The longest-serving president in the history of the Civil Service Employees Association has died.
Daniel Donohue – who referred to himself as a “truck driver from Brooklyn” – began his career with the union in 1975. He rose from winning a write-in campaign on Long Island to serve as a CSEA local president to eventually serving more than 25 years as the statewide president.
He died August 10th at age 81.
Mary Sullivan, who took over as president after Donohue’s retirement in 2019, worked alongside Donohue as vice president of the union with roughly 280,000 members.
Sullivan says Donohue was a close friend.
“He was my mentor and he was my president,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan, who used to call Donohue the “Affable Irishman,” says he was a great leader who offered something for everyone to love.
Sullivan considered him a brother.
“We would argue and we would disagree but it never carried over to long time difficulties between us. The fact that we were both stubborn and both Irish often played into some hilarious situations when we were having arguments and ended up laughing because we were ultimately saying the same thing just not really listening to each other,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan says Donohue’s sense of humor made him an even more effective leader. She says he would use that humor to break the tension during serious meetings.
But she also says Donohue was fearless, pointing out a time when he referred to former Governor Andrew Cuomo as a “monkey” over contract disputes during a rally in Albany in 2014.
“That really put him in a very difficult place, but he didn’t care. He did what he had to do to get what he needed to get for the members he represented. He didn’t fear anyone when he defended our membership,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said everyone at headquarters was cringing.
“The Governor was furious with us,” she said.
In addition to his service as the CSEA’s president, Donohue also served on the New York State AFL-CIO’s executive board as vice president.
New York State AFL-CIO’s President Mario Cilento says Donohue was a great labor leader but an even better human being.
Cilento says Donohue had no ego and “never forgot where he came from.”
“I think that’s what made him as successful as he was as president of CSEA that he could identify with the needs and concerns of his members, he knew what it was like to have to go earn a paycheck to be able to support yourself and your family and all that goes into that,” Cilento said.
In 2000, New York state passed a law that implemented permanent Cost of Living Adjustments, or COLA, for public sector retirees. The law gave retirees permanent annual increases in their retirement benefits meant to offset the rate of inflation.
Cilento says when he was a staff member at the AFL-CIO, he saw Donohue lead the fight for permanent COLA.
“To see that up close and personal. The passion, the perseverance. Just wanting and feeling this need to get it done. I think that’s all you really need to know about Danny,” Cilento said.
Sullivan and Cilento considered Donohue a close friend. They both say the “truck driver from Brooklyn” will be missed.
“He was very popular because of his affable Irishman attitude,” Sullivan said.
By way of disclosure, the New York State AFL-CIO is a WAMC underwriter.
