LINDA CHAVEZ-THOMPSON

1944-

A force of nature who annihilated the glass ceiling in the local, state, and national union movement, Linda Chavez-Thompson is a living monument to the power of unions in building a better life.

One of several children of a sharecropper family in West Texas, Chavez-Thompson hoed cotton beginning at the age of 10, but her life turned when she became a secretary at Construction Laborers Local 1253. Chavez-Thompson’s leadership ability kicked in quickly as she undertook disaster relief and organizing. She organized city workers in Lubbock and soon went to work for AFSCME, which later moved her to San Antonio. A cascade of leadership positions followed, including positions on the Texas AFL-CIO Executive Board as Executive Director of AFSCME Texas Council 42.

Chavez-Thompson’s accomplishments in Texas drew national notice. In 1993, she became a vice president of the AFL-CIO. In 1995, John Sweeney asked her to inaugurate the position of Executive Vice President of the national labor federation. She is the first woman as well as the first person of color elected to a top national AFL-CIO office. For a dozen years, Chavez-Thompson traveled the nation, delivering an unvarnished raising wages message. Among the pioneering perspectives that she brought to the AFL-CIO was an inclusive policy on immigration that recognizes the importance of enforcing full labor rights for undocumented workers.

A lifelong Democrat, Chavez-Thompson has served on the Democratic National Committee and continues to be a major cog in San Antonio campaigns. In 2010, she ran for Lieutenant Governor, scoring a political upset to garner the Democratic nomination. Though she lost in the general election, she received strong support from the labor community.

Chavez-Thompson is the widow of Robert Thompson, who led the Amalgamated Transit Union in San Antonio. She is a mother and grandmother, but also a Sister to all in the labor movement.