AFSCME's Arlene Holt is nominated for AFL-CIO Executive Vice President

President John Sweeney informed the AFL-CIO Executive Council this week that Linda Chavez-Thompson intendeds to step down as Executive Vice President of the Federation effective September 21st and that he intends to nominate Arlene Holt to fill the unexpired term of office for the next two years.

Arlene Holt Baker’s experience as a union and grassroots organizer spans over 30 years. From the late 1970s to the mid-1990s she was a leader in California Democratic politics and worked as a union organizer and later international union area director in California for the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees.

In 1995 Holt Baker went to work for the AFL-CIO as executive assistant to Linda Chavez-Thompson, and later became assistant to the president of the AFL-CIO. From September 2004 until January 2006, Holt Baker served as president of Voices for Working Families, a nonpartisan voter education and mobilization organization. She returned to the AFL-CIO in January 2006 and as assistant to president John Sweeney, she oversees the AFL-CIO’s Gulf Coast recovery efforts. She has exceptional leadership skills and will be a powerful advocate for working families and unions.