A Friend in Arizona

by Mike Hall, Jan 5, 2007

Rebekah Friend, president of the Arizona AFL-CIO, is taking the reins as the state federation’s executive director, the Arizona AFL-CIO Executive Board announced yesterday.

Friend, a member of the Electrical Workers (IBEW) union, replaces Michael McGrath, who recently stepped down from the post. McGrath, who is also the Arizona AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer, will remain in that post. Friend and McGrath were elected in 2003.

Along with bringing more of the state’s unions into the state federation, the two leaders also energized the state’s union family voters, increasing union voter registration and turnout, and, in what’s considered a relatively conservative state, helped elect working family candidates such as Gov. Janet Napolitano.

Friend also was chairwoman of the Minimum Wage Coalition, which brought Prop. 202 to the November ballot and raised the state’s minimum wage to $6.75 an hour with a cost of living adjustment every year. Arizona was one of six states where voters approved minimum wage increases as part of the AFL-CIO’s America Needs a Raise mobilization.

As executive director, Friend will oversee the state federation’s day-to-day operations.

For more information, visit www.azaflcio.org/ and read the state federation’s full press release here.

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