by Alondra Navarro

Yolanda Medina de Jesus, a proud Puertoriqueña, who hails from Brooklyn, New York has devoted much of her life to the labor movement. She has a passion for fighting for and assisting workers through education and providing them with necessary tools to be leaders in their unions and workplace. She now serves as the Director of the Education and Leadership Training Department for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees International Union (AFSCME), AFL-CIO. In her time working in the labor movement she has helped train hundreds of workers in the United States and Puerto Rico through education and leadership training. Many of the people who have gone through De Jesus’ trainings and workshops have moved on and become organizers and leaders in their respective unions. “To see union members leadership development, it’s one the most fulfilling things in this job” said De Jesus, when I met with her this Spring.

De Jesus brought out a pamphlet from Puerto Rico where she was part of the founding team of organizers in AFSCME’s campaign to organize public employees in Puerto Rico, now Council 95-Servidores Públicos Unidos de Puerto Rico.While looking at the pamphlet, she excitedly shouted, “Oh, those are our members in action!” Her passion in training workers about their rights, helping them gain educational skills, and teaching them how to succeed in their workforce is contagious. It makes anyone want to join the fight to organize unorganized workers. She explained she gets the best of both worlds, educating and helping workers, and that there is no place she would rather be!  De Jesus even said, “I hope to stay involved in my union even after I retire.” With the labor movement, De Jesus believes racial, social, economic justice can be achieved.

De Jesus’ drive for workers’ rights did not develop from the very beginning of her career. In her trajectory, as a first generation student and person of color herself, she saw the importance of mentoring. Her work as a higher education student counselor showed her the importance of guiding first generation students. It wasn’t until 1988 when she entered the labor movement in a joint labor initiative program sponsored by an AFSCME affiliate in NYC, District Council 1707, and the Consortium for Worker Education (CWE) as the program’s director. She later became DC1707’s Education Director. In 1993, she had the opportunity to attend the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute, it was there where she was bitten by the union “organizing bug” and realized that working with workers through education and organizing was something she wanted to do more of. This opportunity prepared her to join a team of union organizers who participated in the AFL-CIO’s largest organizing campaign of public employees in Puerto Rico. She proudly explains she had the best of both worlds by having the opportunity to work directly with members of her own community, New York City and Puerto Rico, through a campaign with public employees; she worked first to help pass laws for collective bargaining and then to organize workers.

De Jesus encourages others to join the labor movement because it is a place where workers are able to unionize and can use this as the vehicle to have a voice in the workplace. While there are many organizations to assist workers, it is in unions where you can really have a voice in the workplace when injustices are committed, equalize the balance of power, and bargain collectively for the conditions that can contribute to better quality of life. One piece of advice she has for young women who are thinking of joining the labor movement is to, “Get involved in the labor movement. Despite the right wing attacks on unions, the labor movement is here to stay.Where you have workers and bosses, unions are needed, ” Furthermore, she advises women to look for a job with a union. It’s an opportunity where you can get some degree of security and fairness.

De Jesus continues to commit to the long fight alongside workers to ensure their voices are being heard. De Jesus says she couldn’t have done all that she has accomplished without the help and support of her union-AFSCME, her family, husband, children, and her number one supporter, her mother.

Alondra Navarro is a WILL Empower intern and will graduate from Georgetown University in May 2019.