The National Staff of the Green Party of the United States are members of the Industrial Workers of the World. The statement from the Staff can be read here.

Michael O'Neil
Communications Manager

Michael has over fifteen years of political communications experience, with twelve of those spent with the Green Party in everything from street canvassing to national press relations. Michael served as staff on the 2010 New York gubernatorial campaign that won back ballot status for the Greens in that state for the first time since 2002. In the 2014 and 2018 gubernatorial campaigns he helped sustain their ballot status in the roles of Downstate Coordinator and Campaign Manager, respectively.

In 2016, Michael was hired as the Assistant to the Campaign Manager of the Jill Stein/Ajamu Baraka campaign, co-managing the campaign's Brooklyn, NY office and producing events and livestreams.

Michael has served as Co-Chair of the Green Party of New York and has previously worked for the National Coalition Against Censorship and the radical performance community Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping. He assisted the WGA-EAST with online communications during the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America Strike. He resides in Syracuse, NY.

David Doonan
Web Manager

David has served as web manager for the Green Party since 2007. His entire career has been spent in the graphic arts, from college photographer; offset platemaker, cameramen, 4/C stripper and compositor, desktop publishing technician; photographer / journalist and finally to web developer.

A 1977 graduate of The Cooper Union in New York City, Doonan began his career in politics circulating petitions for an anti-war congressional candidate in Springfield, MA. in 1968. In 2008 he was elected Village Mayor of Greenwich, New York. He served until 2018 when he choose not to seek re-election. Doonan has provided web, communications and strategic advise for Green Party candidates throughout the country.

Shortly before 9/11, Doonan left full time employment to become a self-employed web developer. Shortly after 9/11 Doonan changed his party registration to Green as a silent protest against the calls for vengeance rather than justice.

Doonan lives with Judy, his wife of countless years, two cats who fully live up to their names (Trouble and Turbo) and has his heart constantly broken by Tottenham Hotspur and the Buffalo Bills. At least the Red Sox & Celtics have brought him joy.

Starlene Rankin
Virtual Office Manager

Starlene is a longtime member and leader of the Green Party, and joined the staff in 2015. She has been a co-chair of GPUS. She is a founder of the GPUS Lavender Green Caucus, former co-chair of the Media Committee, and managed the GPUS social media presence for several years before becoming a staff member.

Starlene co-chaired the Iowa Draft Nader for President Committee in 1996, then co-founded the Iowa Green Party. She was the paid Clearinghouse Coordinator for G/GPUSA in Lawrence, MA, during the 2000 Presidential campaign (Nader/LaDuke). Starlene was also a staff member of Rebecca Kaplan's campaign for Oakland City Council in 2000, was a staff member of Peter Camejo's campaign for California Governor in 2002 and was the paid Clearinghouse Coordinator for the Green Party of California for several years.

Starlene lives in NW Portland, OR with her cool cat, Bobby. She has three adult sons, two daughters-in-law and two grandsons. For fun, Starlene likes to sing and play her guitar. 

I don't know what has happened in America. People seem to have less and less respect for the working class, many seem to have an absolute disdain for any type of labor. Combine this with an overall lack of respect for education and skills training- decrying those who go to college or those with college degrees goes hand in hand with a hatred for union trained workers.

If federal minimum wage doesn't go up, the skilled wages don't increase. When my father wanted me to join the Plumbers and Pipefitters union in 2000, the wages for an apprentice are the same as they are today.

This Labor Day, we can't help but think about the insanity that is our country's desperate need for countless people-hours to transform our infrastructure and renew public services while, at the same time, countless people and families across our nation suffer for lack of living-wage jobs.

But as crazy as that problem is, the solution makes perfect sense: an Eco-Socialist Green New Deal. Greens have fought for it. And the idea is catching on, thanks to the tremendous effort of our members and candidates. Will you give to the Green Party of New York today so we can keep up the fight at this pivotal time? Because you and I know there is nothing the corporate power structure would love more than to erase the most essential, radical demands of the GND. We cannot allow that.

• Solidarity with the Communications Workers of America members at AT&T who are striking over unfair labor practices.

One of my junior political advisors and I went out this morning and walked the picket line with local union members and their families. It's time for AT&T to step up and send folks to the table who can make decisions. We join our fellow workers demanding that they bargain in good faith.

• Black and Green: Wednesday, May 1, 2019 at 7:00 p.m.

In February 2018, 20,000 school employees walked out in West Virginia. At least 20,000 more walked out in Oklahoma. Then 40,000 teachers left work in Arizona. Teacher walkouts followed in Colorado, Kentucky & North Carolina. By 2019 Los Angeles & Oakland saw school walkouts.

Marshall, Michigan – A walk between two labor landmarks in Marshall on Saturday, May 4 will give people an opportunity to "spring into action", put some of their own labor into cleaning things up, and talk afterward about next steps. The event, which is open to the public, is posted at https://www.facebook.com/events/289001138684843/

The walk will start at 11:30 am at the intersection of East Drive, East Mansion Street, and Michigan Avenue, across from the VFW Hall -- original site of the house where a union known as the Brotherhood of the Footboard was founded in 1863.

Corporate media absolutely won’t tell you this, but this year’s Los Angeles teachers strike is the latest chapter in the long running struggle against the privatization of public education in the US. With massive public support, 30,000 teachers have voted a settlement that increases their wages a little, brings back nurses, librarians and counselors to each and every one of the city’s 900 schools, caps class sizes and charter school expansion and more. 

At high noon, October 3, 2018, over a hundred underpaid, fast food workers, their families, union supporters, and community members including Greater Milwaukee Greens marched on a Milwaukee McDonald's to demand a $15/hr minimum wage.

With the Fight for $15, many of us had demonstrated there over the last couple of years. We exposed the injustice of McDonald's making billions of dollars in profit while the people who do the real work are struggling to survive. This time would be different.

Green Party candidate for Michigan Governor, Jennifer V. Kurland, said today that eliminating the prevailing wage in Michigan places skilled trade workers in jeopardy at a time when they are needed most. The ramifications, she added, will be long term and negative.

"For a party who touts fiscal responsibility as a key value, Republican lawmakers in Lansing certainly didn't make a fiscally responsible decision for our state on Wednesday," Kurland said.

April 13, 2018 – Last week public school teachers throughout Oklahoma and Kentucky courageously followed the example of West Virginia’s educators, by committing to statewide wildcat* strikes. Between 2008 and 2015, per-student education spending in Kentucky fell by 11.4 percent; in Oklahoma, by 15.6. In both states, as in West Virginia, lawmakers paired disinvestment from education with tax cuts for high-earners and business interests.

WV Governor Justice (R-CoalBaron) came up with what turned out to be a low-ball offer, which teachers flatly rejected. It was probably because earlier in the year Justice had been pushing for tax cuts on the inventories of his many extraction industries.