While some labor leaders are facing a backlash from a restive rank-and-file, Mario Cilento has been re-elected to a full-four year term as president of the New York State AFL-CIO.

Cilento last year replaced Denis Hughes, the union’s longtime president who retired at the end of 2011, to serve out the remainder of his term.

“We have 2.5 million members throughout the state – public sector, private sector and building trades, and we’re going to make the most of that strength,” Cilento said in a statement. “We will educate and engage them year-round from Buffalo to Montaulk and Plattsburgh to Brooklyn. Elected officials will understand that there is a connection between legislation and politics, and those that do not support our members – their constituents – will not earn our support on Election Day.”

Cilento, the union’s former spokesman, says he plans to mobilize union members on the local level for legislative, political and grassroots activity.

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