Chris Machanoff: Organizing Director with SEIU Local 200

Chris Machanoff, Class of 2006

BA in History and Sociology from SUNY Geneseo

As Organizing Director for The Service Employees International Union, Local 200United, I draw heavily on lessons learned as a History major at SUNY Geneseo.  At SEIU, the union behind The Fight for $15/hour and the Faculty Forward campaigns, my role is to organize workers to come together collectively for just pay and benefits.  As income inequality has risen to an all-time high in our country, more people are struggling for economic justice and respect.  In the past two years, nearly two thousand individuals in Upstate New York and Vermont have united with our union to win a voice in these issues.  

My role as Organizing Director relies heavily on teachings from SUNY Geneseo Historians who provided me with the historical awareness to understand how ordinary people came together in the past to achieve a more just and fair society.  Among other cases in point, the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike and activist Ella Baker’s four decades of economic justice and civil rights work offer examples of how bottom up organizing and comprehensive campaigns can unite people around broad issues and how important persistence is.  

In my current role, I utilize research and writing skills attained as a History Major at SUNY Geneseo to research industries and write campaign literature.  Additionally, I rely on the critical thinking skills I gained as a History major to problem solve during our campaigns.  Even more than these skills, I value what I learned about the world, other people, and the ongoing effort to create a more just and equitable society.