John J. Sweeney

John J. Sweeney was elected to a fourth term as president of the AFL-CIO at the Federation’s Constitutional Convention in July 2005.  He was first elected president in 1995 on a platform of revitalising the Federation, which has 52 affiliated unions and 10.5 million members, including 2 million members in Working America, its new community affiliate. The 1995 election was the first contested election in AFL-CIO history.

At the time of his election, John Sweeney was serving as president of the Service Employees International Union, which grew from 625,000 to 1.1 million members during the 15 years of his leadership. He was a vice-president of the AFL-CIO and chair of the AFL-CIO Executive Council committees on Health Care and Organizing and Field Services. He was elected SEIU president in 1980.

In May, 2000, John Sweeney was also elected president of the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC), an international organisation with consultative status at the OECD. TUAC's affiliates represent some 70 million workers and include over 55 national trade union centers in the 30 member countries of the OECD. TUAC co-ordinates worker and union input to the G8 economic summits.

John Sweeney's first job in the labour movement was with the International Ladies' Garment Workers, which later merged with the Clothing and Textile Workers Union. He joined SEIU Local 32B in New York City in 1961 as a union representative. He was elected president of Local 32B in 1976 and led two citywide strikes of apartment maintenance workers during the 1970's.

In 1996 he authored America Needs A Raise, Fighting for Economic Security and Social Justice, published by Houghton-Mifflin. He co-authored Solutions for the New Work Force in 1989 and co-edited the UNA-USA Economic Policy Council's Family and Work: Bridging the Gap in 1987.

John Sweeney was born 5 May 1934 in the Bronx. He graduated from Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y. with a degree in Economics. He holds honorary degrees from Oberlin College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the University of Baltimore, Catholic University Law School and the University of Toledo's College of Law. He lives in Washington with his wife Maureen, a former New York City school teacher. They have two grown children, John and Patricia.