DENIS HUGHES RETIRES; NYS AFL-CIO EXECUTIVE COUNCIL APPOINTS CILENTO

Mario Cilento

Albany, N.Y.-- Our state’s largest labor group has a new president, promoting the chief of staff to take over as our next leader.

Mario Cilento is officially the New York State AFL-CIO’s new president after he was unanimously elected to the post by our umbrella group’s executive council, the group announced on December 16.

Cilento takes over for Denis Hughes, who announced his retirement last month. He takes over immediately.

“I am honored, humbled and feel incredibly privileged to have been elected President of the New York State AFL-CIO,” Cilento said a statement. “The labor movement in this state has always risen to the challenges laid before us. Together, as one movement, we will once again meet those challenges, and provide a brighter economic future for all working men and women.”

His elevation comes at an interesting time for our labor movement in New York. Earlier this year, the state’s top two public employees union — the Civil Service Employees Association and the Public Employees Federation — agreed to contract terms with the state, which included pay freezes and higher health care contributions.

The labor unions also had taken aim at Gov. Andrew Cuomo for his position on the state’s expiring millionaires’ tax, but those concerns were largely alleviated when Cuomo brokered a deal to change the state’s tax code and raise rates on the wealthy.

Cuomo has pushed for a less generous pension tier for new state employees, though he hasn’t signaled if he will continue that push in 2012.

In the AFL-CIO’s press release, Cilento said he will work to get the labor movement on the same page. He had been Denis Hughes’ chief of staff.

“Make no mistake about it, this is a statewide movement,” Cilento said. “From Buffalo to Montauk and everywhere in between we will create a groundswell of activism to educate our members on the issues of the day, and as a result, be better able to mobilize them.”