AFL-CIO executive officers affirm key role of state feds, local councils

State labor federations and local central labor bodies will play a key role as the AFL-CIO moves to adopt a new emphasis on working in coalitions with allied organizations.

That was the message from the AFL-CIO’s executive officers and other leaders as they met with representatives of state labor federations and local central labor bodies on the eve of the national AFL-CIO convention.

“If we in communities work together with our allies… then we will be stronger” and win a better life for all, said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka has tapped Weingarten to lead the new effort bringing labor into closer relationships with community partners.

“We’re the delivery system for this movement. We’re the ones who get things done,” said Tom Chamberlain, president of the Oregon AFL-CIO. “We’re being integrated more and more into the decision-making process of the federation.”

One example is Trumka’s choice for the AFL-CIO’s next executive vice-president, Tefere Gebre, who is currently executive director of California’s Orange County Federation of Labor. In conservative Orange County, Gebre helped win victories for labor by building the types of community partnerships that Trumka envisions nationwide.

“It is possible for that to happen everywhere,” Gebre said. “We can win in every state in this country.”

“I’m one of you,” Gebre told the representatives of state labor federations and local central labor bodies. “I understand what you do on a daily basis. At the eighth floor of the AFL-CIO, you will have someone who understands you.”

 “If you want a strong labor movement, you’ve got to have a strong center,” Trumka said, adding that it’s the state federations and local central labor bodies who are at the center of the labor movement.

“What you’re doing at the local level is really moving the ball forward,” said Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer.

“You are the most critical part of our movement — because you are at the ground-level where it happens,” said Arlene Holt Baker, current AFL-CIO executive vice president, who is retiring.

“The real work begins after the convention,” said James Boland, president of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers. In building new, closer relationships with community allies, “we build this labor movement in the process.”