Arlene Holt Baker, AFL-CIO plan walk to Georgia State Capital

Labor leaders and politicians will be walking from Atlanta's King Center to the State Capital with AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker on April 4, 2011. The "Day of Solidarity" will commemorate the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"She is AMAZING," said Melissa Pike, chair of the Cobb County Democratic Party, about Baker in an email.

According to the AFL-CIO website, Baker's "commitment to activism on behalf of working families has been a source of strength that has empowered her to overcome challenges and disappointments that might have deterred a leader of lesser mettle."

Baker grew up in Ft. Worth, Texas and remembers the day when she heard President John F. Kennedy speak briefly before heading off in his motorcade.

“There was so much hope vested there,” Arlene recalls. “Because we had a president who believed in making things better.” Arlene was back in school by noon, where she heard over the intercom that President Kennedy had been shot. “By the time I got to geography class, they announced he was dead.”

One of seven children, Baker was inspired by her mother, Georgia Louise Leslie, a domestic worker who never dwelled on the fact that “we didn’t have much. She would always remind us that others were worse off. She sacrificed to pay her poll tax, her church tithe and her NAACP dues, and she really believed in volunteerism.”

Baker began her work in the labor movement with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) in Los Angeles in June 1972. She moved through the ranks as an organizer and international union representative and successfully organized public-sector workers in California, helping them win contracts that provided better wages and pay equity for women.

On September 21, 2007, Baker was unanimously approved to become Executive Vice President of the AFL-CIO, becoming the first African American to be elected to one of the federation’s three highest offices.

“We have the opportunity right now to ring in a new day for working people, especially women, people of color, the young, and all of those who have been shut out of the middle class by Wall Street,” she says. "We have the chance to bring new energy and new approaches to the challenges we face – to be as dynamic as possible in engaging young people and today’s diverse workforce at every level of our movement.”

In 2008, it was reported that the AFL-CIO had over 11 million members. The national organization is asking people across the U.S. to support workers fighting for middle-class jobs in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, and other states. For more information on the walk, contact the Georgia State AFL-CIO at 404-525-2793.

(Photos - AFL-CIO and Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)
©2011 Tomi Johnson. All rights reserved.