Yvonne Wheeler, the first African American woman to serve as president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and a former AFSCME staffer in California, addressed the 46th AFSCME International Convention on Monday.
“Working people make Los Angeles great, and we would not be such a strong union city without the Green Machine — the AFSCME members who serve our communities across LA with such honor and professionalism,” Wheeler said. “I know exactly how fearless you all are, not just because of my work at the Los Angeles Federation of Labor. I was an AFSCME area field services director for two years and will always consider myself an AFSCME sister.”
She said the labor movement is strong because of the “tenacity of our rank-and-file members, like you, who continue to make their voices heard. While we may work in different industries or belong to different unions, our issues are the same. An injury to one is an injury to all.”
Wheeler, who is also the vice chair of the California Democratic Party’s Labor Caucus, was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to a longtime union activist during the civil rights movement.
While working for the General Telephone Co. as a telephone operator in Los Angeles, she 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. In 2002, she began working for the AFL-CIO before joining AFSCME International. As an AFSCME staff member, she served over 82 local unions and more than 180,000 union members in California.
Yvonne Wheeler of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor tells convention-goers about her close ties to AFSCME. Photo by Javeon Butler
