WASHINGTON – Acting Secretary Julie Su and the U.S. Department of Labor paid tribute to nine labor unions representing nearly three million members, retirees and their families that have fought for workers’ rights for more than 100 years and inducted them on Sept. 17, 2024, into the department’s Century of Service Honor Roll of American Labor Organizations.
The newest additions to the honor roll are the American Train Dispatchers Association; Fraternal Order of Police; International Association of Fire Fighters; International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers; National Alliance of Postal and Federal Employees; National Federation of Federal Employees; National Postal Mail Handlers Union; Service Employees International Union; and United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers.
“For over 100 years, these unions have made our communities strong by delivering the mail, keeping us safe, making sure our trains and planes are running, delivering federal services, caring for our loved ones, building our homes, and then protecting them from fires, and leading the charge for social, economic and racial justice,” said Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su. “The work done by these unions doesn’t just write a chapter in the story of labor. It is the spine of the book in a story that continues to be written.”
After the induction, Acting Secretary Su led a panel discussion on the labor movement’s future and how to build on worker equity to create a multiracial, multicultural, multilingual, multigenerational movement that benefits all workers. The discussion highlighted commitments unions have made at the national and local levels to foster a diverse workforce, including pledging to increase the percentage of women in the building trades and establish committees for underrepresented workers to involve them in their local union’s work.