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State AFL-CIO re-elects Roberts

District Council 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts was re-elected as one of the 50 vice presidents of the New York State AFL-CIO Executive Council on Aug. 18. Ms. Roberts has served as a vice president on the council since 2002.

“I am proud to represent our members and New York’s working families in the strongest and most diverse state labor federation in our country,” she said. With 2.5 million members, New York has the greatest membership of all the states in the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations, which includes 10 million workers in 56 national and international unions in the United States and Canada.

Championing social and economic change, the Executive Council charts labor’s course for legislative, political, and member-to-member strategies that are implemented statewide. It endorses candidates for state offices and the U.S. Congress and oversees the federation’s open financial process.

As a board member, Ms. Roberts supported the recent re-election of President Denis Hughes and the election of Terry Melvin as secretary- treasurer. In her capacity as a vice president, Roberts has worked on Workers’ Compensation reforms, the 9/11 health monitoring bill, extending unemployment benefits by 13 additional weeks, and labor’s plan for diversity and youth.