CSEA Organizing Director Nadra Floyd Dies

Oakland, California

Nadra Floyd, director of organizing for New York’s Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)/AFSCME Local 1000, died Nov. 7. She was 52.

Floyd, who joined CSEA in July 2000, was directly responsible for the union’s recent efforts to organize unorganized workers and build community coalitions to advocate for working families. Earlier, she had been assistant organizing director of the national AFL-CIO.

CSEA Pres. (and International Vice Pres.) Danny Donohue said the union has "lost a great advocate for working people. Nadra was deeply committed to the labor movement. She worked with compassion and dedication, and she challenged all of us to do our jobs better."

In 1976, Floyd joined AFSCME as an organizer for a San Diego local representing state clerical workers. She went on to work for Council 57 and then Council 10 — both in California. She left AFSCME in 1991 to take staff positions with the Clinton-Gore campaign, the gubernatorial campaign of Kathleen Brown (D-Calif.) and other electoral efforts.

Floyd returned to the union in 1995 as area director for Washington, D.C., helping to organize 40,000 Maryland state employees. In May 2000, she spoke of the importance of forming community coalitions in organizing workers: "Effective trade union organizing and community campaigns are completely interdependent. ... The community must be mobilized to help trade unions make gains in the workplace."