorded video.
“I can’t think of anyone more deserving of this honor than Ana,” said Laricchiuta. “Ana has been a dear friend to me, someone you can trust 100 percent and someone who really, really cares about our members. Only the good get recognized and Ana, you are one of the best.”
In her acceptance speech, O’Gorman credited her father, who was a bus driver and a union organizer in O’Gorman’s motherland of El Salvador.
“I witnessed civil rights violations and labor rights violations that are unbelievable by today’s standards,” said O’Gorman. “My father’s life was in danger on almost a daily basis because of his activism. Those memories gave me the strength to stand up and fight when I first started working at Nassau Community College and saw several injustices.”
One of O’Gorman’s first big leadership victories was on behalf of a Chinese immigrant who worked as a laborer at the college.
O’Gorman discovered the woman, who spoke very little English, was an illustrator in China. O’Gorman worked with management and got her a position that “suited her extraordinary skills and ability.”
“People can slip through the cracks if they don’t have a voice,” said O’Gorman.
The award from the college foundation is not O’Gorman’s only recent recognition.
During Hispanic Heritage Month, O’Gorman was contacted by the Nassau County Office of Hispanic Affairs to record a video discussing her experiences as a Latina essential worker.
In the video, O’Gorman described the difficult professional circumstances workers have faced along with discussing the personal sacrifices essential staff have been making through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ana O’Gorman helps resolve a member’s concern.
“As Latino immigrants, we come to this county to build a better future for our families,” said O’Gorman. “Because of that, we know that we have a responsibility to our current communities to see it through difficult times.”
O’Gorman’s acknowledgements have helped other Latinx immigrants on campus see that their efforts are being recognized and that they are part of the larger community.
“It makes us feel like things may be changing for the better, that people are becoming more accepting of differences and that our commitment to our work is being seen,” said O’Gorman. “I am very proud to be an immigrant.”
— Wendi Bowie
