Schedule

The exhibit will showcase the collaborative program between ATU International, ATU Local 113, the Toronto Transit Commission, and Centennial College focusing on making buses safer for workers and riders through the implementation and evaluation of innovative technologies and design concepts. There will information shared on shaker table seat testing, data from fully enclosed workstation barrier pilots, and discussion of blind spot evaluation and mitigation. Please stop by to hear more about this vital work and to tell us what vehicle safety improvements you want to see.

The exhibit will showcase the collaborative program between ATU International, ATU Local 113, the Toronto Transit Commission, and Centennial College focusing on making buses safer for workers and riders through the implementation and evaluation of innovative technologies and design concepts. There will information shared on shaker table seat testing, data from fully enclosed workstation barrier pilots, and discussion of blind spot evaluation and mitigation. Please stop by to hear more about this vital work and to tell us what vehicle safety improvements you want to see.

The exhibit will showcase the collaborative program between ATU International, ATU Local 113, the Toronto Transit Commission, and Centennial College focusing on making buses safer for workers and riders through the implementation and evaluation of innovative technologies and design concepts. There will information shared on shaker table seat testing, data from fully enclosed workstation barrier pilots, and discussion of blind spot evaluation and mitigation. Please stop by to hear more about this vital work and to tell us what vehicle safety improvements you want to see.

The 61^st Convention welcome reception will be held at Rockefeller Center on Sunday evening, August 17, from 6:00-10:00 pm. Rockefeller Center is a short walk (5-7 minutes and .3 miles) from the Convention at the Hilton Midtown hotel. Casual attire is recommended.

The exhibit will showcase the collaborative program between ATU International, ATU Local 113, the Toronto Transit Commission, and Centennial College focusing on making buses safer for workers and riders through the implementation and evaluation of innovative technologies and design concepts. There will information shared on shaker table seat testing, data from fully enclosed workstation barrier pilots, and discussion of blind spot evaluation and mitigation. Please stop by to hear more about this vital work and to tell us what vehicle safety improvements you want to see.

Elizabeth H. Shuler is president of the AFL-CIO, the democratic federation of 63 national and international unions that represent nearly 15 million working people. Shuler is the first woman leader of America’s labor movement. A visionary leader and longtime trade unionist, Shuler believes the labor movement is the single most powerful vehicle for progress and that unions are a central force in leading lasting societal transformations. She is committed to busting myths about labor, leveraging the labor movement’s diversity for innovative approaches to social justice and making the benefits of a union voice on the job available to working people everywhere.

Bea Bruske was re-elected for a second term as President of the Canadian Labour Congress at the CLC’s 30th Constitutional Convention, held in Montreal in May of 2023. She was first elected to the position at the 29th Constitutional Convention, which was held virtually in 2021. She is only the second woman to hold the position.

Since being elected, Bea has led Canada’s unions to significant wins for the workers of this country. Under Bea’s leadership, Canada’s unions proudly fought for, and won: 10 days of paid sick leave for workers in the federal sector; dental care for children in low-income families; a 30-billion-dollar national child care program which was decades in the making; new health care accords adding 46 billion dollars over ten years; billions of dollars in investments for affordable housing and infrastructure; double the funding for union-provided apprenticeship training; and legislation to protect workers’ pensions when companies go bankrupt, making them the first priority ahead of big banks and creditors.

Bea has also prioritized the fight against climate change and has helped make significant gains to center workers in the transition to a net-zero economy. This includes the recent announcement of Bill C-50, the Sustainable Jobs Act. A sustainable future isn’t achievable if workers aren’t at the heart of climate plans, and this bill recognizes the vital importance of unions, industry and governments working together.

In 2022, Maclean’s named Bea to its “Power List”, the magazine’s ranking of the country’s 50 most powerful people in Canada.

For more than three decades, Bea has served workers and their families as an activist, workers’ advocate, negotiator, community organizer and labour leader. Before her election as President, Bea served as Vice-President of the UFCW Canada National Council, which sets the strategic direction for the national union and its more than 250,000 members across the country. She had previously served as Secretary-Treasurer for UFCW Local 832, where she was responsible for the largest private-sector union local in Manitoba.

Bea’s passion for the rights of working people was ignited in 1987 when she and her UFCW Local 832 co-workers held the line for 125 days to achieve a fair contract at the Westfair grocery chain in Manitoba. Over the next seven years, Bea took on roles as a shop steward, health and safety committee member, and was elected by her fellow members as a vice-president of the local’s executive board. She is a graduate of the University of Manitoba’s Labour Studies

As a member of the Newspaper Guild-CWA since 1990, Mario Cilento has a long history of fighting for working men and women. His work at the New York State AFL-CIO began in 1992; he was first elected president in 2011. In August 2024, Cilento was reelected to his fourth full term.

Throughout his time in office, President Cilento has concentrated on harnessing the collective power of the State AFL‐CIO’s 2.5 million members by transforming the existing political campaign framework into a proactive, year‐round legislative action network.

Cilento’s renewed focus on membership engagement and new communication strategies has made the federation’s endorsement and the unmatched get-out-the-vote effort that accompanies it a highly sought-after designation for candidates across the ballot. The Union Movement also flexed its muscles at the ballot box, helping to lead the resounding and historic defeat of the 2017 constitutional convention referendum.

Cilento’s new approach to grassroots campaigns and success in electing pro-worker candidates to office has resulted in the enactment of legislation that has made a real impact on the lives of working families.

Under his leadership, the New York State AFL-CIO, working in collaboration with its affiliated unions, has secured a significant increase in unemployment benefits, enabling workers to better support themselves and their families while out of work. Additional legislative victories include protections for public employees, including crucial pension reforms, as well as transparency regarding the use of AI by state agencies.

The historic Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act, which granted farmworkers labor rights, including the right to organize, a mandatory day of rest, and the right to overtime pay, was also achieved.

Other successes include laws protecting workers from retaliation for refusing captive audience meetings. Unions also secured historic labor standards on renewable energy projects. Those protections include Buy American provisions, labor peace agreements, protections for public sector workers, and training for employment in the renewable energy sector.

The federation has successfully championed increases and indexation in the state minimum wage, unemployment insurance, and minimum workers’ compensation benefits. The State AFL-CIO and its affiliates have also secured additional funding for the Child Care Facilitated Enrollment program, ground-breaking Paid Family Leave legislation, and the permanent reauthorizations of the World Trade Center Health Program and the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund.

President Cilento also launched the Federation’s “Union Strong” branding campaign, which promotes the benefits of belonging to a union, amplifies union victories, and demonstrates the strength of what working people can accomplish when we all work together.

President Cilento graduated from Fordham University in 1990 with a Bachelor of Science Degree.

Since 2019, Evelyn DeJesus has been the executive vice president of the 1.8 million-member AFT, the first Latino/a officer in the union’s 109-year history. A skilled teacher and administrator, DeJesus is a forceful advocate for justice—undaunted and unafraid to speak truth to power.

Elected as an AFT vice president in 2014, she co-chairs the AFT Latino Issues Task Force and serves as the presiding officer of the AFT Asian American and Pacific Islander Task Force, the AFT LGBTQIA+ Task Force and the AFT Native American and Indigenous Task Force.

In 2021, she joined the executive boards of the AFL-CIO and the Solidarity Center. At the AFL-CIO, she serves as co-chair on both the Racial Justice Task Force (and the Subcommittee on Reimagining Federated Bodies) and the Immigration Committee, and she serves on the executive board for the Maritime Trades Department. She was elected president of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement. She also serves on the Advisory Council of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute and the board of the National Immigration Forum. She served as president of the board of the National Association for Bilingual Education. She is a former commissioner of President Biden’s Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics, where she chaired the PreK-12 Education Committee. In 2024, she was elected to the executive boards of Education International and the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas.

A native Puertorriqueña who grew up in New York City’s Lower East Side, DeJesus traveled an unexpected road from engaged parent to educator and trade unionist. When one of her daughters became ill during a school construction project, DeJesus publicly exposed the toxic environment, caused by asbestos. Her courageous whistleblowing actions led to the Great Asbestos Scandal of 1993 and a citywide shutdown of the schools until asbestos could be safely removed from school buildings.

She began her education career as a state-certified parent educator and then as an assistant director for the Even Start Program for pregnant teens, all while pursuing a bachelor’s degree. As an early childhood teacher and reading specialist, she taught for two decades in New York City’s Chinatown and has made literacy and support for multilingual learners her signature curricular issues.

DeJesus’ spirituality extends into every aspect of her life, and she credits her faith for her achievements. DeJesus is also a chaplain under the New York State Chaplain Task Force. She is the proud wife of Louie and the mother of two beautiful daughters, Tiffany and Kristina. She has been blessed with six grandchildren.

Union leader Clayola Brown was born Clayola Beatrice Oliver on August 4, 1948, in Charleston, South Carolina. Of Gullah ancestry, Brown attended school in Key West, Florida and Oxnard, California before graduating from Philadelphia’s Simon Gratz High School in 1966, where she was an athlete and majorette. At age fifteen, Brown joined her mother, Ann Belle Jenkins Shands, in a successful campaign to bring the Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA) to the Manhattan Shirt Factory in Charleston. Brown later attended Florida A&M University, graduating in 1970 with her B.S. degree in secondary education and physical education.

In 1970, Brown was hired by TWUA in their claims department in Opalaca, Alabama. Subsequently, Brown went on to play an organizing role in the seventeen-year struggle to unionize the textile giant, J.P. Stevens, culminating in 1980 with four thousand workers winning a contract through the newly formed Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU). Brown served as the ACTWU’s education director, civil rights director, and also, for thirteen years, as manager of the ACTWU’s Laundry Division. In 1991, Brown was elected international vice president of the ACTWU; a post which she was continually reelected to for over a decade. In 1994, President Bill Clinton appointed Brown to the National Commission on Employment Policy. In 1995, Brown helped merge the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) with ACTWU to form the Union of Needle Trades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE, now UNITEHERE!). That same year, Brown was elected international vice president of the AFL-CIO. In 2004, Brown became the first woman to serve as national president of the A. Phillip Randolph Institute.

Brown served on the board of Amalgamated Bank, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, and SCLC. At the NAACP, Brown served on the Labor Ad Hoc, and NAACP Image Awards Committees. Brown also served on the Executive Committee of the Workers Defense League and as the first vice president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU). Brown was honored with the NAACP Leadership and Keeper of the Flame Awards, the CBTU Woman of Valor Award, the SCLC Drum Major for Justice Award and many others.

Brown and her husband, Alfred Brown, have a son, Alfred, Jr.

On Monday, August 18, the ATU is hosting an evening featuring Mama Foundation Harlem Gospel Choir and Midtown Men (the original Jersey Boys cast) at Radio City Music Hall. Doors open at 6:00 pm and the show will start at 7:00 pm and last until approximately 10:00 pm. Radio City is a short walk (5-7 minutes and .3 miles) from the Convention at the Hilton Midtown hotel. Casual attire is recommended.

The exhibit will showcase the collaborative program between ATU International, ATU Local 113, the Toronto Transit Commission, and Centennial College focusing on making buses safer for workers and riders through the implementation and evaluation of innovative technologies and design concepts. There will information shared on shaker table seat testing, data from fully enclosed workstation barrier pilots, and discussion of blind spot evaluation and mitigation. Please stop by to hear more about this vital work and to tell us what vehicle safety improvements you want to see.

Melvin, who was already a member of the CBTU national executive council and a founding member of the CBTU Buffalo Chapter, acknowledged Lucy’s towering legacy. “Nobody can ever replace Bill Lucy. He is a beloved icon around the world. That’s why I am so humbled to have the privilege of holding the office he defined for so many years with brilliance, guts and grace.”

Melvin began his union career in 1980 as a member of CSEA Local 427 in Western New York. He quickly rose through the ranks of CSEA, a statewide union representing over 250,000 public and private sector workers throughout New York. He became the youngest CSEA local president in December 1983, when he was elected to lead CSEA Local 427 at age 21. In 1996, CSEA President Danny Donohue appointed Melvin as his executive assistant, making him responsible for the day-to-day activities in the president’s office.

Since being elected secretary-treasurer of the 2.5 million-member New York State AFL-CIO in 2007, Melvin has championed the development of strong ties between labor, religious organizations and community partners. With this, in December 2008, he spearheaded the development of the NYS AFL-CIO Community Outreach Department, which he oversees the day-to-day operations.

In the political arena, Melvin has worked continuously to increase voter registration as well as to promote get-out-the-vote drives. He is also active in national, state, local, city and school board elections.

After starting the CBTU Buffalo Chapter, Melvin was elected in 1996 to be director of CBTU Region One, which represents trade unionists in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Ontario, Canada.  Since then, he was regularly re-elected due to his tireless work to increase communication and activism throughout Region One.  He was also focused on creating sustainable chapters in the region.   During his tenure, CBTU Region One grew from five to nine active chapters.

In his acceptance remarks after taking the oath of office, Melvin warned CBTU members not to fall into the trap of nostalgia or complacency.   “We cannot rely on CBTU’s golden legacy to protect our collective bargaining rights today. We must fight like hell now – again and again.

Our place in the voting booth is not reserve, either. We must fight voter suppression tactics all over the country.”

Melvin, who was born in 1962, said, “We must continue to do the work of keeping CBTU relevant, if we intend to hold onto the gains we’ve made over the years. Doing the work means getting back to basics – constantly recruiting new members, building stronger chapters and becoming self-sufficient financially.”

Melvin got a standing ovation when he pledged “CBTU is going to re-elect our brother, our cousin, our brilliant President, Barack Obama, by doing whatever is necessary!”

Melvin is an ordained Baptist Minister.  He serves as Associate Minister and Assistant to the Pastor at Second Baptist Church, Lackawanna, New York.

He is a graduate of the Rochester Center for Theological and Biblical Studies with a Bachelors Degree in Ministry.  He is married to Sonja Marie Melvin, and has three children:  Candice, Terrence II and Crystal; and one granddaughter, Cadence.

CBTU, which is dedicated to addressing the unique concerns of black workers and their communities, has 50 chapters in major U.S. cities and one in Ontario, Canada.

Stephen Cotton is General Secretary of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), a global union federation of 740 trade unions representing nearly 16.5 million transport workers in over 150 countries in the maritime, port, aviation, road, rail and urban transport sectors. He was elected to the position at the 43^rd ITF Congress held in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 2014, and re-elected twice: at the 44^th Congress in Singapore, 2018, and at the 46^th Congress in Marrakech, 2024, the first ITF Congress to be held in the Arab World.

Under his leadership, the ITF has transformed into a proactive campaigning organisation, allowing the ITF and its affiliates to secure industry-leading contracts and protocols with key multinational companies in the transport sector.

Cotton is a Trustee of the ITF Seafarers’ Trust and serves on the United Seamen’s Service (USS) governing body.

In 2021, Cotton was appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to serve as a Member of the Board of the UN Global Compact, an initiative that mobilises industry leaders globally to do business responsibly and improve the state of society.

He chaired the Council of Global Unions (CGU) between 2019 and 2023, a particularly challenging time for trade unions globally. In 2014, Cotton received the USS Admiral of the Ocean Sea (AOTOS) Award, in recognition of his work defending the well-being and fair treatment of seafarers.

Tim Drea is President of the Illinois AFL-CIO.  In July 2024, he was re-elected to a four-year term as Illinois AFL-CIO President by the delegates attending the organization’s 46^th Constitutional Convention.

The son of a coal miner in Central Illinois, Tim followed his father and worked as a coal miner for eleven years. As a coal miner, Tim was a member of UMWA Local 9819 and served as Recording Secretary and a member of the Coal Miners' Political Action Committee for UMWA District 12. He received his BA in Political Studies at Sangamon State University in Springfield and joined the Senate Democratic Staff where he served as the Executive Committee Staff person for Senator Emil Jones, Jr. In 1996, he joined Local 881 as the Legislative and Political Director.

A veteran of the United States Marine Corps, Tim resides in Springfield with his wife Elizabeth. He has four children, Andrew, Bridget, Lillian, and Jack.

Laura Walton is the President of the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL), Canada’s largest provincial labour federation. She was elected to the position at the OFL Enough is Enough 17th Biennial Convention in 2023.

Laura served as president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ Ontario School Boards Council of Unions (OSBCU) starting in 2019. In addition to her role with OSBCU, Laura also served on the CUPE Ontario Executive Board.

With a firm belief in the equalizing power of inclusive public education, Laura led her 55,000 coworkers across Ontario to withdraw their labour for two days in November 2022 in protest of the Ford government using the notwithstanding clause to ram through legislation that imposed a contract on CUPE education workers.

Frontline workers, a united labour movement, and overwhelming community support compelled a Conservative majority in the provincial legislature to repeal its anti-worker Bill 28 in record time. The lowest-paid education workers ultimately resisted concessions and negotiated a $1 per hour pay increase each year for four years after a decade of legislated wage erosion.

Laura is proud of her rural roots growing up in Belleville where she worked in radio and marketing and supported children with special needs as an educational assistant. Previously she served as president of CUPE Local 1022 which represents the education workers of Hastings and Prince Edward County District School Board.

Charles Wowkanech is the leader of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO, an organization that unites the voices of more than 1 million union members and their families across the state of New Jersey in pursuit of social and economic justice for all workers. For generations, the labor movement has served as the primary vehicle for workers to exercise their collective voice and secure equitable and just terms of employment. Wowkanech’s vision to unite, organize, and politically engage working people ensures the continued advancement of this mission.

As a result of the many innovations championed by Wowkanech, the New Jersey State AFL-CIO remains one of the most successful labor movements in the nation. For example, the Labor Candidates Program, which provides formal training and support to union members seeking election to public office every year, has achieved more than 1,134 election victories, giving working people in New Jersey an unparalleled voice in shaping public policy.

Wowkanech’s commitment to lifting up workers’ voices is by no means limited to the political process. His efforts to build the labor movement focus on promoting union solidarity, safeguarding collective bargaining rights, creating sustainable middle-class jobs, and empowering the next generation of union leaders. Wowkanech also led efforts to create two immigrant naturalization centers, furthering labor’s commitment to diversity and ensuring equality of opportunity for all.

Wowkanech began his labor career as a second-generation member of International Union of Operating Engineers Local 68, working on a start-up crew at a Newark airport. By age 21, he was the youngest member ever appointed to the local’s Executive Board in its more than 100-year history. Wowkanech joined the New Jersey State AFL-CIO in 1990 as Assistant to the President. He then served as Secretary-Treasurer before becoming President on January 5, 1997. He was unanimously re-elected to four-year terms in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2024. In 2017, during the 28th National AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention, Wowkanech was elected to a four-year term as one of 55 vice presidents on the AFL-CIO Executive Council, and he remains one of only two state federation presidents on the body. In 2019, Gov. Phil Murphy appointed Wowkanech as a member of New Jersey’s Future of Work Task Force.

"New York, New York, it's a wonderful town. The Bronx is up, but the Battery is"… always running! See all the sights that make the "Big Apple" so special - Rockefeller Center, Times Square, Macy's, Chinatown, SoHo, Greenwich Village, Little Italy - and much, much more. You will see all this on a bus tour designed to introduce you to the history, the sights, the cultural attractions and the ethnic diversity and contributions of the many minorities who call New York their home.

Upper Manhattan / Harlem is graced with parks, wide boulevards, and rows of fine brownstones, handsome churches, flourishing artistic and educational institutions. Experience the diversity and richness of these communities on a bus tour and learn about the history, revitalization, art, and future of these neighborhoods.

With its combination of breathtaking views and living history, the Statue of Liberty Museum stands as an inspiring and dynamic part of the Liberty Island experience, inviting visitors to dive into the story behind the sculpture and immerse themselves in unique artifacts. Opened in 2019, the 26,000 square-foot museum is a destination unto itself. Beautifully designed, universally accessible, and housing an extraordinary and engaging collection of American heirlooms, the Museum enhances visits to the Island with interactive exhibits that enable visitors to explore the Statue’s grandeur without the need for additional advanced reservations or tickets. Transportation to/from Liberty Island includes ferry and bus.

The exhibit will showcase the collaborative program between ATU International, ATU Local 113, the Toronto Transit Commission, and Centennial College focusing on making buses safer for workers and riders through the implementation and evaluation of innovative technologies and design concepts. There will information shared on shaker table seat testing, data from fully enclosed workstation barrier pilots, and discussion of blind spot evaluation and mitigation. Please stop by to hear more about this vital work and to tell us what vehicle safety improvements you want to see.

Sheela Naikwade, is the first woman to be elected as an executive member of India's MSTKS, Maharashtra State Bus Workers' Union.

Elected the IAFF’s 10th General President at the IAFF 55th Convention in March 2021, Edward A. Kelly is the son, grandson, brother, nephew and cousin of fire fighters. Kelly previously served as the IAFF’s 11th General Secretary-Treasurer from 2016-2021.

Kelly joined the Boston Fire Department as a fire fighter/EMT in 1997, where he was assigned to Ladder Company 17 in Boston’s South End. In 1999, he was assigned to the Technical Rescue team that assisted Worcester Local 1009 at the Cold Storage Warehouse fire, which claimed the lives of six IAFF Local 1009 members. Kelly was also among the thousands of fire fighters at Ground Zero after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the World Trade Center and responded to the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.

Kelly rapidly climbed the ranks of organized labor and is known and respected for his strong dedication to the rank-and-file members of the IAFF and his visionary leadership across the labor movement. He served as president of Boston, MA Local 718 in one of the most contentious times in the local’s history, engaging in a bitter duel with the city’s administration over the local’s collective bargaining rights. He went on to become president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts in 2011, a post he held until his election as IAFF General Secretary-Treasurer.

During his tenure as General Secretary-Treasurer, Kelly implemented multiple programs to support IAFF local leaders, including overseeing the development and implementation of IAFF System Management Active Response Technology (SMART), which provides communication and database tools to the IAFF affiliates in the United States and Canada. Kelly also implemented innovative new processes to streamline dues collection from affiliates. As treasurer, Kelly made organizational changes in healthcare and other expense reductions, which saved approximately $2 million. Kelly also made changes to ensure compliance with various oversight and regulatory obligations to protect the union from scrutiny.

As the recordkeeper for the International, Kelly modernized the operations of the General Secretary-Treasurer’s office, while preserving the long history of the IAFF by making every historical record within his office available to members. He instituted policies and procedures that resulted in greater transparency and trust across the membership of the IAFF.

A graduate of the Harvard Trade Union Program class of 2015, he was named Labor Leader of the Year by the Greater Boston Labor Council. Kelly was appointed by the governor of Massachusetts to serve as a commissioner at the Department of Fire Services, as well as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Group Insurance Commission, one of the largest healthcare purchasers in the Northeast. Kelly also served as the elected Executive Vice President of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO.

As part of Kelly’s charitable efforts, he is a co-founder and member of the Board of Directors for Massachusetts Iraq and Afghanistan Fallen Heroes and a trustee for the Boston Fire Department Charitable Association, first established in 1828 to ensure proper burial for indigent fire fighters and which now assists widows and widowers of fire fighters of modest means.

A proud military veteran, Kelly served as a fire fighter in the U.S. Air Force.

As an active fire fighter, Kelly brings a direct connection from the rank-and-file IAFF members in firehouses and fire halls across both countries to the very top of their union.

Elise Bryant served for over 18 years as Michigan’s trade union community both as an educator and cultural worker. A lifetime member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Elise organized Michigan’s first Latino Workers Leadership Institute and coordinated the Michigan Summer School for Women Workers as well as the Black Men in Unions Institute. She joined the National Writers Union and began her screenwriting career with a script for the documentary, Porgy and Bess: an American Voice which aired last year on PBS. After working for 35 years as a labor educator, Elise retired from her professorship at the National Labor College to start her own consulting service, the E.L.I.S.E. Consortium. She also founded the D.C. Labor Chorus, is the current executive director of the Labor Heritage Foundation and in 2017, became the President of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW).

Saru Jayaraman is the President of One Fair Wage and Director of the Food Labor Research Center at University of California, Berkeley. After 9/11/01, together with displaced World Trade Center workers, she co-founded the Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC), which grew into a national movement of restaurant workers, employers and consumers. In 2013, she launched One Fair Wage as a national campaign to end all subminimum wages in the United States. The story of Saru and her colleagues' work has been chronicled in the book The Accidental American, and the story of the One Fair Wage campaign has been profiled in the documentary films Waging Change and The Great American Lie, by CA First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom. Saru is a graduate of Yale Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She was profiled in the New York Times “Public Lives” section in 2005, named one of Crain’s “40 Under 40” in 2008, was 1010 Wins’ “Newsmaker of the Year” and New York Magazine’s “Influentials” of New York City. She was listed in CNN’s “Top10 Visionary Women” and recognized as a Champion of Change by the White House in 2014, a James Beard Foundation Leadership Award in 2015, and the SF Chronicle ‘Visionary of the Year’ in 2019. Saru authored Behind the Kitchen Door (Cornell University Press, 2013), a national bestseller, Forked: A New Standard for American Dining (Oxford University Press, 2016),  Bite Back: People Taking on Corporate Food and Winning (UC Press, 2020); and One Fair Wage: Ending Subminimum Pay in America (New Press, 2021).  She has appeared on CNN with Soledad O’Brien, Bill Moyers Journal on PBS, Melissa Harris Perry and UP with Chris Hayes on MSNBC, Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO, the Today Show, and NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.  She attended the Golden Globes in January 2018 with Amy Poehler as part of the Times Up action to address sexual harassment.

Charles Wowkanech is the leader of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO, an organization that unites the voices of more than 1 million union members and their families across the state of New Jersey in pursuit of social and economic justice for all workers. For generations, the labor movement has served as the primary vehicle for workers to exercise their collective voice and secure equitable and just terms of employment. Wowkanech’s vision to unite, organize, and politically engage working people ensures the continued advancement of this mission.

As a result of the many innovations championed by Wowkanech, the New Jersey State AFL-CIO remains one of the most successful labor movements in the nation. For example, the Labor Candidates Program, which provides formal training and support to union members seeking election to public office every year, has achieved more than 1,134 election victories, giving working people in New Jersey an unparalleled voice in shaping public policy.

Wowkanech’s commitment to lifting up workers’ voices is by no means limited to the political process. His efforts to build the labor movement focus on promoting union solidarity, safeguarding collective bargaining rights, creating sustainable middle-class jobs, and empowering the next generation of union leaders. Wowkanech also led efforts to create two immigrant naturalization centers, furthering labor’s commitment to diversity and ensuring equality of opportunity for all.

Wowkanech began his labor career as a second-generation member of International Union of Operating Engineers Local 68, working on a start-up crew at a Newark airport. By age 21, he was the youngest member ever appointed to the local’s Executive Board in its more than 100-year history. Wowkanech joined the New Jersey State AFL-CIO in 1990 as Assistant to the President. He then served as Secretary-Treasurer before becoming President on January 5, 1997. He was unanimously re-elected to four-year terms in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2024. In 2017, during the 28th National AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention, Wowkanech was elected to a four-year term as one of 55 vice presidents on the AFL-CIO Executive Council, and he remains one of only two state federation presidents on the body. In 2019, Gov. Phil Murphy appointed Wowkanech as a member of New Jersey’s Future of Work Task Force.

A reception will be held on Wednesday, August 20, beginning at 7:00 pm and ending at 11:00 pm in the Grand Ballroom located on the 3rd floor at the Hilton Midtown. Passed heavy hors d'oeuvres, food stations, and entertainment will be included. Business/Cocktail attire is recommended.