Shannon Myers, president of Southwest Washington Central Labor Council (SWWACLC), announced Oct. 5 that she’s ending her campaign for secretary-treasurer of the Washington State Labor Council (WSLC), AFL-CIO. That leaves Cherika Carter unopposed for the full-time position, which is the number two office at WSLC. WSLC is the state’s AFL-CIO, a federation of 600 local unions representing about 450,000 members.
Carter moved to Washington in 2018 after working for the Ohio AFL-CIO; she’s currently on staff at WSLC as political director. She’s running on a slate with current secretary-treasurer April Sims, who’s running to succeed Larry Brown as president.
“This was not an easy decision to make, but as my economics degree might indicate, I AM good at math,” Myers said in announcing the end of her campaign. “There simply isn’t a path forward to victory.”
Myers campaigned around the state, and lined up backing from building trades unions and locals outside the Puget Sound, but Carter ended up with support of the bigger Seattle-area unions. Voting was to take place in December, with affiliates casting votes in proportion to the per capita dues they contribute to the federation.
In her campaign, Myers advocated a position she’s pushed for years: that WSLC work harder to include labor organizations outside of the state’s Puget Sound population center, so that union members in rural communities feel like they’re part of the movement.
In her announcement, she said Sims has responded to that, with talk of creating a “Rural Caucus.”
Myers announced in August that she’ll be stepping down as SWWACLC president as of November. She’s served as president, an unpaid office, for the last 14 years.
