Hudson Catskill Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO

President: Anibal Scuadroni (IUPAT)        Treasurer: Matt Rose (UAW)   Secretary: Katherine Otis (CSEA)

Proudly Representing the Working Men and Women of Orange and Sullivan Counties!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 5/31/2009

CONTACT: Paul Ellis-Graham (845) 781-6405,

Scholarship Committee Chair

Hudson Catskill Central Labor Council Announces Scholarship Winners

Daria Coney and James Goodrich

Rewarded for Outstanding Achievements

The Hudson-Catskill Central Labor Council, representing more than 25,000 union families in Orange and Sullivan County, has announced the recipients of their annual scholarship.  Each year, the Labor Council awards two one-thousand dollar scholarships to deserving students who represent the true spirit of unionism. In Sullivan and Orange Counties, the winners were chosen from among applications entering college who are sons or daughters of affiliated union members.

Upon reviewing numerous submissions from exceptional candidates, the Scholarship Committee chose James Goodrich for Orange County, a student of SS Seward Institute and Daria Coney for Sullivan County, a senior at Monticello High School.  Mr.  Goodrich plans to attend Suny Delhi and attend their Electrical Construction and Maintenance program.  Ms. Coney will be attending St. John’s University in Queens, NY.  Both students wrote heartfelt sincere essays about the challenging struggles members of their family have faced during the current economic downturn.   

Decisions are made based on a number of factors, including academic achievement, community or extracurricular participation and an essay describing how unions have played a role in their family and influenced their career trajectory.  Scholarship recipients presented their winning essays to the members of the Central Labor Council on Tuesday, May 26, 2009.

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The 2009 HVALF Candidate Questionnaire is now offline.  Schedule of interviews coming soon!

For questions, please call Jen Fuentes at 845-567-7760.

At the HVALF 8th Annual Meeting, the new slate of officers was unanimously elected. Congratulations to our new Officers and thanks to those who previously served. Your commitment and dedication is much appreciated and we look forward to continuing our work with you in the future!

Hudson Valley Area Labor Federation 2009 Slate of Officers

The HVALF is honored to announce much anticipated news regarding the Special Election for the 20th Congressional District. Earlier this afternoon, Assemblymember Jim Tedisco conceded to Scott Murphy after Murphy leapt ahead by over 400 votes.

Tedisco congratulated Murphy and committed to working with Murphy in Tedisco's capacity as Assemblymember.

Thank you all for your hard work and congratulations on this long awaited victory. The HVALF is thrilled to welcome Scott Murphy as our new Congressmember for CD 20!

Legislation has been introduced (A4921 - S.John / S2245 - Onorato) to gradually increase in the unemployment benefit over 4 years, to raise the maximum weekly benefit to $625.00 per week. This is about 50% of the average weekly wage. The NYS AFL-CIO demands annual indexation of the benefit to 50% of the average weekly wage.

Working families need a benefit they can rely on and should never again have to wait 10 years for an increase. Indexing the benefit will also avoid the need for costly, large increases all at once. Call Your State Senator and Assembly member today at 1-877-255-9417 and ask them to support A4921 and S2245. Or, visit http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/iubenefits to take action.