2024 ATU Legislative Conference

Julie Su became Acting Secretary of Labor on March 11, 2023. She was previously confirmed by the Senate to serve as the deputy secretary of labor on July 13, 2021. As deputy secretary, she served as the de-facto chief operating officer for the department, overseeing its workforce, managing its budget and executing the priorities of the secretary of labor.

Prior to joining the U.S. Department of Labor, Acting Secretary Su served as the secretary for the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency. The LWDA enforces workplace laws, combats wage theft, ensures health and safety on the job, connects Californians to quality jobs and career pathways, and administers unemployment insurance, workers compensation and paid family leave.

Su is a nationally recognized expert on workers' rights and civil rights who has dedicated her distinguished legal career to advancing justice on behalf of poor and disenfranchised communities and is a past recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant.

As California labor commissioner from 2011 through 2018, Su enforced the state's labor laws to ensure a fair and just workplace for both employees and employers. A report on her tenure released in May 2013 found that her leadership resulted in a renaissance in enforcement activity and record-setting results. In 2014, she launched the first "Wage Theft Is a Crime" multimedia, multilingual statewide campaign to reach out to low-wage workers and their employers to help them understand their rights and feel safe speaking up about labor law abuses.

Prior to her appointment as California labor commissioner, Acting Secretary Su was the litigation director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles, the nation's largest non-profit civil rights organization devoted to issues affecting the Asian American community. Su is known for pioneering a multi-strategy approach that combines successful impact litigation with multiracial organizing, community education, policy reform, coalition building and media work.

Frequently named to top-lawyer lists such as the Daily Journal's "Top 75 Women Litigators" in California and California Lawyer's "Super Lawyers," she was the first labor commissioner to be included among the Daily Journal's "Top 75 Labor and Employment Lawyers." She has also been named one of the 50 most noteworthy women alumni of Harvard Law School and one of the 100 most influential people in Los Angeles in Los Angeles Magazine.

Su has taught at UCLA Law School and Northeastern Law School. She is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School and began her career with a Skadden Fellowship. Su speaks Mandarin and Spanish.

Jeff Shaffer, President/Business Agent, Local 1277
Lionel Randolph, President/Business Agent, Local 1436
Lillian Brents, President/Business Agent, Local 1447
George DeCuir, President/Business Agent, Local 1546
Lance Logenbohn, President/Business Agent, Local 1001
Bob Bean, President/Business Agent, Local 1433
Orlando Riley, Chairman, NJ State Council
Raenelle Cole, Shop Steward, Local 1764

Locals 22 - 689: Statler A, Locals 694 - 1015: Statler B, Locals 1027 - 1385: Senate, Locals 1433 – 1777: Congressional

Nik Martelaro, Carnegie Mellon University
Sarah Fox, Carnegie Mellon University
Amanda Ballantyne, Director of AFL-CIO’s Technology Institute and Working for America Institute
Matt Colvin, AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department
Jeff Rosenberg, ATU Government Affairs Director

In his ninth term in the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's Fourth Congressional District – which encompasses parts of DeKalb and Newton counties and all of Rockdale County – Congressman Hank Johnson has distinguished himself as a substantive, effective lawmaker and a leading national progressive voice. Named one of the most effective Democrats in Congress by a University of Virginia and University of Vanderbilt study, Rep. Johnson has proven his ability to get things done.

A senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Johnson has introduced, co-sponsored and passed legislation to level the playing field for everyday Americans. His bills that protect consumers and citizens' civil liberties include the FAIR Act and the Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act (SMLEA). SMLEA is part of the historic George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which was the Congressional Black Caucus's response to police and vigilante violence against African Americans across the country.

As the former chair and now ranking member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet, Congressman Johnson is the leading voice in the House on court reform -- particularly the Supreme Court. Even before the 6-3 right-wing supermajority took control of the court, Rep. Johnson proposed legislation to expand the court (Judiciary Act), require that the justices follow a code of ethics, transparency and recusal standards (SCERT) and establish term limits (TERM Act). 

Rep. Johnson's other court reform legislation includes transparency measures for amicus briefs (AMICUS Act), modernizing the federal courts' record systems (21st Century Courts & Open Courts Act), expanding district courtships (District Courts Judgeships Act) and requiring the courts to protect their employees from workplace harassment (Judicial Accountability Act). 

As a champion for digital inclusion and an open Internet, Rep. Johnson has pushed to empower low-income and minority communities through digital rights, broadband access, and equality of opportunity online when he was ranking member of the subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law (RRCAL now known as ACAL).

In January 2021, Rep. Johnson was named as a member to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, the main investigative committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2019, Rep. Johnson was elected by his peers to lead the Judiciary Subcommittee – Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet. The subcommittee has jurisdiction over administration of U.S. Courts, federal rules of evidence, civil and appellate procedure, judicial ethics, patent, copyright and trademark law, information technology and the Internet.

In 2017 at the launch of the 115th Congress, Rep. Johnson landed a coveted seat on the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee (T&I).

As a former member of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Johnson became a leading national voice for the demilitarization of local law enforcement agencies in 2014 after police donned camouflage tactical gear and climbed aboard heavily armored vehicles to confront peaceful protestors in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, in the aftermath of the shooting death of an unarmed teenager. To help restore trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve, he filed the Police Accountability Act and the Grand Jury Reform Act in the wake of police shooting deaths of unarmed black men across the country.

In 2010, Rep. Johnson was a member of the prosecution team in the impeachment trial of New Orleans U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Porteous Jr., resulting in the first impeachment and conviction of a federal judge in more than two decades. In 2016, Rep. Johnson earned an honorary doctorate from his beloved alma mater Clark Atlanta University.

Prior to taking his seat in Congress in 2006, Rep. Johnson practiced criminal defense law in Georgia for twenty-seven (27) years. He served twelve (12) years as a magistrate judge, and five (5) years as a county commissioner.

Rep. Johnson is married to DeKalb County Commissioner Mereda Davis Johnson and has two adult children.

U.S. Representative Jesús G. "Chuy" García proudly represents the Fourth Congressional District of Illinois. He was sworn into office on January 3, 2019, during the 116th Congress.

Throughout his career, Congressman García has been a progressive voice fighting to improve the lives of his working-class neighbors, many of whom are immigrants like him. He is a coalition builder committed to empowering youth and expanding access to quality education, affordable housing, and economic opportunity.

He currently serves as a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He is a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), the Congressional Equality Caucus, Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, and New Americans Caucus. He is also the founder the Future of Transportation Caucus.

Congressman García was born in Los Pinos, a small village in the Mexican state of Durango. He is the youngest of four children raised by his mother while his father worked in the United States, first under the WWII-era bracero program and later at a cold-storage plant in Chicago. In 1965, Congressman García and his family immigrated to the United States with permanent resident status. He still remembers his first American meal: a bologna sandwich from a roadside diner in Texas.

Prior to his election to Congress in November of 2018, Congressman García was a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners. As Commissioner, he opposed housing discrimination against disadvantaged communities, raised the minimum wage, and mandated that County employees have access to paid sick leave. He also passed an ordinance ending Cook County's cooperation with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE). The measure was the first of its kind in the nation and set an example followed by more than 250 localities.

Congressman García began organizing for workers' rights and more inclusive city services during his college years at University of Illinois in Chicago (UIC). He first entered political life in 1984, when he was elected Committeeman of the Cook County Democratic Party. He quickly earned recognition as a coalition builder between Chicago's Latino and African American communities.

Soon afterward, Congressman García was elected to represent Chicago's 22nd Ward on the City Council. During his time as Alderman, Congressman García prevented non-attorney immigration practitioners from levying unreasonable fees. In 1986, he became the Chairman for the Council's Committee on Aviation, where he helped implement the Automated Guideway Transit (ATG) at O'Hare International Airport.

Mr. García also served as State Senator of Illinois' 1st District. In 1993, he passed the Language Assistance Services Act, which requires hospitals and long-term care facilities to provide resources for effective communication with limited-English-speaking and deaf patients.

In 2015, Congressman García became the first Chicago mayoral candidate to push a sitting mayor into a run-off.

Congressman García still lives in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago with his beloved wife Evelyn and has three adult children.

Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski is a lifelong champion for working families, a Springfield resident and the proud Representative for Illinois’ 13th Congressional District.

A native of  Illinois, Nikki knows that our communities thrive when the middle class is strong. But for too long, working hard and playing by the rules hasn’t been paying off like it should. She believes that families deserve better, and she’s spent her entire career fighting to help restore the American Dream for people like her grandpa, a union painter, and her grandma, a public school teacher.

That’s why she joined the labor movement, and fought to get firefighters, grocery workers and meatpackers better training, wages and workplace safety protections. It’s why she led negotiations to raise Illinois’ minimum wage to $15 an hour and chaired the Broadband Advisory Board to expand internet access to rural communities. And it’s why she helped the Biden-Harris Administration implement the American Rescue Plan and establish the Made in America Office to create jobs and strengthen our economy.

Nikki joined Congress in 2023 to build on that work. As she brings the voices of people in Central and Southern Illinois to Washington, she’s focused on putting their needs over petty politics, reaching for compromise and delivering results for the communities she serves.

Nikki graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign – a school she’s now honored to represent.

Rep. Veasey is an advocate for Texas' middle-class families and is committed to creating jobs, improving public education, fighting for immigration reform, and ensuring access to quality healthcare and women's reproductive rights.

Congressman Veasey was appointed in the 118^th Congress to serve on the Energy and Commerce and House Armed Services Committees. Prior to his committee appointment, Rep. Veasey served on the Small Business Committee, and the Committee on Science Space and Technology.

Throughout his time in Congress, Rep. Veasey founded the first Congressional Voting Rights Caucus to address the immediate need to eliminate the barriers and discrimination too many Americans face at the polls. In the 117th Congress, he accepted his appointment as an Assistant and Regional Whip. In the 118^th Congress, the Congressman was appointed to serve as a Whip for the Gun Violence Prevention Taskforce.

Rep. Veasey is currently a member of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, Congressional Black Caucus and the New Democrat Coalition. He also co-launched the Blue Collar Caucus with Congressman Brendan Boyle to find solutions to problems too many middle-class Americans are facing. The Blue Collar Caucus supports unions and focuses on addressing wage stagnation, offshoring, and job insecurity for those in the manufacturing and building trades.

First elected to the Texas State House in 2004, Congressman Veasey represented District 95 – an area now part of the 33rd Congressional District. As a member of the Texas State House, Rep. Veasey served in a number of leadership positions including Democratic Whip and Chair of the Democratic Caucus.

Issues he championed included fighting for affordable healthcare, funding for better schools, and advocating for a livable wage. Prior to serving four terms in the Texas House of Representatives, Rep. Veasey worked as a congressional staffer in North Texas for Congressman Martin Frost.

The Congressman was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas. He and his wife Tonya live in the Metroplex and have a thirteen-year-son, Adam.

Rep. Veasey earned a BS from Texas Wesleyan University, where he majored in Mass Communication.

Since being sworn into office in January 2011, Senator Tim Kennedy has fought to ensure Western New York sees its fair share of funding and state resources. In March 2019, three months after being named Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, Tim delivered an unprecedented $100 million for the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) to fund a five year capital plan for maintenance and improvements of the Metro Rail. 

In his role as Chair, Tim has set an aggressive agenda. He sponsored legislation to allow municipalities to install cameras on school buses, in order to more effectively catch drivers who break the law and jeopardize student safety by passing stopped buses. He also spearheaded a package comprehensive limo safety reforms, in order to strengthen the industry standards and better protect New Yorkers who use alternative transportation. Tim drafted these reforms alongside the families of victims involved in limo crashes in Schoharie and Cutchogue. Both houses have passed these transportation priorities, and the Governor quickly signed them into law.

Throughout his time in office, Tim has kept a strong focus on protecting the most vulnerable in our community. He spearheaded the passage of Jay-J’s law, legislation that stiffens penalties for repeat child abusers. The legislation was inspired by Jay-J Bolvin, a young boy who was brutally abused by his father. Sadly, Jay-J’s father received a light sentence due to antiquated sentencing laws, but through Tim’s advocacy, these penalties were strengthened. Tim also penned Jackie’s Law, which protects victims of domestic violence from GPS stalking, and was signed into law in 2014.

Tim knows the importance of growing and protecting Western New York’s workforce, which is why he was a supporter of the creation of the Northland Workforce Center on Buffalo’s East Side. He actively works to connect Western New Yorkers with job opportunities, whether through his jobs website, Kennedy Jobs File, or through his annual Queen City Job Fair, which draws hundreds of employers and job seekers every year. While he regularly works one-on-one with companies to establish roots in Buffalo, he strongly believes in preserving the city’s past. He led the call for $5 million of the Buffalo Billion funding to be dedicated towards the reuse and restructuring of Buffalo’s iconic Central Terminal, and helped to bring the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra to the Terminal for a full day East Side Festival, offering a free concert to thousands of Western New Yorkers. 

Tim is a lifelong Western New York resident. He grew up in a blue-collar family in Buffalo, where his parents, Marty and Mary Kennedy, raised Tim and his four siblings to work hard, focus on their education, help their neighbors, and get involved in their community. Tim attended St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute before going on to earn his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in occupational therapy at D’Youville College. For 11 years, Tim worked with geriatric and pediatric populations to help them recover from injuries and fully participate in all life situations. As a licensed occupational therapist, Tim has spent his entire career working to help people.

Tim and his wife, Katie, live in the City of Buffalo where they are raising their three children, Connor, Eireann, and Padraic.

*Lunch on your own after group photo*