Labor Pool: Who Are The AFL-CIO's Future Leaders?
Recent conference in Natick aims to catch them when they're young
Beaudry says that as a kid he had little interest in school and always wanted to work with his hands. When he was 12 years old, his home burned down, and he and his family temporarily moved into a trailer on the site. He loved watching electricians, carpenters and, particularly, plumbers, rebuilding the house. Eventually he entered the trade himself.
Beaudry went on to marry his high school sweetheart and started a family young, and by the time he was 20 he had entered a union training program in the hopes of eventually earning good money, and benefits, to support them.
Couture took a different route to union membership. He got interested in politics as a teenager, and by the time he graduated from Clark University in Worcester he was a Democratic Party activist. To him, unions were an important part of the political movement he believed in, and when he got a job as a social security claims representative in Worcester, he immediately became an active member of the union there.
At 30, Beaudry is the business manager of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 4, covering Worcester County. Couture, 27, is president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 1164, representing social security employees around New England.
Looking Ahead
On Feb. 8 and 9, the two of them helped lead a meeting in Natick that included many other young union members from all different backgrounds. The event, which the Massachusetts AFL-CIO is calling its first annual Futures Convention, was designed to give union activists under 35 a chance to network, share skills and get ready to step up as the next leaders of the labor movement in the state.
Legislative and communications director Tim Sullivan said the unions are trying to correct a deficit in training and leadership development that is common in the labor movement.
"There's not that kind of methodical development of successors or future leaders," he said. "And there hasn't been that much of an impetus for younger leaders to get involved in the greater labor movement."
Both Beaudry and Couture said one of the most important aspects of the convention was the chance to meet their counterparts in different industries. Teachers, construction workers, nurses, police and factory workers talked to each other about the very different challenges they face, and about techniques for dealing with those challenges that might be applicable in other industries.
Not everyone taking part in the convention was as involved in their unions as Beaudry and Couture, and that was part of the whole point of the event. Leaders wanted to help potential activists learn about the political, organizing and public service aspects of the local labor movement.
That's something that doesn't always happen on its own. Beaudry and Couture are clearly ambitious and hardworking - Beaudry said he leaves his house at 6 a.m. and often doesn't get home until 10 or 11 at night - but they both said they were able to reach their current positions largely because of support and mentoring from older union leaders. Couture said he urges other young union members to reach out to current organizational leaders and ask for that kind of support.
"If you want to become more involved, you need to ask to become more involved," he said.
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