American Rights at Work Education Fund honors John J. Sweeney for his outstanding lifelong leadership in the labor movement and passionate dedication to broadening support for workers’ rights as a founding board member of American Rights at Work.

John J. Sweeney has spent decades advocating for workers’ rights, most recently serving for 14 years as president of the AFL-CIO. His leadership helped grow union membership and expand the dialogue on issues affecting working families.

A native of the Bronx, Sweeney was raised in a family where one parent was in a union and one not; this shaped his belief in the benefits of union membership. First working for the International Ladies’ Garment Workers, Sweeney joined the Service Employees International Union Local 32B in New York City in 1961 as a union representative. Elected president of Local 32B in 1976 and leading two citywide strikes, Sweeney became president of SEIU in 1980. During his 15-year tenure, the union grew from 625,000 to 1.1 million members.

At the AFL-CIO, Sweeney created Working America, a community affiliate of three million working people who play a critical role in advocating for a progressive agenda and on-the-ground political organizing. He helped broaden the labor movement by forming historic partnerships with worker centers such as the National Day Laborer Organizing Network as well as with NEA.  Under his leadership, the federation helped increase the minimum wage, stop the privatization of Social Security, and elect a pro-worker administration and majority in Congress. Sweeney is also a founding board member of American Rights at Work, and has played a crucial role in sustaining broad support from AFL-CIO unions for the organization and its work, including the campaign for the Employee Free Choice Act.

His wife Maureen, his children John and Patricia, and his granddaughter Kennedy are an important part of all he does. 

Sweeney holds honorary degrees from Georgetown University, Oberlin College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the University of Baltimore, Catholic University Law School, and the University of Toledo’s College of Law. In 2006 he authored America Needs a Raise:  Fighting for Economic Security and Social Justice.