Yvonne Wheeler

Yvonne Wheeler is the first African American woman to serve as president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. She is also the vice chair of the California Democratic Party’s Labor Caucus.

Wheeler grew up as the daughter of a longtime union activist in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, during the civil rights movement. She attended Southern University and worked for South Central Bell from 1978 to 1984. Laid off after the divestiture of AT&T, she transferred to Pacific Bell in Los Angeles and went on to work for the General Telephone Co. as a telephone operator.

The following year, she successfully stood up to company management when all African American operators were disciplined after a customer complained about rude service by one "Black operator."

In 1999, she became the first African American to be elected president of the Communications Workers of America Local 9586 and ensured that her successor was also African American.

In 2002, she was recruited by the AFL-CIO as a national field representative and then became a senior field representative covering all of Southern California before joining AFSCME International. She served as AFSCME’s area field services director, serving over 82 local unions and more than 180,000 union members in California.

Wheeler has two children and two grandchildren.