Greg Blackman was elected Vice President of Region III at the 25th OPEIU Convention in June 2010. Blackman’s first union job was at age 18 with Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 working as a rail car cleaner for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and was promoted through many positions in five years at WMATA and left as a Technician.
Blackman at the age of 23 became a Transport Workers Union Local 291 member as an Electronic Technician in Metrorail. He transferred to the automated, Metromover system and became a Supervisor and a member of Government Supervisors Association of Florida at age 29.
Blackman was appointed by the late President, Ed Darcy Sr., as a Union Representative at age 31 and represented members in all aspects of contract administration. At age 38 was elected as 1st Vice President and held that office for nine years.
Blackman trained at Florida International University Labor Center and the George Meany Center for Labor Studies on labor-related subjects, as well as attended Broward College. The most important training came from working with two great labor leaders, Darcy and Richard Ellis who exemplified the attributes that are the bedrock for building an effective labor union.
At age of 47, Blackman became President of GSAF/OPEIU Local 100. He serves as Vice President on the Board of Florida AFL-CIO and on Miami-Dade County’s Performance and Efficiency Commission.
Blackman continues to thirst for the knowledge to grow Local 100 and the Labor movement and feels confident that all the tools needed to make this come to fruition lies in the minds of the great leadership that OPEIU cultivates throughout the International Union.