Shook and Wise Named to Executive Council
 |
||||
|
||||
The AFL-CIO Executive Council welcomed Veda Shook and Walter Wise as new members today.
Shook took office Jan. 1 as president of the Flight Attendants-CWA, succeeding Patricia Friend, who retired and also resigned from the Executive Council. An AFA-CWA member since 1991, Shook says she plans to keep right on flying. Before her election as president, she served as an AFA-CWA vice president since 2007.
Wise was appointed president of the Ironworkers in February. In more than 35 years as an ironworker, he has served his union as general organizer, president of the Mid-Atlantic States District Council, general vice president and general treasurer. He was appointed president in February after Joseph Hunt retired. Hunt also retired from the Executive Council.
 |
||||
|
||||
The council approved a statement thanking Hunt for his service and especially “his wise counsel and commitment to and leadership of organizing.” It also cited how as the Ironworkers’ leader, he steered the union through a difficult period of political and economic turmoil with a steady hand and strong vision. Hunt continues to serve working people as chairman of the Union Labor Life Insurance Co.
The council praised Friend as “a leader in the struggle for the advancement of women and people of color to the entire union movement.” Under her leadership, the council said, AFA-CWA fought for, and won, whistleblower protections for aviation employees, increased penalties for passengers who interfere with crew member duties, a smoking ban on international flights, an extension of the Family and Medical Leave Act to cover all flight crew members, seniority protections for flight attendants in the event of a merger and an opened door for occupational safety and health protections for all flight attendants.
Ironworker Sworn in as N.J. State Senate President
 |
||||
|
||||
Steve Sweeney, a member of Ironworkers Local 399 and one of the early graduates of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO’s Labor Candidates School, was sworn in last week as president of the New Jersey State Senate.
Sweeney, who was first elected to the State Senate in 2001, is the first union member to serve as president of the upper chamber.
He said at his swearing-in ceremony:
“I accept this task with great humility and an ironclad belief that New Jersey’s best days are ahead of us. I will bring the work ethic here that I did in my career as an ironworker.”
Kids with Cancer Get Winter Wonderland from Building Trades Union Members
 |
||||
|
||||
The children at Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Jimmy Fund Clinic are enjoying a jollier holiday celebration than usual, thanks in part to the more than $27,000 union construction and trades workers collected for the institute’s annual Winter Wonderland.
The donation helped deck out the more than weeklong Wonderland for children being treated for cancer and included visits from Santa, gifts, arts and crafts and holiday meals.
The workers are building a 14-story, 275,000 square foot, state-of-the-art outpatient clinic and research center next to the Jimmy Fund Clinic. The Yawkey Center for Cancer Care is set to open its doors in early 2011.
This fall, Mike Morgan, with Plumbers and Pipe Fitters (UA) Local 537, posted a flier on the job site asking the workers to donate an hour of their salary to the kids at the clinic. The money started rolling in, and the donations are continuing, says Morgan.
IBEW Local in Portland, Ore., Goes Green
 |
||||
|
||||
You need look no further than Electrical Workers Local 48 to see the union movement’s commitment to creating good green jobs and protecting our environment.
The Portland, Ore., local is installing a solar array at its union hall. When completed, the all-union project not only will provide 40 percent of the local’s electrical usage for the next 30 years, but also will be used to train members on the design and installation of solar arrays.
Local 48′s project highlights the efforts by the union movement to transform the struggling economy through a range of environmental investments in green technology, energy efficiency and renewable energy.
