NEW LEADERSHIP IN LABOR: Colorado AFL-CIO Elects President Jaramillo and Secretary-Treasurer Williams

First LGBTQ, Latino, Pueblo leadership for Colorado Labor Organization 

In a unanimous election, AFSCME Council 76 President Josette Jaramillo and IUPAT Local 79 Business Representative Mike Williams will assume their new positions as President and Secretary-Treasurer of the Colorado AFL-CIO effective immediately. President Jaramillo and Secretary-Treasurer Williams served on the Board and Council of the Colorado AFL-CIO for several years, and both are highly respected leaders within the labor movement.

            Jaramillo was born and raised in Pueblo, Colorado and educated in public schools. She is the granddaughter of a Steelworker and a proud member of AFSCME Local 1335. In 2008, Josette gained her first activism experience in her local union and subsequently became the elected President of her local, the President of the AFSCME state council, the recording secretary of the Southern Colorado Labor Council, and served on the Executive Council of the Colorado AFL-CIO. She will be the first President of the Colorado AFL-CIO to identify as LGBTQ, the first Latina, and the first President of the Colorado AFL-CIO to reside in Pueblo, Colorado.

            “I am excited to raise up working people in Colorado and across the country,” Jaramillo commented after being sworn in. “This movement has been a part of my life and my family for as long as any of us can remember, and I look forward to leading a movement that puts working people first.”

            Mike Williams started as an apprentice with IUPAT Local 79 in 1980 and has been with the local ever since. Since becoming a trained painter, Secretary-Treasurer Williams secured teach-tech class credentials to partner IUPATs apprenticeship program with Denver Public Schools.  In addition, Mike serves an OSHA instructor and teaches new apprentices in Colorado. In regards to his election, Mike stated, “I am looking forward to new leadership at the Colorado AFL-CIO and I am honored to be a part of it.”  Mike has lived in Colorado for almost six decades.

            The delegates of the Colorado AFL-CIO 2017 Constitutional Convention gave a standing ovation for the new leadership, as well as the newly elected Executive Board and Council. The entire elected slate of leaders will hold their first meeting within the next month.