Héctor Figueroa, Prominent NYC Union Leader, Dead At 57

NEW YORK — Héctor Figueroa, a longtime labor activist and prominent New York City union leader, died unexpectedly Thursday night. He was 57.

Figueroa, of Jackson Heights, served for seven years as president of the 32BJ Service Employees International Union, the nation's largest labor group for property service workers. The union announced his death on Friday.

"For those of us who have worked with him to further the well-being of our members and working people everywhere, and felt his personal and principled concern for our members, our staff and others this is a devastating loss," the union said in a statement.

Figueroa is survived by his wife, Deirdre, and his two children, Eric and Elena, the union said.

Figueroa's cause of death has not been confirmed, said Amity Paye, a spokesperson for the union. But it appeared sudden, as he was active on Twitter into Thursday evening.

Figueroa spent two decades with 32BJ, which represents 175,000 cleaners, doormen, maintenance staffers, porters and other workers in 11 states and Washington, D.C. The union's ranks grew by 50,000 people through organizing campaigns and a merger during Figueroa's tenure as president, according to his biography.

Figueroa's union was among a handful that supported Amazon's bid to bring a massive campus to Long Island City before the company walked away from the plans. Figueroa and his group also led the fight for a $19 minimum wage for workers at the New York City area's major airports.

Top city and state officials mourned the death of a man they described as tireless advocate for workers and marginalized people of all stripes.

"Héctor embodied that word 'solidarity,'" Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. "... He fought just as doggedly for relief for people in Puerto Rico as he did for fair contracts here in New York City."

Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico to two labor activist teachers, Figueroa came to the U.S. in 1982 and started his career in labor organizing in 1990 with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union.

After joining SEIU in 1995, he went on to help teachers in Puerto Rico gain collective bargaining rights in 1998 as the union's organizing director on the island, more than a quarter-century after his parents went on strike, according to his bio.

Figueroa was an influential political voice in the New York City area. He and his union pushed for the state's $15-per-hour minimum wage, which first took effect at the end of last year, and have defended immigrants facing deportation under the Trump administration.

"One of the things I admired most about Hector was the fact that he didn't care if you were a 32BJ member or not," City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said in a statement. "If you were a working person who needed help, Hector was in your corner."

Figueroa also defended Amazon's plan to bring at least 25,000 jobs to Long Island City at a time when the project was deeply unpopular with left-flank activists, who decried the nearly $3 billion economic incentive package offered to the retail conglomerate.

Nevertheless, critics of the Amazon deal saw Figueroa's death as a blow to the community of organizers who aim to protect the city's workers. Javier H. Valdés and Deborah Axt, the co-executive directors of Make the Road New York, which aggressively fought the Amazon project, called him "a lion in our movement."

"He has been a steadfast ally of community organizations like ours, and he has doggedly pursued justice for all New Yorkers," Axt and Valdes said in a statement.