Washington, DCThroughout his life, as a local union officer, as the national president of AFGE, and as a vice president of the AFL-CIO, John Sturdivant exemplified the highest values and principles of union leadership. He combined a commitment to his duties and a compassion for workers’ goals with well-honed skills as a gifted organizer and strong negotiator. As a diligent union officer, he was determined to provide his members with a responsive, sound, well-managed union fully dedicated to answering their needs and empowering them with a strong voice in the workplace.
Inspired by his personal dedication to his own family and the experiences of his own life, John Sturdivant was passionately committed to advancing the well-being of all working families and guaranteeing to all working men and women the right to equal opportunities and the full enjoyment of their civil and human rights and social and economic justice.
As a lifelong unionist who was also a dedicated public servant, Sturdivant encouraged AFGE members to seek out opportunities in their agencies and through their union to improve their jobs so that they could better serve this nation and its citizens. He believed in the value of a mutual and equal partnership between employers and workers on the job, and in that belief, he demonstrated successfully that the best and only way to truly improve or reinvent government was by including federal workers as an integral part of every step of that process.
John Sturdivant brought the same diligence and high principles to his work as a vice president of the AFL-CIO, providing this Executive Council not only with wise counsel and skillful leadership but also with the benefits of his intelligence, wit and warm friendship.
The Executive Council of the AFL-CIO joins with the family and friends of our brother, John Sturdivant, and with the members of the American Federation of Government Employees in mourning his loss and in saluting his lifetime of dynamic, courageous and visionary service to the cause of justice, dignity, freedom and union for workers everywhere.