Election
Chavez-Thompson was elected executive vice-president of the AFL-CIO after John Sweeney ran for the presidency of the labor federation in 1995. The Sweeney campaign initially recruited Chavez-Thompson in May 1995 to serve as the AFL-CIO's secretary-treasurer. [18] But a month later,Sweeney asked Richard Trumka to accept that position. Sweeney subsequently offered to create the post of executive vice-president and asked Chavez-Thompson to be his running mate for that position. [19]
During the ensuing campaign,Sweeney complained that supporters of Thomas R. Donahue,unfairly criticized Chavez-Thompson's qualifications for office. [20] Donahue admittedly opposed creation of the position, [21] but Donahue's supporters went further and claimed that "Sweeney's proposal to create a new leadership office for council member Linda Chavez-Thompson smacks of tokenism." [22] [23]
In June 1995,AFL-CIO incumbent president Lane Kirkland resigned. Secretary-Treasurer Donahue was elected by the AFL-CIO Executive Council as his interim replacement at the regularly scheduled Executive Council meeting in early August. After his appointment,Donahue announced he would run for president of the labor federation in October 1995. In a gesture aimed at unionized women and clearly intended to defuse the excitement caused by Chavez-Thompson's candidacy,Donahue named Barbara Easterling,secretary-treasurer of the Communications Workers of America,as his choice for AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer. [23] On August 1,1995,Easterling was appointed by the AFL-CIO Executive Council to the position vacated by Donahue—making her the first woman to serve as an AFL-CIO officer (albeit an appointed officer). [24]
The creation of the office of executive vice-president at the AFL-CIO convention in October nearly did not happen. Donahue's supporters claimed that the office was created only to ensure Chavez-Thompson's election after Sweeney passed her over in favor of Trumka. They also opposed the new position because it would allegedly cost $500,000 a year to run and staff it. [23] The charges proved effective with delegates at a time when the AFL-CIO could find few funds for organizing. A two-thirds vote of the delegates was needed to create the position,but the Sweeney camp's internal vote count showed that only about 57 percent of the delegates supported the proposal. In early October 1995,Sweeney began working to persuade delegates to delay a vote on the issue until after the AFL-CIO presidential election on October 24. His hope was that Donahue backers might support creating the position if Donahue had already been defeated. [25] At the AFL-CIO Convention in Chicago,Sweeney's delegates submitted a motion on October 23 to postpone debate on the new position until after the presidential balloting. A voice vote was held,and Donahue (the convention chair) ruled that the motion was defeated. Sweeney's forces asked for a division of the house,which showed the motion passing. [26]
On October 25,1995,34 unions representing roughly 7.2 million AFL-CIO members voted to create the office of executive vice-president. The measure passed by a mere 700,000 votes out of more than 13 million cast. [26] Chavez-Thompson was elected to fill the position on a voice vote,and Sweeney (now chair of the convention) declared her elected by acclamation. Her election was a "first" in many ways:She became the first woman elected (rather than appointed) an AFL-CIO officer,the first person of color of either sex elected an AFL-CIO officer,and the first Hispanic elected an AFL-CIO officer. [19] [27]
Activities as executive vice-president
During her tenure as executive vice-president,Chavez-Thompson provided leadership in a number of areas. She spent most of 1996 on the road,acting as the public face of the AFL-CIO and the Sweeney administration's primary shock trooper. [28] She helped with the AFL-CIO's electoral efforts in the 1996 federal elections, [12] and helped with the federation's 1996 push to increase the minimum wage (a program called "America Needs a Raise"). [29]
Beginning in 1996,Chavez-Thompson headed up the AFL-CIO's policy-making group on immigration reform. She was instrumental in the federation's push for reform in 1996 and 1997,and helped forge a new majority on the AFL-CIO Executive Council which later adopted a radical change in the federation's immigrant policy in 2000. [8] [30]
In 2003,President Sweeney appointed her to an AFL-CIO task force on organizing. [31] She also was active in the AFL-CIO's federal electoral efforts in 2004. [32]
