Following 20 years of service to SSEU Local 371, Anthony Wells was elected president in 2011. SSEU Local 371 has 17,000 members who work in social services, the New York City Housing Authority, the Health and Hospitals Corporation, district attorneys’ offices, community planning boards, and the borough presidents’ offices.
Wells began his civil service career in 1980 as a caseworker at the Spofford Juvenile Center in the Bronx. In 1988 he joined the union staff as an organizer, becoming associate director of Organizing in 1990 and associate director of Negotiations and Research in 1995. In 1999 he became vice president for Negotiations and Research, heading the union’s bargaining committee and also representing SSEU Local 371 on the DC 37 Pension Committee until his election as president.
Wells attended New York City public schools and graduated from Baruch College. He received an M.S.W. in Social Work from Stony Brook University in 1987 and a law degree from New York Law School in 2001. He is licensed to practice law in New York and New Jersey. He is chairman of DC 37’s Civil Service Committee and a co-chair of the Municipal Labor Committee.