Oregon Woman Elected President of National AFL-CIO

Liz Shuler becomes the first woman and first Oregonian to lead the 12.5 million-member labor group.

Flanders Crossing Construction in Northwest Portland. (Mick Hangland-Skill)
By Nigel Jaquiss

Liz Shuler, a Gladstone native and 1992 University of Oregon Journalism School graduate, today became the first woman and first Oregonian elected national president of the AFL-CIO.

Shuler’s election comes after the death of the 12.5 million-member organization’s longtime president, Richard Trumka. Trumka died Aug. 9 of a heart attack, the AFL-CIO said.

Shuler grew up in a union household as the daughter of a Portland General Electric lineman who was a member of the International Brother of Electrical Workers Local 125. Her mother also worked for PGE as an estimator, according to Shuler’s bio. Shuler began her career as an IBEW lobbyist in Salem, doing battle with Enron, which then owned PGE and wanted to deregulate Oregon’s electricity market. She quickly moved up to the regional and national levels and, in 2009, became the youngest woman elected to the AFL-CIO’s national council.

Here’s the speech Shuler gave upon election.

Liz Shuler Liz Shuler (AFL-CIO)

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