Shane Gasteyer passed his six-month probation on Oct. 20 and joins the staff of Local 802 as an organizing rep.

Shane joined the labor movement working as a union organizer first for UNITE HERE! and then for SEIU. In these positions, he worked on numerous campaigns, including several to organize food service workers in airports across the country, as well as a multi-union campaign to reform the practices of the retail pharmacy industry. Previously, he worked with the New York chapter of ACORN, helping to manage their VITA tax preparation program and later providing research support to the organization’s fair housing campaign.

He is a graduate of Manhattanville College, where he was a leader in several activist groups on campus, as well as serving on the staff of the campus radio station and organizing numerous concerts, protest actions, lectures and other events for students and the surrounding community. He graduated with a self-designed B.A. in social justice, in which he combined political science and sociology coursework with his political organizing work outside of the classroom.

In addition to his labor and organizing experience, Shane is also an active musician and avid music listener and has been involved in theater and the performing arts, both onstage and behind the scenes, for most of his life.