ABPRL CAUCUS WEEKEND - Marvin Holland Receives the Labor Award

Marvin Holland is the Political and Legislative Director of the Transport Workers Union Local 100, the largest transportation union in the country, representing over 42,000 members, and is responsible for advancing legislation to benefit the transit workers he represents. Marvin also directs all of TWU’s Local 100 political campaigns as well as its community coalition-building campaigns, and is the founder of the Transit Forward Coalition, the only grassroots organization of Transit Riders and Workers in New York State.

Born and raised in Manhattan, Marvin was honorably discharged from the military (U.S. Navy) in 1986. In 1991 he started his career with the New York City Transit Authority in the Stations Department as a Cleaner. Always an active Local 100 member, he became a Shop Steward in 2001 and was elected to the TWU Local 100 Executive Board in 2003. In 2008 he founded Take Back Our Union (TBOU) and successfully helped to overturn the former administration in 2010. He served as Director of Political and Community Action Development from 2010 to 2012 before taking on his current position.

Under his direction, TWU Local 100 has become a political powerhouse in New York races, helping to elect dozens of local legislators including Diana Richardson, Rodneyse Bichotte, Latrice Walker and Pam Harris, as well as a number of city council and state senate members.

Due to his strong advocacy for labor, civil and human rights and education, Marvin has been invited to sit on the boards for the Latino Leadership Institute, the Mid-Manhattan Branch of the NAACP, the Making the Grade Foundation, the NYC Labor/Religion Coalition, the Solidarity Board of Community Voices Heard, the African-American Day Parade Advisory Board, and the CUNY Murphy Center Labor Advisory Board.

He has been recognized many times over for his work, most recently with the Latino Leadership Institute Labor Award (2014), the Making the Grade Community Award (2014), the Political Action Award from the CUNY Murphy Center (2014), and has received a proclamation from the Office of Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

Marvin attended Cornell University in 2008, focusing on Industrial Labor Relations. He currently resides in Harlem with his wife of 35 years, Carole, with whom he has three children – Justin, Alizabeth, and Xavier.