Shuler elected AFL-CIO president

The AFL-CIO Executive Council has elected Liz Shuler president of the federation of 56 unions, which has 12.5 million members. She is the first woman to hold the highest office in the labor federation's history. 

The Executive Council also elected United Steelworkers International (USW) Vice President Fred Redmond to succeed Shuler as secretary-treasurer. He is the first African American to hold the AFL-CIO's number two office. Tefere Gebre will continue to serve as executive vice president.

The election of Shuler and Redmond comes after the unexpected death of Richard Trumka on Aug. 5. He had served as AFL-CIO president since 2009.

That same year, Shuler became the first woman elected as the AFL-CIO's secretary-treasurer and the youngest woman ever on the federation’s Executive Council. As secretary-treasurer, she also served as the chief financial officer, turning deficits into surpluses and steering the federation through multiple fiscal crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, AFL-CIO officials said in a press release.

Redmond has been a USW member since 1973, when he joined Reynolds Metals Co. in Chicago. He became active in his local union almost immediately, serving as shop steward and eventually vice president. He served three terms as local president.

The AFL-CIO includes the Transportation Communications Union/IAM (TCU), which has 46,000 members in the United States, most of whom are employed in the rail industry. In 2012, the TCU affiliated with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.