State’s AFL-CIO leader to take Washington job
Lori J. Pelletier, the outspoken leader of the Connecticut AFL-CIO for the last five years, will leave to take a job in Washington, advising an insurance company on the coverage needs of organized labor groups.
Pelletier, the top labor leader in the state, was able to expand union membership at a time when organized labor is under siege throughout the country.
“The labor movement is in a good place in Connecticut,” Pelletier said in a phone interview Wednesday. “We have a tremendous movement here and it will continue to be robust. This was an big opportunity, so my family and I are moving to Washington.”
The second female president of the statewide federation of unions, Pelletier, 55, has led the group in political action and organizing, most notably in the recent New London debate for governor, in which she and fellow union members confronted Republicans including J.R. Romano, the GOP state chairman.
The first openly gay union officer in the nation, Pelletier was first elected in 2013 after serving 14 years as secretary-treasurer to John Olsen. Pelletier’s resignation takes effect Nov. 30, when she joins American Income Life, which sells insurance to labor unions, credit unions and their families.
“I’ll be working with national union leaders,” she said, adding that American Income Life is an asset for the national labor movement. “It’s a value-added part of collective bargaining, allowing workers to protect their families at home. It’s also a way to help workers in low-wage jobs.”
A 32-year member of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 700, Pelletier, a longtime Pratt & Whitney employee, will become vice president of American Income Life, and executive director of the American Income/ National Income Labor Advisory Board.
In a statement announcing her departure, the state AFL-CIO said that Pelletier was able to increase union membership in Connecticut to its highest level since the turn of the century, going from 207,000 union members in 2013, to 278,000 today.
She also encouraged union members to get involved in elective office. She campaigned in the state Capitol for higher minimum wages, better scrutiny of state business loans, and a bill requiring public schools to establish a labor-history curriculum.
Sal Luciano, the current executive vice president and former executive director of AFSCME Council 4, will serve as interim president until the executive board convenes to elect a new president to finish Pelletier’s current four-year term, which began last year and runs until 2021.