Richard Hendershot, director of the Long Island Division and a Trustee on the Local 237 Executive Board, was elected last month to the post of Vice President to replace Arthur (Sonny) Illery, who retired at the end of December.

President Carl Haynes, who announced the changes following the January meeting of the Executive Board, said Gregory Floyd, director of the Citywide Division, was elected to the position of Trustee to replace Hendershot.

"For the immediate future, Richard will be wearing two hats," Haynes noted. "He will continue to serve our members on Long Island as Division Director while assuming the duties of Vice President."

Hendershot, who began his career with Local 237 in 1971 as an employee of the Town of Islip Parks Department, has been director of the Long Island Division since 1993.

"Richie was determined to be an active member and part of the Local's leadership," Haynes said. "He ran and won election as the union's first sergeant-at-arms in the Blue Collar Unit for the Town of Islip in 1972. Four years later he was elected shop steward."

Hendershot remained in that position for four years, was elected vice chairman in 1977, and chairman in 1979. The talents of this experienced and highly-respected leader and advocates for the rights of working people soon caught the attention of Local officials in New York City.

He was named in 1981 to serve as liaison between Islip's Blue Collar Unit and Local 237. He did so well, he was appointed Assistant Long Island area director the following year.

He has been director of the Long Island Division since 1993 and as such has negotiated more than 30 different contracts for the division's 3,000 members. The division represents workers in the towns of Islip and Babylon, and employees of the Brentwood, Plainview and Half Hollow Hills School Districts.

It also represents members who work for the Syosset Library and the Off-Track Betting office in Suffolk County.

Hendershot was elected a Trustee when he ran as a member of the victorious Haynes' Team in 2000.

Floyd, 39, joined Local 237 in September, 1984, when he became a hospital police officer and was assigned to the Queens Hospital Center.

"You might say I was born into Local 237," Greg said laughingly. "My father, Willie, became a member in 1959 when he worked as a messenger, and remained a member after he became a Hospital Police Officer in 1963. He retired with the rank of Captain from Kings County Hospital in June, 1990."

Following in his father's footsteps, Greg was promoted to Sergeant in May, 1987, and assigned to Woodhull and Cumberland Hospitals. At 24, he became the youngest person ever to attain that rank in the history of the hospital police.

Three years later, in October, 1990, he was promoted to Captain -- a rank he still retains - and at 27 became the youngest officer ever to hold that position.

Active with the union since he first joined, Floyd became shop steward for the Captains in 1992. When Haynes became President in 1993, Floyd obtained a promise from him that the union would fight to get funds to provide bullet-proof vests for all hospital officers. The President proved good to his word.

Floyd is also Secretary of the New York State AFL-CIO Committee of Police and Law Enforcement Officers. This group was successful in getting the Governor to sign legislation that allows children of peace officers who died in the line of duty to attend state universities tuition-free.

Haynes appointed Floyd deputy director of the Citywide Division in Nov., 1994.. He was named director in Sept., 1999.

The Executive Board also approved the appointment of Alcides Soto, a business agent since 1992, to the post of Assistant Director of the Citywide Division.

Soto, a member of the Hospital Police for 30 years, has been active in union affairs since he became a member of the Local. He served as shop steward for hospital police for 20 years and also represented non-uniform members employed at Gouverneur Hospital. He also served as a member of the Community Board of Gouverneur Hospital.

As a shop steward, Soto said he was kept busy battling management's continuous effort to ignore contract obligations, and to fight for overtime pay for overtime work.

Soto and his wife, Virginia, live in the Bronx. They have two grown daughters, one of whom made him a grandfather for the first time last year.