Leadership
The Fairfax Workers Coalition is led by local leadership who understand the unique challenges faced by Fairfax County employees. These leaders, many of whom are current or former county employees themselves, bring a wealth of experience and a strong commitment to advocating for fair wages, benefits, and working conditions for all Coalition members. Through their tireless efforts, the Coalition works to ensure a strong voice for Fairfax County’s workforce.
Patrick Booth
President
Mike Pierce
Vice President
Annie Henderson
Secretary Treasurer
Dave Lyons
Executive Director
Dave, along with others within local leadership, helped found FWC as an independent union in April 2017. Dave believes that independent unions, fully owned and operated by county workers and retirees, are the future of effective unionism, allowing County workers to control their own destiny rather than kick up all their dues to corporate unions and well-paid staff.
Dave started in Fairfax in 1977 as a firefighter, just as the last Virginia collective bargaining agreement ended at the direction of the State Supreme Court. He retired from the FRD as an EMS Captain in 2003 and has been involved with Fairfax unions for 45 years. Dave currently works for Retirement Administration.
Dave is known for worker grievance representation and has been doing hearings before the Civil Service Commission since 1983, representing workers in hundreds of cases.
Dave brings years of experience to employee representation, workers’ compensation issues, worker safety, and employee assistance. Dave considers the development of Employee Assistance programs and treatment for workers in need to be one of his best accomplishments.
Jon Miskell
Director of Benefits
Jon’s career with Fairfax County began in October 2006 with the Department of Housing, where he continues to work today. Jon was appointed by the Board of Supervisors (BOS) as a Trustee of the Employees Retirement System Pension Plan in 2010 as a citizen appointee, and he continues to serve in that capacity through July 2026. Jon continues to serve as a Chief/Assistant Chief Election Officer for the Office of Elections since 2008 for the Bonnie Brae Precinct in Fairfax, VA. Jon is a founding member of the Fairfax Workers Coalition and has continuously assisted fellow county employees with pension, benefit, and personnel matters since he began his career with the county. He has appeared before the BOS numerous times to advocate for better pay and benefits and was instrumental in the county approving the 240 hours of Paid Family Leave that is now afforded to county employees.
Prior to joining the county, Jon was a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA). He worked with various accounting firms to assist their clients with financial planning, insurance matters, group benefits, and personal investing. His RIA career includes working with various insurance and investment companies, including Metlife, Mutual of New York, and Prudential.
Carol Taylor
Director
Carol retired in 2021 after 36 years in the County, first working with the Department of Animal Control, then with the Community Services Board. Carol joined the FWC in 2017 as one of the founding members because she believed in belonging to an independent union that was truly member-driven and not one that was concerned mostly with money and politics. For Carol, being a member of a union like the FWC, with its strong focus on local leadership and advocacy for county employees, has been truly remarkable. She has seen this union do so much to help individual employees (including herself) as well as to make great strides for county employees as a unit.
Carol continues to devote time during her retirement years because she believes in what this union stands for. She made a promise years ago and wants to follow through with all intentions of making things much better for those who still work for the County. Carol has made life-long friends in this union (and continues to do so) and has seen firsthand the difference this organization makes in the lives of its members.
John C. Cook
Attorney
John C. Cook is the founding partner of Cook Craig & Francuzenko, PLLC, a Fairfax boutique civil litigation firm established in 2007. Mr. Cook’s practice emphasizes the representation of executives, employees, and small businesses in employment law matters.
Demonstrating a strong commitment to local leadership, Mr. Cook served as a past chair and co-chair of the Fairfax Bar Association’s Employment Law Section (2003-04, 2020-21) and is a former member of the Section Council for the Virginia Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section (2009-14). He further extended his local leadership by serving on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors (2009-2019). His dedication to the community continues through his current leadership roles, chairing the Fairfax County Diversion First Stakeholders’ Group and serving on the Fairfax County Council to End Domestic Violence.
Charles D. Smith
Attorney
Attorney and Counselor at Law, Charles D. Smith, grew up in Detroit, Michigan and aspired to be a union representative by joining United Auto Workers’ local 140 at the Dodge Truck plant in Warren, Michigan. After being laid off in the late 1970s, he worked in the Secretary of State’s Elections office, administering campaign finance laws.
He joined the National staff of AFSCME in the early 80s and helped in organizing state and local workers in Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Louisiana, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia. This experience instilled in him a deep understanding of the importance of local leadership within unions. He then went on to become an attorney twenty-five years ago. Since then, he has represented unions in dozens of contract negotiations and hundreds of grievance and arbitration hearings all over the country.
Smith has represented Virginia state corrections and institutions employees, sheriffs deputies, fire and rescue personnel, teachers, heavy equipment operators, CDL truck and bus drivers, mechanics, clerks, secretaries, engineers, scientists, attorneys, and department heads, among others in state and local governments throughout Virginia.
His representation in federal court has focused on protecting health and pension benefits under ERISA (see Wilson v. Perry, 470 F.Supp.2d 610 (2007)) and state courts have included family law and representing individuals accused of serious crimes.
Now Smith focuses on counseling government unions and associations and public employees faced with serious employment disputes.
James W. Swiger, Sr.
Attorney
Mr. Swiger began his legal career after graduating from the George Mason University-Antonin Scalia Law School with a Juris Doctor degree, with Distinction, in 1981. He attended Villanova University and earned a B.A. in History in 1978.
Following his legal education, Mr. Swiger worked as a law clerk to the United States District Court in Richmond, Virginia. Thereafter, he entered private practice and has primarily represented injured workers in Workers Compensation cases before the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission, the Court of Appeals of Virginia, and the Supreme Court of Virginia.
He has consistently received an AV-Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell. He has been named a Best Lawyer in America from 2005-present. He has also been named a Virginia Super Lawyer in the area of Workers’ Compensation Law. In 2019, he was named a Fellow, by the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers.