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Hey, I'm a former union president myself and also an attorney that represented a lot of unions.

In my college years, I worked as a union labor organizer. I was just one of the many workers trying to do my part to help the community.

I've made a lifetime commitment to the union movement and to public education.

I did my first apprenticeship when I was 15, then joined the union when I was 17. I worked every summer in high school and college.

I was for civil unions and believed strongly that the flow of benefits and protections that would be provided in a civil union for same-sex couples, the decisions that have to be made, when health hardships are faced, when economic hardships are faced, I wanted all of those protections. I never strayed from them.

I'm not looking for a battle with anybody, neither the council nor our labor partners.

In 1972, I signed a union card for SEIU. And for the last 38 years, 14 as president, it's been my life. I've seen the most miraculous, spectacular things. But there's a time to learn, a time to lead and a time to leave.

I'm a union guy; I've always been. I've been in SAG 35 years; my father was a garbage man, a sanitation man, for the city, a union guy.

I came from a working-class family. My dad was in a union. I never forgot what it was like to be a private.