|
Linda Chavez-Thompson:
A Lifetime of Service |
 |
|
Linda Chavez-Thompson at an International
Longshore and Warehouse Union support rally
Photo courtesy of the Open World Conference of
Workers |
|
Linda Chavez-Thompson is a force to be reckoned
with. As executive vice president of the American
Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial
Organizations (AFL-CIO), Chavez-Thompson is the
highest-ranking woman in the labor movement. She
also represents the labor movement as a member of
the board for several major organizations, including
the National Interfaith Committee on Worker Justice,
the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, and the
Institute for Women’s Policy Research. She is a
member of the Board of Governors of the United Way
for America and the president of the Inter-American
Regional Organization of Workers. This
second-generation Mexican American also holds the
distinction of sitting as vice chair of the
Democratic National Committee.
Chavez-Thompson’s passion for labor advocacy and
activism stems from her own childhood and early work
experiences. Born in 1944 to sharecropper parents in
Lubbock, Texas, she was no stranger to hard labor
and the extreme difficulties faced by field workers.
As a child, Chavez-Thompson would toil for 10 hours
at a time under the blistering sun for pennies on
the dollar. She later worked menial jobs to support
her daughter. And when she took a position as the
bilingual secretary for the Lubbock Laborer’s
construction local, her outlook on labor unions
began to take shape
“When I started in the labor union, I didn’t really
know what it was,” Chavez-Thompson says. “I began to
see that a good union job could provide a much
better living for Mexican-American men than other
jobs.”
When her father earned his first 40-hour-work-week
paycheck, it was more money than he’d earned in an
entire month as a farmhand. “It was a situation
where my father had tears in his eyes. ‘Mira mija,
lo que gané en una semana, no he ganado en todo un
mes,’” she remembers his saying. “It gave him so
much pride.”
Union jobs, Chavez-Thompson saw, came with benefits
such as health care—not to mention better wages.
“They could actually go to a doctor and not have to
pay everything out of pocket and not have to worry
about how to pay,” she says. “Many people who
started jobs with the unions were driving new cars,
could buy homes, could send their kids to college …
and it was all because of this thing called a union.
I saw what the union did for these people and fell
in love with the movement.”
Driven by a profound sense of justice and
compassion, Chavez-Thompson’s work became her life’s
mission. In 1973, she became assistant manager at
the AFSCME Local 2399, eventually serving as
executive director from 1977 through 1995. From 1986
to 1996, she served as vice president of the Labor
Council for Latin American Advancement, the official
Latino constituency group of the AFL-CIO. She was
chosen as executive director of the Texas Council
42/AFSCME in 1995, a preamble to her election as
executive vice president of the AFL-CIO during the
same year. Chavez-Thompson is the first person of
color to serve in one of the highest three positions
at the AFL-CIO.
 |
|
Chavez-Thompson (left) with Coalition of
Labor Union Women (CLUW) National President Gloria
Johnson and U.S. Congresswoman Hilda Solis at a
February 2005 AFL-CIO reception. |
|
Chavez-Thompson’s accomplishments belie the
difficulties of female and minority leadership
within the labor movement; in fact, there is a
dearth of women and Hispanic women leaders, and
Chavez-Thompson wants that to change. “Not many
Latina women are pushing the envelope,” she says.
“This needs to happen. There is a need for the
Latina viewpoint to be heard at a higher level of
the labor movement. It isn’t about having the face
of a Latina woman, it’s what she brings to the
table. What does she bring to the negotiations for a
new contract? What can she implement in her
community?”
Hispanic representation in the labor movement is
also crucial, as illegal workers, many of them of
Hispanic origin, face the brunt of labor hardships.
“People who are illegal are scared to fill a
grievance, afraid of not getting paid. Afraid of
getting hurt, afraid to go to a hospital,”
Chavez-Thompson says. She adds that illegal workers
are often told by employers that they are not
allowed to report on-the-job injuries, and that if
they do, they won’t be claimed as employees.
“We are trying to reform this,” she says. “When
illegals go to the grocery store, they pay sales tax
and put money towards the social security they
cannot benefit from. So these are people that are
being exploited. It doesn’t matter if you were born
a citizen or not; if you are a worker in this
country, you have a right to protection and pay.”
According to Chavez-Thompson, a political
environment that is increasingly hostile to labor
movements poses additional hurdles for the
involvement of marginalized groups. “[In] the labor
movement 10, 15 years ago, there was always
opposition, but it was a fair fight. ‘You want a
union, go ahead.’” But times have changed, she says.
“[Today] there are huge corporate movements against
unions. They get anti-union consultants, hire staff
with anti-union training, find ways to scare
employees. … They threaten to give the jobs to black
or white workers—they start a race war within the
company. They want to keep people fighting so that
they will not vote solidly for the unions.”
The special needs and concerns of underrepresented
communities has led Chavez-Thompson and the AFL-CIO
to address the particular challenges faced by these
groups. There is special awareness in regard to
Latino, black, female, Pacific Islander, and gay,
lesbian, and transgender communities. The
constitution of the AFL-CIO reserves 10 spots in its
executive council for members of these groups, a
number that Chavez-Thompson proudly states will soon
rise to 15.
The bulk of this outreach to underrepresented
communities will lead Chavez-Thompson right back to
the grassroots work she began with. “We have changed
the way we organize,” she explains. “We go into the
community now. It isn’t about going into the plant
and passing out cards. ... That’s the old way. You
now are becoming a part of and getting to know the
community. Now it’s Latinos organizing Latinos,
blacks organizing blacks, women organizing women—now
people look like those they are organizing. Now they
hire organizers that can speak the language. They
know what these people need to hear and bring them
the information in their language.”
And these new organizing strategies are proving to
be successful. “More and more this works,”
Chavez-Thompson says. “Unions are getting smarter
and getting more organizers that relate to the
people they are organizing.”
The labor movement that began decades ago may be
changing, but it is far from over. In fact, it is in
a state of continuous evolution. The success of the
movement depends on exceptional individuals like
Chavez-Thompson, who have dedicated a lifetime to
gaining security and dignity for laborers. Far from
being complacent, Chavez-Thompson knows there is
much work ahead of her; she welcomes the challenge. |
