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Albany labor parade held soon after 9/11demographics and shifts in populationby expanding its organization to includelocal government employees. Theestablishment of the Taylor Law duringthe 1960s provided public employeeswith true collective bargaining andtransformed CSEA from an advocacyorganization into a full-fledged union.“In every era, we’ve had to rise to theoccasion and change in some dramatic wayin order to survive,” Madarasz said. “We’restill true to our core principles, but we’vebeen willing to grow, adapt and change,recognizing the practical need to do sowhile representing our members well.”Growth patternCSEA’s membership has been stablethroughout its history, but it has grown inthe private sector over the past 10 years,with a large influx of members who areindependent contractors providing familybasedchild care.“It’s a very different model of advocacythan the traditional collective bargainingapproach representation of unionmembers,” Madarasz said. “Most people arevery surprised to learn that the vast majorityof our members are not state employees.We’re not only willing to embrace newmodels, it calls forth the direction where wemay be heading in the future. There are alot of groups with a community of interest,and we have an ability to see tremendousgrowth opportunities.”Not only has CSEA helped itsmembers over the years, its members, inturn, have enhanced the quality of lifein communities across New York state.12 | acchamber.org | techvalley.org“They earn their paychecks and spendthem in the communities where theylive, supporting all kinds of businesses,”Madarasz said. “Our members areinvolved in making their communitiesbetter places to live. They contributein every conceivable way, whether it’ssupporting charitable organizations,service organizations, being involvedin making those organizations thrive,or participating in Little Leagues. Ourmembers are the backbone of thecommunity.”In celebration of its centennial,CSEA will host a week-long conventionfrom October 18-22 at the Empire StatePlaza Convention Center in Albany, withmore than 1,500 delegates and guestsexpected. “There hasn’t been an actualstatewide CSEA convention in Albanysince the 1950s,” he said. “We’re planninga wide range of activities that recognizethe significance of our centennial andencourage our delegates going forward tostart our next 100 years.”The 100th anniversary celebration isan ideal opportunity to reflect on the past,assess the present and anticipate the future.“CSEA is a very different kind of union. Weembraced a lot of concepts early, and webelieve that labor-management cooperationwill get us a lot further as a state,” he said.“We represent a membership that’s amicrocosm of the world, we have every kindof worker, and they live in every communityin New York state.” •