Candidates for Officer Positions

JACK CAFFEY Running for President

Jack Caffey has spent his entire working life building up the labor movement. A nationally recognized labor leader, Jack has worked with union members around the country to win ground breaking contracts and to build union structures that are more responsive to members. Jack knows that at Local 1102 it has to be members first, last and always! 

Currently, Jack serves as a Trustee along with Roger Grobstich of RWDSU Local 1102, he has dedicated himself for the last 18-months to rebuilding Local 1102 and making the local the best it can be in the wake of challenges. Both Jack and Roger also serve on the retirement and Health and Welfare Fund.

Jack began his career in 1991 with the Seafarers Union where he worked on merchant ships such as oil tankers and container ships and became a union official representing the interests of his members. 

In 2000, Jack joined the RWDSU family and began working with our sister Local, RWDSU Local 338. During his 17 years there he ran successful organizing campaigns and led numerous contract fights and negotiations. He held a number of positions from organizer and union rep up to executive VP. He also served as a trustee for the Local’s health and welfare funds, and the union’s Retirement funds. 

Jack's talents were recognized by the National office of the RWDSU and in 2017 he was asked to serve as the national field director responsible for all field operations. Jack also currently serves as an Assistant to the President and as an elected Vice President of the National RWDSU. 

Throughout his 30 year career Jack has worked collaboratively within the labor movement serving as a delegate to the New York City Central Labor council, the Long Island Federation of Labor and the New York State AFL-CIO. These are key affiliations Local 1102 maintains, which have helped build solidarity for our members.

Jack and his wife Patti are proud parents and grandparents and members of the Suffolk County community. Jack has also dedicated a lot of time supporting veterans' causes on Long Island and has served as the LI/NY region liaison for Hope for the Warriors, a national nonprofit that assists wounded service members. 

ROGER GROBSTICH Running for Secretary-Treasurer

Roger Grobstich currently serves as a Trustee of RWDSU Local 1102. In that capacity he, along with fellow Trustee Jack Caffey, have been responsible for running all aspects of Local 1102’s operations. Roger couldn’t be prouder of the great work that Local 1102 has done over the last year delivering some of the best contracts members have seen and modernizing the local’s operations. 

Roger is also a National Vice President and Regional Director of the national RWDSU and President of the Central States Council of the RWDSU. He started his Union career in July 1977 working at the Quaker Oats plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Over the years his loyalty, honesty and strength as a union member have led to key elected leadership positions as an Officer of RWDSU Local 110, Secretary-Treasurer, Vice President, Chief Plant Steward and Recorder before accepting his position with the National RWDSU in January of 2000. 

Roger has a long record of political involvement as well including running a close race for Iowa House District 35 against former Speaker of the House Kraig Paulsen in 2004. He currently serves on the Advisory Council(s) of the University of Iowa Labor Center and the UFCW International Union, as well as the Chairperson of the Linn County Civil Service Commission for Deputy Sheriffs. He also served as a Vice President at-Large for the Iowa Federation of Labor Executive Board from 2018-2021. Roger has come a long way from the factory floor to where he is today, and he knows what an honest days work means to our members and why they unequivocally need honest leadership at the helm of their union.

Roger and his wife Mary Ann are proud parents and grandparents. And while Roger started his career in Iowa he’s thrilled now to be on long Island, and feels right at home at Local 1102 family, because we’re all one RWDSU family. 

Roger has built a lifetime reputation as one of the hardest working, most decent leaders in the labor movement and he will always put the needs of 1102 members first!

EILEEN CROSBY Running for Recorder

Eileen Crosby has proudly served the members of Local 1102 for 15 years, always putting the needs of members first. She began her career handling contract administration before transitioning to the role of Union Representative after working on one of the most important strikes in our national union’s history - the Mott’s strike in upstate New York. 

Since then, Eileen has led the organizing of over 2,000 retail workers, including expanding Local 1102’s representation at H&M on Long Island and spearheading Zara organizing efforts in New York. She continues to support organizing efforts across industries, specializing in the unique challenges of the retail and animal care sectors.

Eileen has secured critical wins at the bargaining table for our members putting them and their families first, negotiating stronger wages, scheduling protections, and safety measures. Her tireless advocacy in grievance and arbitration cases has returned many wrongfully terminated members to their jobs with full back pay and won substantial settlements for contract violations.

Known for her steady leadership and unwavering presence in stores and facilities, Eileen remains a trusted advocate throughout members' careers—from organizing drives to contract negotiations and daily workplace issues. Her work extends beyond Local 1102 as a delegate for the NYC Central Labor Council and a member of the UFCW Women’s Network, advocating for policy changes that enhance workers' rights.

A mother of three and stepmother of one more, Eileen also mentors young women in personal growth and enjoys family adventures from crafting to hiking. She is committed to fighting for justice and believes that every member deserves protection, respect, and opportunity.

Eileen Crosby is the true embodiment of members first, working tirelessly to protect, support, and empower the hardworking members of Local 1102.

Candidates for Vice President

  • Eric Schwartz first became a member of the RWDSU in 2007 when he went to work at Perfection Bakery in Fort Wayne, Indiana. For 10 years Eric held just about every job in the bakery from production to sanitation to shipping. An active union member throughout, he was elected four times as unit chairman and three times as a Vice President of RWDSU Local 835. 

    Eric’s skills and commitment to the union were further recognized in 2018 when he was first elected as President of RWDSU Local 835. That same year Eric’s responsibilities grew to cover the entire state of Indiana when he was elected President of the RWDSU Indiana Joint Board and appointed the board’s representative. In that role, Eric was responsible for working with the membership of five different RWDSU Locals negotiating contracts and membership services. He was also elected Vice President of the Indiana Northeast Chapter of the AFL-CIO where he worked with other unions across the state.

    In 2022, Eric’s hard work was once again recognized and he was promoted as an International Union Representative for the national RWDSU working with and representing nine Locals in five different States.

    Eric’s work ethic and dedication was well known to the current Local 1102 leadership, and he was asked to become part of our local union family. This past year, Eric joined us and serves as our Field Director. In that role, he works with the entire Local 1102 staff and helps direct all of our work representing members.  

    Over the years, Eric has negotiated hundreds of contracts in multiple industries. He’s handled thousands of grievances and arbitrations as well. Eric’s goal has always been to make sure all working people have a voice in their workplace and for members to know that they always come first.

  • Milton Pascual has a long history with a diverse experience working with many different unions in the labor movement, which he brings to the RWDSU Local 1102 family. That wide variety of experience has always meant Milton puts members first! 

    Milton first became active in the union movement in 1997 working at UPS when his union, the teamsters, went on strike. That strike proved to be a huge victory and Milton saw firsthand the power of the union. His activism led that same year to working for HERE Locals 11 and 814 as an organizer. There, among other important wins, he was able to help secure a union voice for over 200 airport food service workers at the LAX airport in California.

    From 2002-2008 Milton worked for AFSCME as an International Representative. His work for the union spanned 13 different states where Milton helped workers organize. One of the campaigns he was most proud of was winning a union voice for over 700 members employed by the University of Maryland. 

    In 2008, Milton became part of our UFCW union family as an organizer where he worked with local unions across the country organizing retail and food processing workers. In just one of many examples, Milton’s hard work helped lead to an organizing win for the workers at Mission Foods where 500 workers in the state of Pennsylvania became UFCW members. 

    While at the UFCW Milton also led efforts in organizing meat packing workers with successful organizing campaigns in Utah, Pennsylvania, Washington state and Kansas. Most recently, before coming to Local 1102, Milton helped score a big organizing win for workers at 11 grocery stores in the Virginia Beach area.

    Milton now serves as a Union Representative here at Local 1102 working mostly with members employed in airport catering, where he got his start organizing. With 30 years of organizing and repping experience Milton is a leader who knows that the real power of the union is always putting members first. 

  • In 2014, Jessica Ament joined Local 1102 as Contract Administrator where she works alongside members and union representatives to secure the best contracts possible. Jessica keeps track of all of our members’ union contracts, grievances and arbitrations and ensures that all contracts, correspondence and legal documents are negotiated properly and sent and filed timely. 

    Jessica is also a committee member of Local 1102’s grievance and appeals committee, protecting the rights of our members to grieve workplace issues, and ensuring that they are represented fairly. As a Trustee of the Local 1102 Charitable Fund, Jessica works to support educational opportunities for members and their family members. The fund also provides financial assistance for hardships resulting from illnesses, injuries or incapacities, emergencies, natural and human-caused disasters, and other crises.

    Jessica’s hard work and dedication to putting members first recently promoted her into the Director role for contract administration at Local 1102. Her work includes legal research, securing improved language and making sure our contracts are in compliance with state, federal and local laws, maintaining our members’ rights as workers. She also works alongside our medical and pension departments making sure that our members’ medical and retirement benefits remain healthy and intact, including pushing for new ways benefits can be improved at little to no cost to our members. Jessica puts members first by meeting regularly with members and union representatives in preparation for contract negotiations, helping to prepare contract proposals and participating in contract negotiations.

    Prior to joining Local 1102, Jessica began her career in 2003 working as a legal secretary in Long Island, NY. In this role she helped people protect their rights and handled cases involving personal injury, construction law, insurance litigation, workers compensation claims, real estate, estates and wills, probate and sexual harassment claims. Jessica’s work in legal research, preparing and filing court documents, meeting with clients and preparing depositions and gathering information ensured clients had the strongest advocacy possible for their claims.

    Jessica not only believes in the mission of Local 1102 she also knows that the best way to deliver for members is by always putting members first.

  • David Calhoun has been a Local 1102 member since 1997. He works at Hofstra University as a bus driver. Seeing the power and difference having a union makes just two years into the job David became an active shop steward working to help members and put their needs first.

    As a bus driver David helps students, faculty and visitors get safely around campus. It’s important work ensuring people’s safety. David also feels a responsibility to be an ambassador of sorts for the university as he’s often the first person people meet when they arrive at the campus. It’s the same responsibility he feels as a shop steward to keep members safe and ensure issues are handled for members with care.

    David’s roots with the union go back some ways. Earlier on in his work life he was a member of another RWDSU local for eight years when he worked at Waldbaums supermarket. David is a native Long Islander and has raised his three adult children on Long Island. He has a wealth of experience in our industries and in knowing the difference having a strong union contract can make to raising a family.

    David has seen firsthand the positive changes, the honesty and transparency that the current Local 1102 leadership has worked to achieve, which is why he’s joined the Members First slate as VP #4 – he’s committed to building on that success!

    David understands how important it is to have a strong union. He got involved as a member because he wanted to make sure he knew what his benefits were. And he wanted to make sure that his coworkers did too. Now he’s running as VP #4 to make a difference across the entire Local 1102 membership, he’ll bring that same care and compassion as he does everyday on the Hofstra Campus to members across the entire union – as VP #4 he’ll continue to put members first every day!

  • Artavia Milliam is a Visual Merchandiser at H&M in Manhattan and has worked at the company for over 15 years. Artavia attributes her ability to work there for so long and build a career in retail to having a union like Local 1102. The union contract ensures workers at the store have policies in place that benefit workers including making sure we have guaranteed hours and safety precautions in place. Artavia has been a shop steward for many years helping her co-workers enforce the contract protections. 

    Moreover, Artavia has been a lead spokesperson not just for H&M workers, but for retail workers across the state and country speaking in Albany and in Washington D.C. in support of policy changes that help workers in the industry. She was instrumental in the passage of the Retail Worker Safety Act last year, a law that installs panic buttons and requires safety trainings for retail workers across the state. Artavia also spoke out during the pandemic in support of better funding for workers risking their safety to help customers in the early days return of shopping. She also supported legislation to provide emergency funding to people out of work in the city shutdowns. 

    Artavia has sat on the bargaining committee for her stores several times, and has rallied in support of a stronger contract. When the union sought to end the practice of clopenings, when workers have shifts to both open and close the store on the same day, Artavia as a then part-time worker spoke out against the practice, ultimately ending it. She also fought for part-time worker protections at the store and won. 

    A staunch advocate for members at her store and in the retail sector, Artavia is a true fighter for members at Local 1102 and beyond, which is why she’s proudly running for Vice President #5.

  • Alex Torres works at Saks Fifth Avenue in the women’s shoe department in Manhattan where he’s a Style Advisor, he’s worked at the company for 13 years and is currently a shop steward for his unit. Alex has seen the benefits of strong union leadership like the leaders currently in place at Local 1102 first hand. Members at Saks Fifth Avenue in their current contract negotiations have been able to bargain from a position of strength with the employer over wages, benefits, workplace health and safety, job training and other work-related issues because of the current leadership. That’s a team Alex wants to be part of, because it puts Members First! 

    Having a strong union means Alex can provide for his wife and two children and have a fulfilling life outside of work. Sports, particularly baseball, is a huge pastime of Alex’s and that teamwork is the same teamwork he brings to the store every day, to union meetings and what he plans to bring into this new leadership role. When we work together to put the members first we all thrive inside and outside of work. 

    As VP #6, Alex is looking forward to supporting membership across the country in every way shape and form. He’s seen what strong leadership can bring to a bargaining table and he’s looking forward to building that strength across the union in this new position. When you build up membership you build up the union, that’s why the Members First slate is running – and that’s why Alex is proud to join their team!

  • Adolfo Vera is a professional driver at Flying Foods and has worked there for 25 years, since 2001. In his time there thanks to the union’s seniority provisions and his skill building he has progressed through various leadership positions.

    Adolfo’s colleagues consider him a responsive, passionate and humble leader in his workplace, the same ideals he plans to bring to the executive board of Local 1102 as VP #7. He is responsive to members' needs and passionate about his work. Open minded and eared to meet his co-workers needs, he’s looking to put members first as he approaches the work on the Executive Board of Local 1102. 

    Throughout his 25 years at Flying Foods Adolfo has remained compassionate about his fellow union members' issues and concerns, always asking about how they’re doing and what they need. He comes from a place of wanting to know more, rather than assuming, which has given his co-workers a safe place to come when they need help. He’s a problem solver and solution oriented. That’s the same person he plans to be as VP#7, always putting the member’s needs first and always looking for a way to ensure the union has their back!

  • Frantz Vieux was born in Haiti and immigrated to the United States in 1986 when he was just 18 years old. He’s worked at Gate Gourmet for 32 years and has served as a shop steward for 25 years. He knows what hard work means to make it in the United States and how having a strong union that puts members first can make all the difference at work and at home. 

    Frantz is running for VP #8 to help improve the lives of fellow union members and ensure their voices are heard at the executive board and beyond. With over 25 years experience supporting members as a steward, Frantz is ready to take all that knowledge to members across the union, which is why he’s running on the Members First slate.

  • Tamisha Worrell was born and raised on the beautiful island of Barbados. She has worked at Long Island University in Brooklyn for the past 10 years where she started as a cashier while she pursued her Bachelor's degree in Hospitality Management to help provide for her three daughters. 

    When she first started working, Tamisha observed her coworkers' frustrations, she didn't know what a union was and didn't know we had a voice at work through our union. When she was first presented with the union application, she didn’t even know what a union was. Little did she know how much of a lifeline it would become for her.

    Just two years in, Tamisha became a shop steward after she noticed that many of her co-workers were afraid to speak up to management. In that role, she questioned management, and became a vocal representative for many union members she works with. When a new Union Representative came to her workplace, she saw a fire in Tamisha and helped her better familiarize herself with the union contract and members’ rights within it to assist members even more. Over the years, Tamisha has seen more and more how important the union is for all of us, ESPECIALLY members afraid to speak up vocally. Which is why she’s running for Vice President #9, to put members first. 

    Tamisha loves helping her co-workers, knowing she’s re-secured them any benefits previously denied and helping them feel safer and better represented at work. She wants her girls to see that as they enter the workforce, standards and practices can be fair for them as well and that they should never be afraid to speak up for themselves or others.

  • James Fassano has worked for Duty Free Americas for 40 years. Originally starting in sales, James currently holds the position of Senior Warehouse Associate having seen every facet of the business. He’s a passionate union supporter, you can find him at almost every union event rain or shine, from labor day parades, shop stewards conferences and more. 

    Born and raised in Queens, New York the youngest of four children, James has always taken care of others in his family and the union. James is loyal to his hometown as a proud Mets fan, and loyal to his fellow union members when they’re in need. He’s always had an appreciation for the union when it’s been there for him. Now he’s running on the Members First slate so he can be there for others in a bigger way across the union as VP #10. 

    Having worked around transit all his life at Duty Free Americas, James has a fascination with model trains and has plans to travel to Europe when he retires, something he can look forward to with a strong union contract. As others look to secure better futures, James will be standing with you, that’s what a union is all about, standing shoulder to shoulder to build a better life together, we only do that by putting our member’s needs first, that’s why we’re running on the Members First slate!

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