We congratulate our sister and friend, Gina Cooper, on her upcoming retirement as international vice president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), and thank her for her service on the Executive Council of the AFL-CIO.
Cooper’s career in the labor movement began in 1985, when she joined IBEW Local 357 in Las Vegas. Twenty years later, she was appointed international representative and served the international union in Washington, D.C., in the telecommunications and government departments. In 2010, she became the first woman to serve as director of Professional and Industrial Organizing for Membership Development, where she led and contributed to countless organizing wins.
Success followed her when she accepted an assignment to the fourth district in 2015, which was punctuated by the successful organizing drive at Baltimore Gas and Electric in 2017.
In 2020, Cooper was appointed as the fourth district international vice president, becoming the first woman to serve as an international vice president in the union’s history and a leading voice for all workers, especially for women and underrepresented groups throughout the United States and Canada.
In June 2022, Cooper was elected to the AFL-CIO Executive Council where her experience and insight from representing workers in a number of sectors was always welcome, but particularly on the Committee on Article XX Appeals.
On behalf of the nearly 15 million members of the AFL-CIO, the Executive Council thanks Gina Cooper for her service and solidarity, and we wish her a long, happy and healthy retirement.