At the AFL-CIO 2017 Convention last week, two Connecticut labor leaders were elected to serve on the national AFL-CIO Executive Council – Connecticut AFL-CIO President Lori Pelletier and UNITE HERE Secretary-Treasurer Gwen Mills (New Haven native).
Additionally, federation officers – President Richard Trumka, Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler and Executive Vice President Tefere Gebre – and the Executive Council (made up of 55 vice presidents) were elected, with four new members joining the council.
Click on the links below to learn more about the four new Executive Council members, including Gwen Mills.
Gwen Mills, UNITE HERE: “Gwen Mills was born and raised in New Haven, Connecticut, and earned a Bachelor of Science in environmental science and public policy at Cornell University. She joined UNITE HERE in 2000 and organized a broad-based community and political alliance for Yale University strikes, contract campaigns and organizing drives. In 2008, she led members from locals across the country to southern Virginia in an innovative registration, engagement and turnout program focused on African American voters. As the Connecticut political director until 2015, Gwen’s team focused on electing rank-and-file members to municipal office, resulting in the election of New Haven’s first female African American mayor, first female African American City Council president (a union member) and first Democratic governor in 20 years. Gwen served as the political director of UNITE HERE from 2015-2017 and was elected secretary-treasurer in 2017.”
George E. McCubbin, AFGE District 12: “I’m honored to be joining the AFL-CIO Executive Council and look forward to working with my fellow union leaders to organize more workers and better engage with all union families.”
Vonda McDaniel, Central Labor Council of Nashville and Middle Tennessee: “Vonda McDaniel serves as president of the Nashville Central Labor Council. A native Nashvillian, she grew up in the First Baptist Church at Capitol Hill where her family remains active members. The church was an early center of organizing during the civil rights movement, and the legacy and memory of that movement helped shape her belief from early on that ordinary people can make extraordinary change. Vonda has been a member of the United Steelworkers Local 1055 since 1992. For 10 years, she served the members of that local by administering member benefits and helping members navigate benefits and services.”
Charlie Wowkanech, New Jersey State AFL-CIO: “I am humbled and honored to immediately begin serving as a national AFL-CIO vice president, and I look forward to the opportunity to build a national labor movement that is stronger and more durable than ever before. I fulfill this role not only with pride and the greatest sense of responsibility to working families across this nation, but also with a deep gratitude for the union members of New Jersey, whose work and solidarity has made this possible.”
The full list of Executive Council members elected at the AFL-CIO 2017 Convention:
- Stuart Appelbaum, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union/UFCW
- James Boland, Bricklayers
- James Callahan, Operating Engineers
- Capt. Timothy Canoll, Air Line Pilots Association
- Gabrielle Carteris, SAG-AFTRA
- J. David Cox, AFGE
- Harold Daggett, Longshoremen
- Eric Dean, Ironworkers
- RoseAnn DeMoro, National Nurses United
- Bhairavi Desai, National Taxi Workers Alliance
- Mark Dimondstein, American Postal Workers Union
- David Durkee, Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers
- Cindy Estrada, UAW
- Leo W. Gerard, United Steelworkers
- Lawrence J. Hanley, Amalgamated Transit Union
- Lorretta Johnson, AFT
- Newton B. Jones, Boilermakers
- Gregory J. Junemann, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers
- D. Michael Langford, Utility Workers
- Richard Lanigan, Office and Professional Employees
- Matthew Loeb, Theatrical Stage Employees
- Robert Martinez, Machinists
- Elissa McBride, AFSCME
- George E. McCubbin, AFGE District 12
- Vonda McDaniel, Central Labor Council of Nashville and Middle Tennessee
- Sean McGarvey, North America's Building Trades Unions
- Mark McManus, Plumbers and Pipe Fitters
- Gwen Mills, UNITE HERE
- Sara Nelson, Association of Flight Attendants-CWA
- Terry O'Sullivan, Laborers
- Lori Pelletier, Connecticut AFL-CIO
- Marc Perrone, United Food and Commercial Workers
- Jorge Ramirez, Chicago Federation of Labor
- Fred Redmond, United Steelworkers
- Kenneth Rigmaiden, Painters and Allied Trades
- Paul Rinaldi, National Air Traffic Controllers Association
- Clyde Rivers, California School Employees Association
- Cecil Roberts, Mine Workers
- Fredric V. Rolando, National Association of Letter Carriers
- Michael Sacco, Seafarers
- John Samuelsen, Transport Workers
- Lee A. Saunders, AFSCME
- Robert A. Scardelletti, TCU/IAM
- Harold Schaitberger, Fire Fighters
- Joseph Sellers Jr., International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers
- Christopher Shelton, Communications Workers of America
- Bruce R. Smith, Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers
- DeMaurice Smith, NFL Players Association
- Lonnie R. Stephenson, Electrical Workers
- D. Taylor, UNITE HERE
- Baldemar Velasquez, Farm Labor Organizing Committee
- Randi Weingarten, AFT
- Dennis D. Williams, UAW
- Diann Woodard, School Administrators
- Charlie Wowkanech, New Jersey State AFL-CIO