Silver Spring, MD – ATU International President John A. Costa has named Jessica Chu, AFL-CIO Associate General Counsel and former ATU Associate General Counsel, as ATU Chief of Staff and Special Counsel.
“I welcome Jessica back to the ATU in her new role as Chief of Staff and Special Counsel,” said Costa. “She is a brilliant lawyer, an innovative thinker with strong experience in labor law, litigation and governance, bringing an in-depth understanding of our Union, our issues and concerns impacting our members. I had the opportunity to work with Jessica when she was at the ATU and have always been impressed with her knowledge and insight.”
At the AFL-CIO, Chu served as an Associate General Counsel and the Managing Counsel of the AFL-CIO’s Lawyers Coordinating Committee (LCC). She provided legal counsel to the AFL-CIO’s executive officers and senior staff on a wide range of governance and policy issues, as well as on various litigation before the courts and administrative agencies. Chu also developed advocacy for federal, state and local legislation and executive branch initiatives to advance workers’ rights and opposition to such legislation and initiatives that curtails workers’ rights.
As the Managing Counsel of the LCC, which is a membership organization composed of approximately 2,000 union-side labor lawyers in the U.S., Chu was responsible for conceiving, coordinating and expanding the LCC’s educational programs for labor lawyers at every level of experience; serving as a resource to the union lawyer community; promoting unions and the practice of union-side labor law; advancing diversity in the labor bar; and contributing to the knowledge, skill and activism of LCC members in order to better support the labor movement and its work.
Prior to the AFL-CIO, Chu was Associate General Counsel at ATU for over 8 years where she provided legal advice and strategic guidance to International and Local union officers on a wide array of matters, including collective bargaining, organizing, federal and state labor laws, employment laws, federal safety laws and regulations and internal union administration, and enforced unique and critical labor protective rights afforded to transit workers under the Federal Transit Act. Chu graduated from Northeastern University School of Law in 2007 and is licensed to practice law in Washington, D.C. and California.
“I am honored and proud to be back with the ATU,” said Chu. “International President Costa has shown true leadership, vision and compassion in the wake of the tragic deaths of ATU International President Larry Hanley and International Secretary-Treasurer Oscar Owens, and in handling the recent strikes in Martha’s Vineyard and Northern Virginia. I look forward to working with him, IEVP Javier Perez, IST Ken Kirk, the GEB and all the Locals in the U.S. and Canada.”