Nick Berardino is the Orange County Employees Association General Manager. A machine gunner in the Marines during the Vietnam War, Berardino has been an OCEA employee since 1978. Berardino was hired in 2004 as the union's third general manager to lead the professional staff of OCEA. During his career at OCEA, Berardino has served in multiple positions for the union and in 2011 he was appointed to the 32nd District Agricultural Association, Orange County Fair Board by California Gov. Jerry Brown. In 2010 he was awarded the Cesar E. Chavez Award, which is given to the most outstanding labor leader. Berardino was chosen as the recipient for the coveted award because of his leadership and solidarity with workers in Orange County. He was also named “The Best Voice for the Little Guy” in 2011 by OC Weekly. The magazine chose Berardino for being an idealist who doesn't take kindly to people in power exerting any type of unjust control over those who don't want or know how to be heard
(OCEA). We have the honor and privilege to host the
first annual Veterans + Labor event honoring those who have served our great country.
I’m a proud Marine and Veteran of the Vietnam War, so Veterans Day is particularly personal—it’s a day I remember all my friends who didn’t make it home and wonder what they’d think of how things are going in America today.
Sometimes, as we fight against the drum beat of attacks against rights for workers—attacks that erode the middle class—I wonder myself: Is this what we fought for?
