Robin Blair-Batte
Secretary-Treasuer

Robin Blair-Batte has been a civil servant since 1993 at the Human Resources Administration (HRA) and became a member of CWA Local 1180 in 2002. She was elected a Shop Steward that same year. 

Robin has a wealth of accounting knowledge, and has been processing and filing city, state, and federal tax returns since she was 17 years old. She has experience in manually computing budgets from her tenure at HRA, first as a case manager and then as an auditor in the Office of Quality Assurance.

With hard work and dedication, Robin quickly moved up the career ladder. In just nine short years, she advanced from a Principal Administrative Associate (PAA) I to PAA II, and finally PAA III — all while remaining an active and effective Shop Steward — and is currently an Administrative Manager II.

As Shop Steward, Robin represented more than 150 members, advocating for them at labor-management meetings, initiating grievances, and defending them at supervisory conferences, hearings, and special investigations. She always kept members informed and educated about the union and the labor movement.

In 2011, Robin was selected as a Local 1180 Staff Representative, a position she held from 2011-2017. She has won grievances for members who received substantial back-pay awards, and has defended members in disciplinary actions resulting in saving jobs, stopping demotions, and eliminating and reducing penalties and fines. In 2015, Robin first became a member of the Local 1180 Executive Board as a Member-at-Large.

Three years later, in 2018, Robin first became the Union’s Secretary-Treasurer, the position she still holds today, where she manages the Union’s finances, plans budgets, and appropriates funds responsibly to make sure Local 1180 remains fiscally responsible.

Robin has played a leading role in coordinating Shop Steward trainings and the African-American Day parade.

Robin is the facilitator for the Queens Borough Community Coordinating Committee. She is well versed in labor and city policies, having attended both the AFL-CIO Cornell Union Leadership Institute and the CWA Cornell Leadership Program. She is part of the CWA National Defense Fund Oversite Committee representing the public sector. 

Robin earned a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Metropolitan College of New York. She is a strong believer in fighting for union rights and human rights.