The AFL-CIO Executive Council recognizes the distinguished service of Bonnie Castillo, RN, former executive director of National Nurses United (NNU).
A California native, Castillo worked as a critical care nurse in Sacramento for 14 years, where she played a key role in helping organize her hospital before joining the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC) staff in 1998. For the next two decades, she worked her way up through the organization’s ranks, from staff organizer to director of government relations.
In 2018, she became the executive director of both CNA/NNOC and NNU, the first Latina to lead both organizations.
As executive director, Castillo navigated the union through the COVID-19 pandemic and the national public health emergency, and was a fierce advocate for proper personal protective equipment for nurses and other health care workers.
Castillo was a leading voice for nurse and patient safety, advocating for safe staffing levels and increased protections from infectious disease and workplace violence, both on Capitol Hill and at the bargaining table. She also was a passionate advocate for patients and for increasing access to affordable health care.
She played an instrumental role in securing new labor agreements with some of the country’s largest health care providers and firmly believed in using collective power for social change.
Castillo brought that same passion to her work on the Executive Council, serving as a member on a number of committees and as chair of the Committee on Women Workers. She was a persistent champion of worker and human rights, and served the labor movement and America’s working people with a deep commitment. The AFL-CIO Executive Council wishes Bonnie Castillo well in her next endeavors.