Elizabeth Bunn has charted new territory at the United Auto Workers and on the AFL-CIO Executive Council.
In her two terms as secretary-treasurer of the UAW—the highest post held by a woman in the history of the union—she has dedicated herself to the first principles of trade unionism: helping working women and men organize and bargain union contracts. A pioneer in the organizing of graduate employees and other white collar workers, her strategic vision and creativity are credited with helping tens of thousands of people win better lives, from 6,000 workers at health care facilities in Ohio and Michigan to 4,000 employees of the State of Kentucky; from 18,000 academic workers at colleges and universities nationwide to 40,000 child care workers in Michigan. She played a critical role in helping workers secure their rights to majority sign-up at companies such as Lear and Johnson Controls.
Soon after she was first elected secretary-treasurer of her union, Bunn led a four-year campaign in which academic student workers at the University of Washington joined together and successfully organized into the UAW—and won a change in state law that permanently permits student workers to organize.
Bunn's experience at the negotiating table started early in her career with the UAW, when she helped bargain contracts in the Midwest for employees of the State of Michigan, the State of Indiana, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan and others. Later, she negotiated wide-ranging national contracts with employers including Alcoa, JCI Battery and Bosch.
The collective bargaining teams she has led are known as some of the most innovative in the union movement. Their achievements for their members have included child and elder care referral services, parental leave for school events, sick banks that allow workers to share leave time with other workers dealing with family emergencies and improved pay equity protections.
As a member of the AFL-CIO Executive Council, Bunn has contributed to the entire union movement on a diverse range of issues. She has served as a member of Council committees on Civil and Human Rights, Community Partnerships, Finance, Immigration, International Affairs, Political Education and the Health Care Reform Campaign. She chaired the Committee on Women Workers. She has won a reputation as one of the most persuasive advocates on the council for employees in the industrial sector as well as for white collar employees, and as an eloquent and effective leader for working women and people of color.
As Bunn prepares to retire from the UAW and steps down from the AFL-CIO Executive Council, we congratulate her for everything she has fought for and achieved in the UAW and the AFL-CIO, and we look forward to continuing to work together on behalf of working people.