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On June 12 at the 29th AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, delegates elected Liz Shuler to serve as president of the federation of 57 unions and 12.5 million members. Fred Redmond was also elected to serve as secretary-treasurer of the federation.
Shuler is the first woman to hold the office of president and Redmond is the first African American to serve as secretary-treasurer.
“NALC congratulates President Liz Shuler and Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond on their historic elections,” NALC President Fredric Rolando, who was also re-elected as a Vice-President of the AFL-CIO Executive Council, said. “NALC supports their goals to empower, diversify and grow the labor movement to represent all working people. Liz and Fred bring years of leadership and experience to their roles. I support their elections and look forward to continuing working with them.”
“We are going to amplify the voices of working people—their hopes, struggles, and demands. This is more than a comeback story," President Schuler said in her acceptance speech. "This is a new story, yet to be told. A story we will write, on our terms, to be written by every one of us. A new era for all working people across this country. And generations from now, they’ll tell the story of how we succeeded, together, in solidarity.”
“We will keep fighting until every worker in this country has the chance to have a good, union job,” Redmond said. “Everybody in, nobody out. And we’re going to fix our labor laws and make that a reality. I know what the labor movement does. It brings the marginalized in from the margins. It brings respect to the disrespected. It lets people come together and collectively bargain for their own future.”
Shuler, the daughter of a longtime member of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 125, started her career as an organizer at Local 125. At IBEW, she served as an international representative in the union’s Political/Legislative Affairs Department, and later as an assistant to the international president. In 2009, she was elected as the first woman to serve as secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO. Following the death of President Richard Trumka in August 2021, the AFL-CIO Executive Council elected Shuler by acclamation to serve the remainder of his term.
Redmond has been a United Steelworkers (USW) member since 1973, when he went to work at Reynolds Metals Co. in Chicago. He served his local union as shop steward, vice president and president. In 2006, he was elected as an international vice president for human affairs at USW. In August 2021, Redmond was elected by acclamation as secretary-treasurer, to fill the vacancy left by Shuler when she became president.
Watch Shuler and Redmond’s remarks here.