|
|
|
|
Current NewsLast Updated: February, 2011
|
||||
Shah named general shop chairman at Hickey’s
One of the Joint Board’s best known activists — Pranay Shah — has been named general shop chair for union members working at Hickey-Freeman Clothing in Rochester. “I am honored to be appointed to this job,” Shah noted, “and I hope I can do as well as the past leaders who have had this job.” Shah will represent workers in Locals 14, 204, 205, 227 and 230. He came to the U.S. from Kathmandu, Nepal, in 1988 and almost immediately went to work at Hickey’s. He started in the coat shop measuring jacket fronts and die cutting coats. Over the years, he learned to do every job in that department. Shah was named a department rep in the coat shop in 1996. The following year, he was named shop rep for that department, a post he held until his recent appointment.
Business rep Greg Laskowski, who announced the appointment, said, “I am confident that he will do a great job of taking care of our members’ needs. He has a calm way of handling problems, and our members respect him.” Shah has been active on behalf of the union since attending the COPE Legislative Institute in 1995. He has helped with organizing drives and taken part in virtually every Joint Board effort to help members and workers since then. Shah was in the first class inducted into the Joint Board’s Hall of Fame — the Board’s most prestigious honor. He enjoys both playing and watching sports, as well as listening to “almost any kind of music.” He and his wife, Amrita, have a son, Arpan, 13.
|
Local 4 schedules nominations, elections Local 4 will hold nominations and elections for new officers on April 5. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Buffalo District offices, which are located at 3370 Broadway in Cheektowaga.
Bob Bruse retires
Bob Bruse has retired after a long career in union leadership posts in the Glove Cities/Hudson District area. In his most recent role, Bruse brought 700 members in six Locals into the Albany District of the Rochester Regional Joint Board (RRJB) last year and served as their business rep. Those members voted last May to move from the Amalgamated Northeast Regional Joint Board (ANERJB) into the Rochester Board — part of a realignment that came out of the Workers United-UNITE HERE dispute. Bruse worked in a variety of jobs early in his career. But, that all changed in 1981 when he took a job with the former Twin City Leather Company. Within two years, he was elected a shop rep. The reason he ran for that first post, he said, was quite simple: “I didn’t like the job the steward at the time was doing, and I thought I could do better for the members.” Over the next 27 years, he served in a number of union leadership jobs. Bruse was elected president of the ANERJB in 1984 and served in that post and as shop rep concurrently over the next six years or so. He was named a business rep for ANERJB’s Local 1712 in 1990, a post he held for the next decade. In 2001, he was elected the ANERJB’s Glove Cities/Hudson District director and held that post until moving into the Rochester Joint Board last year. Bruse also served several terms as ANERJB president. Over the years, he represented a diverse workforce that included commercial laundries, tanneries and leather goods companies, bedding manufacturers, and plastic bottle recyclers, among others. Despite successes in many arenas, Bruse says his greatest career accomplishment was “working for the members and making lots of friends.” His retirement plans, he noted with a smile, include “hunting, fishing, and drinking beer.” Bruse and his wife, Dawn, also enjoy casinos and are planning a trip to Las Vegas — and seeing of number of famous Western sites on the way. The couple has three children, Mindy, Toby, and Mike; and two grandchildren, Lucas and Harley.
|
|||
Home | Sidney Hillman Health Center | Organizing | Members | News | Links
Copyright © 2011 - Rochester Regional Joint Board - All Rights Reserved