I’m running for CSEA
Statewide President because it is time for a new era of leadership in CSEA. I’m
proud of my service these last three years as Statewide Treasurer. I have done
my best to be a careful steward of our collective financial resources.
I’m even more proud
to have been a local and unit officer for 26 years in the Town of Brookhaven,
Local 852. I have been on the
frontlines, fighting in the trenches—negotiating contracts, solving problems,
handling grievances, representing co-workers in disciplinary cases, knocking on
doors and making the phone calls in political campaigns, and helping organize new
members into CSEA. I know what it is like to be a dues-paying member of this
union and a local and unit officer at work, in the shops, garages, offices,
schools.
As Statewide
Treasurer since 2016, I have had the opportunity to participate in most of the
member engagement blitzes that CSEA organized. I’ve knocked on doors, sat in
living rooms, and met in break rooms, school cafeterias, DPW and Highway
Department garages and DOT barns. I have listened to the hopes and frustrations
of members from Buffalo to Long Island. I’ve learned about the fears and expectations
that CSEA members have expressed from across the state. Members want more
accountability from this union, better communication, more opportunities to be
heard, more information on what elected union leaders and staff are doing, a
plan for how we build a better future together, and a new approach to how we do
politics.
With great
appreciation to Danny Donohue and the others who have led CSEA for so long, I
thank them for getting us through some tough times. When Danny asked me to run
for Treasurer on his ticket three years ago, he told me he wanted someone who
would not just safeguard CSEA’s treasury, but also be a leader, even a
Statewide President, in the future. That time has come, and I am ready to take
on that challenge.
I believe campaigns
should be about ideas, not just personalities and empty slogans. That’s why I
am not just offering vague words and hazy campaign promises.
As I meet with CSEA
members across the state, I consistently hear the same messages:
·
We need more help and more time to talk and meet
with CSEA elected and staff in the workplace.
·
We want leaders at all levels of the union that
listen to us.
·
We want leaders who communicate more—what they
are doing, what the issues are, what we can do to get involved, how we can
fight more, how we can win more.
·
We want leaders to stop telling us who to
vote for—but ask us what we want.
·
With a lot of folks at or near retirement age,
we need to get the next generation of leaders prepared to carry on the fight.
I am proud to be the
only candidate for CSEA Statewide President who has lived the life of a local
and unit officer and president for the past 30 years. I have spent that time
negotiating contracts, representing members in grievances and disciplinary
meetings, preparing for arbitrations, doing all the work that a front-line
union leader in CSEA does.
I am the only
candidate who brings real on-the-ground, local and unit leadership experience
to this race.
I appreciate you
considering my candidacy. I hope you will support me. Please contact me if I
can answer any questions or you want to get involved in my campaign.
Bill
