[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 109 (Wednesday, August 5, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1562-E1563]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      STEVE HORNIK HONORED BY MONMOUTH-OCEAN CENTRAL LABOR COUNCIL

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. FRANK PALLONE, JR.

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, August 5, 1998

  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, on Wednesday, August 19, at the Breakers in 
Spring Lake, NJ, Mr. Steve Hornik will be honored by his many friends 
at a testimonial dinner on the occasion of his retirement as President 
of the Monmouth-Ocean Counties Central Labor Council.
  Mr. Speaker, Steve Hornik has been President of the Monmouth-Ocean 
Council for more than 25 years. His has been a career in which he came 
up through the ranks, serving the labor movement at virtually every 
level. Through it all, he has put first and foremost the needs of 
working men and women, whose interests he has defended so staunchly for 
decades. Indeed, you could say that his enthusiasm and dedication for 
fighting for working people is in his blood. His father, Stephen, was a 
truck driver and is a retired member of the Teamsters Union. His 
mother, Frances, was a counter girl at Woolworth's, who walked picket 
lines to try to organize her co-workers, and later became a member of 
Local 56, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (U.F.C.W.).
  Steve Hornik first became a charter union member when he was 14 years 
old while working at Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds as a vendor 
for Harry M. Stevens Concessions, where he helped to organize his 
fellow workers. He was later a member of the Teamsters Union Local 814, 
then the Mailers Union of the big six Newspaper Guild at the New York 
Times and John Sweeney's Local 32A, working nights while going to 
school. He later went to work at the Maxwell House Coffee Plant in 
Hoboken, NJ, where he became a member of Local 56, Amalgamated Meat 
Cutters and Butcher Workmen's Union of North America, which has since 
merged to become the U.F.C.W.
  Steve Hornik has been a member of Local 56 for 40 years, during which 
time he moved up the ranks from Alternate Department Steward and 
Department Steward of 250 members, then Chief Steward of the plant of 
1,200 members, after which he was put on the Local 56 staff as 
Organizer, Business Representative,

[[Page E1563]]

after moving on to the Officer's Staff as Press Secretary, First Vice 
President and Secretary Treasurer of the 16,000-member local for more 
than 20 years. He was a charter member and President of the Hunterdon-
Warren Counties Central Labor Council for four years, after which he 
was elected President of the Monmouth-Ocean Counties Central Labor 
Council.
  Some of the other responsibilities Steve Hornik holds or has held, 
representing labor, include: Chairman of the Rutgers University Trade 
Union Consulting Council, the Monmouth County Workforce Investment 
Board, United Way of Tri-State Board of Governors, and a Commissioner 
on the Governor's Employment and Training Commission. He is also on the 
Advisory Boards of Brookdale College, Monmouth University and is a 
member of the State Board of Arbitration and Mediation. He was 
previously on the Executive Board of the New Jersey Central and State 
Lung Associations, a Member of New Jersey Chief Justice Robert N. 
Wilentz's Courts Committee on Efficiency, the Private Industry Council, 
the Congressional Award Council and the Manalapan Democratic Club. He 
has been a member of numerous State and County screening committees, 
and was a delegate to four of the last five Democratic Conventions. He 
remains a County Committee Member, a position he has held for the last 
35 years. He has been and continues to be active with the Knight of 
Columbus.
  Steven Hornik is also a devoted family man. He and his wife Arline 
have four grown children and 10 grandchildren.
  Mr. Speaker, I could go on and on, talking about my good friend Steve 
Hornik, citing his many accomplishments on behalf of working people and 
his many contributions to our community. At the testimonial in his 
honor later this month, many of these great accomplishments will be 
recounted, happy memories recalled and funny stories told. We will miss 
his hard work, his energy and his honest dedication to fighting for the 
interests of working people.
  Mr. Speaker, labor unions have achieved many important victories over 
the years, fighting for safe working conditions, living wages, health 
care benefits and a dignified retirement. The battles fought and won by 
the labor movement have not only helped union members. America's broad-
based economic growth, the expansion of the middle class, the existence 
of programs like Social Security and Medicare, and the realization of 
the American dream for tens of millions of families all owe a 
tremendous debt of gratitude to labor unions. These days, unions are 
under attack. But I believe public support is still strong. I know that 
the unions will continue to fight for such basic rights as universal 
health care coverage, increased pension security and fair trade 
agreements that protect American jobs. It's great leaders like Steve 
Hornik who have made, and continue to make, the union movement strong.
  I regret that Steve Hornik will no longer be at the helm of the 
Monmouth-Ocean Central Labor Council. But I know that we will continue 
to benefit from his contributions to the ongoing fight for social and 
economic justice for working people. Steve Hornik has contributed to 
that fight more than anybody I know. The example that he set will guide 
us all for years to come.

                          ____________________