海角大神

The first woman to lead the biggest U.S. labor federation wants even more women as decision-makers in a labor movement that is becoming less male and less white.

鈥淲hen you see women in key positions of leadership, it emboldens women to continue to aspire to more,鈥� Liz Shuler said in an interview hours after the AFL-CIO鈥檚 governing Executive Council elected her as president on Friday.

Ms. Shuler had been the federation鈥檚 No. 2 officer since 2009 and became interim president following the sudden death earlier this month of Richard Trumka, who had been president of the AFL-CIO since 2009.

The Executive Council picked Ms. Shuler in a special election to fill Mr. Trumka鈥檚 unexpired term. Ms. Shuler said she plans to seek re-election when the AFL-CIO鈥檚 56 affiliated unions, which represent a combined 12.5 million workers, gather for their convention next June.

Kate Shindle, president of Actors Equity Association, a union of stage performers, said the council elected 鈥渘ot just any woman 鈥� this woman, who is labor to the marrow of her bones, and has earned this through her intelligence and collaboration and grit.鈥�

Ms. Shuler rose through the ranks of the male-dominated International Brotherhood of Electric Workers (IBEW). She began in 1993 by organizing women clerical workers at Portland General Electric, where linesmen were IBEW-represented.

鈥淭he reason those women came together is they saw the power of a union that the men already had at the company,鈥� she said.

Known as a consensus builder, Ms. Shuler takes office as AFL-CIO unions debate whether the federation should redirect resources from lobbying and advocacy toward direct funding of organizing to stem the long-term decline in union membership.

Ms. Shuler said expanding union membership requires a multi-pronged approach that includes winning legislation, such as the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, as well as organizing.

She added that working people are 鈥渢ruly looking for hope in this moment after we鈥檝e gone through this pandemic, after we鈥檝e seen the lack of safety protections, that corporations will put workers in harm鈥檚 way.鈥�

With Ms. Shuler鈥檚 ascension to president, the AFL-CIO Executive Council elected as her successor secretary-treasurer Fred Redmond, the first African-American to hold the position. The AFL-CIO鈥檚 other top officer, Executive Vice President Tefere Gebre, is also Black.

Until Ms. Shuler, the top leader of the American Federation of Labor has been a white man since its founding 135 years ago. That continued when it joined the rival Congress of Industrial Organizations in 1955 under George Meaney.

At the rank-and-file level, women account for nearly half of all union members, up from one-third in 1983, according to Labor Department data analyzed by the Employment Policy Institute, a liberal think tank. During the same period, the non-white share of union membership rose to 37% from 22%, it said.

鈥淭he labor movement itself 鈥� and the workforce 鈥� is much more female than it ever was in the past, and so in that way, the AFL-CIO is finally reflecting what鈥檚 happening in the rest of the world,鈥� said Ileen DeVault, who teaches labor history at Cornell University鈥檚 Industrial and Labor Relations School.

Long-time labor activist Karen Nussbaum said Ms. Shuler鈥檚 election would have been unthinkable when she co-founded 9to5, a women workers鈥� advocacy group, in the 1970s.

鈥淲hen we first started organizing, you couldn鈥檛 get the trade union movement to take us seriously at all,鈥� said Ms. Nussbaum.

Even now, only about a quarter of the approximately 50 members of the AFL-CIO鈥檚 governing Executive Council are women.

Ms. Shuler and others acknowledged that the number of women union leaders still falls short of reflecting their numbers in the ranks.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 say 鈥榤ission accomplished,鈥欌�� said Elise Bryant, president of the Coalition of Labor Union Women. 鈥淚 think there鈥檚 still a whole lot of work to do.鈥�

Ms. Shuler said she did not know if she would face a challenge when she seeks re-election at next June鈥檚 convention.

So far, the only potential contenders being discussed in labor circles are women: Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, and Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.

Ms. Nelson and Ms. Weingarten did not answer directly when asked by Reuters whether they planned to run.

This story was reported by Reuters.