NFFE’s Richard Brown Dies at 47: ‘A Trade Unionist at Heart’
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Richard N. Brown, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), died yesterday in Arlington, Va. He was 47 years old.
Brown served as president of the 100,000-member NFFE since 1998. The union represents blue- and white-collar federal workers in more than 30 federal departments and agencies. The NFFE was founded in 1917 and affiliated with the Machinists (IAM) in 1990.
NFFE Secretary-Treasurer Bill Dougan says Brown was “a strong leader, a dedicated trade unionist, and a friend.”
Rick was a trade unionist at heart. He came from a union family and maintained membership in NFFE-IAM and the Laborers Union (LIUNA), the latter being a membership he maintained after leaving construction to become a machinist. Rick was a strong advocate for federal employees. Never one to back down, Rick was a strong presence in the fight against several federal workforce initiatives aimed at contracting out federal government jobs and eliminating federal employees’ unions.
In his passing, we have lost a strong voice and champion for working men and women. We will mourn his loss greatly.
Flight Attendants, Pilots, Mechanics, Stagehands and Others Join AFL-CIO Unions
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Airline pilots, flight attendants, city employees, mechanics and stagehands are the latest workers to choose a voice at work with AFL-CIO unions.
The independent National Pilots Association (NPA)—made up of the cockpit crews at AirTran Airways—has agreed to merge with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA). The executive board of the 1,700-pilot union approved the merger agreement last month, and ALPA endorsed the merger in December. AirTran pilots will vote on the proposal starting this month.
NPA and AirTran have been in contract talks since 2004. NPA President Mike Best says:
Our hope is that the [switch to ALPA] will give us more resources to get a better contract sooner.
