Cuomo Nominates Reardon

ILR Worker Institute Fellow Roberta Reardon has been nominated by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to become state labor commissioner.

Reardon is serving as acting commissioner until her confirmation is taken up by the New York State Senate in January.

Reardon is an actor, labor leader and labor educator based in New York City. In 2003, Reardon became the president of the New York local of American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA).

Reardon graduated from the NYS AFL-CIO/Cornell Union Leadership Institute in 2005.    

She was unanimously elected national president of AFTRA in 2007 and went on to serve three terms in office, while also serving as AFL-CIO vice president from 2009 to 2013.

In 2012, Reardon led AFTRA through its historic merger with the Screen Actors Guild, serving as co-president of the newly formed SAG-AFTRA, a 165,000-member entertainment industry union, until August 2013.

Reardon became a Worker Institute Fellow in May and, until her appointment as acting commissioner, had been involved in development of the Worker Institute project “New Formations in the Arts and Entertainment Industry.”

The project focuses on the challenges and changes faced by unions, creative professionals and new workers in the live performance, film, music and radio/television industries in New York City.

Prior to her appointment as acting labor commissioner, Reardon served as a trustee for the AFTRA Health and Retirement Fund, the Actors Fund of America and was a delegate to the New York City Labor Council.

Since 2014, Reardon has consulted with the AFL-CIO on the development and implementation of a nationwide economics curriculum for union members, "Commonsense Economics."  

She has also taught courses on union leadership and contemporary labor issues in the Cornell/CUNY Labor Relations Certificate Program.