2018 NJSPBA Valor Awards
NJ State PBA Executive Board Member of the Year
Michael Kaniuk
NJSPBA Financial Secretary
Middlesex County Corrections Offi cers Local 152 State Delegate
Answering the Call
Mike Kaniuk does not hesitate to speak up on behalf
of members and the State PBA
■ BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
Middlesex County Corrections Lieutenant Dana Kaniuk wish-
es her Local 152 State Delegate would just turn it off sometimes.
Or turn it down, at least. Having been married to him for the past
three years, however, Dana has learned that when it comes to her
husband, Mike Kaniuk, tending to PBA business or serving PBA
members, she can’t even pull rank on him at home.
“Every time somebody calls for him, he like jumps,” Dana de-
tails about the passion for all things PBA she sees in her beloved.
“He loves it. The phone doesn’t stop. I told him the other day that
I’m going to put it in the street and run over it. But he says, ‘It
doesn’t matter. That’s my job. I love my members and I love what
I do.’”
In 22 years of serving as the Middlesex County Corrections Of-
ficers Local 152 State Delegate, and approximately half that time
as a PBA Executive Board member, Kaniuk has established a leg-
acy of serving members at all costs, primarily because he nev-
er says “no.” Perhaps that is why he serves on what seems like a
dozen PBA committees, including the Corrections and Legal Pro-
tection Plan. He has been the State PBA financial secretary and a
PFRS trustee for nearly four years.
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■ DECEMBER 2018
“Sometimes, I feel like saying ‘no,’ like if I’m on vacation some-
where,” Kaniuk admits. “But if I’m in the Bahamas and my phone
is ringing, I’m still going to answer it. That’s my job – to take care
of my members.”
It’s not just never saying “no” that has created Kaniuk’s legacy.
He never – or rarely – hesitates to say what he feels. And it’s that
voice, that desire to give a voice to his members that has led Mike
Kaniuk to be honored as the NJ State PBA 2018 Executive Board
Member of the Year.
Speaking up has never been a problem for Kaniuk. He grew up
in a house with eight kids. As number four of eight, he said that
he had to speak up if he ever wanted something. As he worked his
way up from Local 152 trustee to recording secretary to becoming
State Delegate just six years into the job, Kaniuk became known
as a colleague, union leader and friend who might get into it with
somebody but then be laughing with them 15 minutes later.
“I believe in what I fight for” became a mantra to keep winning
Local elections and make him one of those members past PBA
Presidents Mike Madonna and Tony Wieners and current Pres-
ident Pat Colligan would never hesitate to call on when some-
thing needed to be done. And needed to be done right.