LABOR LEADER LINDA CHAVEZ-THOMPSON TO SPEAK AT PITT
PITTSBURGH, Jan. 7 -- Linda Chavez-Thompson, the highest-ranking woman in the labor movement, will speak at the University of Pittsburgh January 25 at 7 p.m. at the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium, Oakland. Her talk will concern "Women, Work and Global Issues." The event is free and open to the public.
Executive vice-president of the AFL-CIO since 1995, Chavez-Thompson's experience in the labor movement spans 30 years, starting with a job as a union secretary and rising through the ranks to leadership posts throughout her native Texas and the nation. Of Hispanic descent, she is also the first person of color ever to hold an executive office in the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest union federation.
Chavez-Thompson was born to a sharecropper in August, 1944 and at age 10 took a summer job hoeing cotton for 30 cents an hour. Many people say she has never lost sight of the difficulties working people face. As international vice-president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) from 1971 to 1995, she advanced legislation, political action and education programs. Even in a 7-state territory in the Southwest widely regarded as unfriendly to labor, Chavez-Thompson oversaw impressive union achievements: a new collecting bargaining law for public employees in New Mexico, the organization of 5,000 new members in Texas; and the doubling of the Utah AFSCME membership.
"AFSCME is the kind of place where, when you complain about a glass ceiling, they hand you a jackhammer and tell you, 'Go for it'," she told delegates.
Chavez-Thompson is credited with breathing new life into the AFL-CIO, and is setting her sights on organizing workers who have never had union representation, including those in fast food restaurants and high-tech industries.
"Linda has not only brought her personal dedication to the workers across the country, she has also opened the doors of the labor movement to women and people of color," said Gerald W. McEntee, president of AFSCME.
Her visit to the University of Pittsburgh is sponsored by Pitt's Women's Studies Program. For more information, call 412-624-6485.
-30-
1/8/99/shg
Media Resources
Schools of the Health Sciences Media Relations
For more information about Pitt's schools of dental medicine, health and rehabilitation sciences, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and public health, click here >
To locate stories from health science schools prior to 2013, visit the UPMC news archives »
Urgent Question?
University of Pittsburgh news reps are available to answer urgent media inquiries. Outside of regular business hours (Mon-Fri, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.), please email us at media@pitt.edu.
News reps for University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences schools can be reached outside of regular business hours through the paging operator at 1+412-647-2345.
