Bruce Raynor

     Born and raised and Long Island, New York, Bruce Raynor stepped into the world of labor organizing after graduating from the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He started working in the Textile Worker's Union education department, which led to his involvement in the organizing of J.P. Stevens in North Carolina. Part of the same union drive that was dramatized in the movie Norma Rae. He continued to be hugely successful in organizing southern textile workers, unionizing tens of thousands of workers along the Southeast coast. His continued success saw him getting elected to represent 50,000 textile workers in the South. As he gained influence throughout the world of labor he began to move up the ranks of the top labor brass. 

    He eventually became the Executive Vice President of Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACTWU). After the merger between ACTWU and the International Ladies Garment Workers Union into the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE) union, he became the Vice President and then later went onto become the president over the branch. UNITE then merged again with the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) under his leadership creating the UNITE HERE union. However, UNITE HERE had numerous internal leadership troubles leading Raynor to break off and form Workers United, an SEIU affiliated union that was primarily made up of garment workers. He was also able to rise in the ranks of Amalgamated Bank, an institution geared towards providing banking resources to union members throughout the country. He worked to protect workers in ways beyond the workplace. Now he runs a consulting firm in New York and serves as the President Emeritus of Workers United.