Welcome!
Meet Our New Leader: Harriet Applegate
Harriet Applegate, a life-long union activist, was selected by the North Shore AFL-CIO (formerly the Cleveland AFL-CIO) to serve as our executive secretary, filling the vacancy caused when John Ryan announced he was leaving to function as Ohio Director for U. S. Senator Sherrod Brown. Applegate is the first woman to serve as the local Federation’s principal officer.
Applegate has served in a number of positions in the Cleveland and Cincinnati labor movement, including staff representative of the national AFL-CIO. Applegate has concentrated most of her efforts on improving labor’s political infrastructure and educating members on ‘common sense’ economics and the true cost of ‘free trade.’
“I look forward to working with our affiliated unions to continue to strengthen our labor movement, work with coalition partners to make our community better and to help workers organize,” said Applegate. “It’s a great honor to be given an opportunity to lead the Cleveland labor movement.”
Applegate is a graduate of the University of Rochester and has a masters from the University of Cincinnati. She has two grown sons and two grandchildren. She resides in Cleveland Heights.
The North Shore AFL-CIO represents over 120,000 workers and retirees from 136 affiliated unions. The split between AFL-CIO and Change-to-Win unions does not exist in Cleveland; both groups belong to the local AFL-CIO. The organization is the premier political organization, putting hundreds of workers on the street, mobilizes members in worksites with thousands of volunteers and make tens of thousands of phone calls during political campaigns.
Cleveland Labor United!
While we have the AFL-CIO and Change to Win at a national level, in Cleveland, we have one organization – and one labor movement. All unions who used to belong to our AFL-CIO, still belong – and more.
We thank our affiliates for their solidarity and work to make Greater Cleveland a better place to live.
Our major issues have been supporting workers’ right to organize into unions, public education and protecting community standards, including assuring construction work is performed by our sisters and brothers in the Cleveland Building Trades and supporting a diverse community.