DONOHUE SEEKS AFSCME POST

CSEA President Danny Donohue talks

to reporters outside Erie County Office Building

in September of 2009.

photo by Ove Overmyer

Albany, N.Y.--  On February 22, CSEA President Danny Donohue said that he will run for the secretary-treasurer post of the national AFSCME union, a position being vacated by William Lucy due to retirement.

Donohue said he will still be active in state budget talks as he heads the state’s largest union of more than 300,000 state employees and runs for the national position. Donohue has served as CSEA president for 16 years and serves on the AFSCME board.

“I believe I can make a difference,” he told the Albany press corps. “Clearly in New York over the last 16 years, we’ve been dealing with Democrats and Republicans, we’ve been dealing with the same fiscal crisis that has been affecting the whole country.”

Donohue, 65, is likely to have competition at the June convention in Boston to fill the post, but CSEA in New York will be sending one of the largest delegations, a total of 240 people to join some 3,800 others from across the nation.  Local 828 President Bess Watts and Monroe County Unit 7400 President Cris Zaffuto will be representing our local membership at the AFSCME Delegates Convention.

Donohue added that if AFSCME International President Gerald McEntee chooses not to run for re-election in 2012, Donohue also will be a candidate for the top job of the 1.6 million-member AFSCME.

The No. 2 post opens June 25 and the convention is June 27.  Danny said if he is successful, he will step down from the CSEA position and hand the reins over to Executive Vice President Mary Sullivan, who would become the second woman president of CSEA.  Sullivan would automatically fill the two years remaining on Donohue's term.

Donohue has been an international vice president of AFSCME for several years and has been a supporter of both Lucy and McEntee. He said he can handle the top jobs of the Washington, D.C.-based labor group because the issues facing its members are comparable to those facing New York CSEA employees.

"The fights across the country are the same -- growth, mobilizing," he said. "Dealing with ... (people) trying to blame public service for all the bugaboos out there, how the governments are being blamed for all the financial situation. You can't cut your way out of all this stuff, you can't tax your way out of it."

Lucy will endorse Donohue to succeed him. "He has led the development of a strong and effective staff to deal with the multitude of issues that confront his members at every level of government in New York," Lucy said.