Chairman, Board of Trustees, John Diaz, Sr.

John Diaz, Sr. was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. On March 23, 1970, he worked his first day at The Metropolitan Opera House (The Met). John was elected shop steward for the Night Gang shortly after receiving his card on November 19, 1978. While mostly working at The Met, he has also worked at many other venues within Local One’s jurisdiction, including The Captain Kangaroo Show at CBS, Sesame Street at PBS and at The Palace Theatre with the show, Woman of the Year.

John is Vice President of the New York State of Motion Pictures and Stage Crafts and the Senior Trainer of the SET Program both under District Ten of I.A.T.S.E. In addition, he is Co-Chairman of the Safety Committee and Chair of the Budget, Steward, Technology and Education Committees, all of Local One. He is a member of the COBUG and Arts and Education Council of the AFL-CIO NY State CLC and is on the Cornell Global Education Committee. He is a member of NYCOSH and serves as one of the Local’s trainers in safety and health along with Brother Edmond Supple and members of the NYCOSH Federal Mediators. John received the Greater New York Safety Training Award, as well as the NYCOSH 2005 Award of Safety. He is also a member of the USITT and ESTA Programs.

John is continuing his labor training at Cornell and will soon be receiving his Bachelor of Arts from the AFL-CIO National Labor College. In June 2006, John was elected a member of the American Society of Safety Engineers as well as being elected to the NYCOSH PAC Committee. In September 2006, John celebrates his 25th year as the Met Night Crew Boss.

During the 1998 Local One election, John was elected as a Trustee. Due to his hard work, the membership recognized his dedication and voted him in as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees in 2001. John now holds the record for being the longest sitting Chairman in local one (April 1886) history. He hopes to lead Local One into a better and brighter future.

John recently was elected to the NYCOSH Board.  He also won the 2007 Lois Gray Scholarship for the Arts and Entertainment at the New York State, AFL-CIO/Cornell Union Leadership Institute, an award that is only given to one individual each year. John has recently been appoint to the New York State AFL-CIO Health and Safety Council as well as been appoint to the Mount Sinai-IJ Selikoff Center for Occupational & Environmental Medicine Manhattan Advisory Board.

John has received the Cornell University Labor Studies-Certificate Program as well as The New York State AFL-CIO Cornell Union Leadership Institute Advanced Labor Union Leadership achievement of merit. John also shared the class of 2007 humble leadership award with Leonard Purnell of UFCW Local 1776 of Pa.  

John has also received the NYCOSH Certificate of Completion of the health and safety training series of the NYC Central Labor Council a new program of Edward Ott and the NYC CLC