Legends of Labor
Hall of Fame
Legends of Labor
Hall of Fame
Bio details
Kathy Black
AFSCME DC 47
Occupational Health and Safety
Director at AFSCME District Council 47
(1997-2016)
Kathy Black was born and raised in a Union family in North Philadelphia. She joined SEIU Local 503 in 1978 while working as a secretary at the University of Oregon, where she was enrolled as an undergraduate. Within two months she was elected Recording Secretary of the University Chapter of the Union.
Kathy graduated Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology and Labor Studies from the University of Oregon in 1983. For the next three years, she worked as a Staff Representative for SEIU Local 503. She then moved to the San Francisco area, where she worked as a Business Agent for a small union of public utility workers and health care professionals (Engineers and Scientists of California, IFPTE). In 1988, Kathy moved home to Philadelphia and spent eight years representing New Jersey State employees in the Department of Health for CWA Local 1034 in Trenton, NJ.
During her years in union work, Kathy received significant health and safety training at the George Meany Center for Labor Studies, the Labor Education and Research Center at the University of Oregon, from international unions and many other agencies. For two years, she served as the Governor’s appointee to the New Jersey Public Employee OSHA Advisory Board. In January 1997, she began her job as Occupational Health and Safety Director at AFSCME District Council 47 in Philadelphia. (DC47 represents professional and technical employees of the City of Philadelphia, probation and parole officers of the First Judicial District, Philadelphia Zoo employees, employees of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and workers at several colleges, universities and private non-profit social service agencies.) Kathy retired from AFSCME DC47 in 2016.
Kathy served as the elected President of the Philadelphia Chapter of CLUW (Coalition of Labor Union Women) from 1993 until April, 2014, and as Chapter Treasurer from 2014 to 2022. While CLUW President, she served as a delegate from CLUW to the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO and held a seat on their Executive Board.
In February 2007, Kathy was elected as the sixth national Co-Convenor of U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW), the anti-war organization within the labor movement, founded in 2003 in opposition to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. In February and March 2008, Kathy went on a national speaking tour of Australia on behalf of USLAW. The Stop the War Coalition of Sydney brought her to Australia in an effort to galvanize unions and anti-war groups to connect with Iraqi unions who opposed the US occupation, and who are still fighting for basic labor rights, and against the privatization of their oil resources. USLAW provided a voice within the labor movement against the militarization of our economy and against US imperialism, and maintained a strong solidarity relationship with the Iraqi union movement until USLAW disbanded in 2020.
In February, 2022, the former leaders reconvened to draft a statement calling for diplomacy over saber rattling in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and a reduction in military spending in favor of needed social and economic programs to benefit working people. They also organized a successful online Webinar featuring major labor leaders and anti-war activists.
Currently, Kathy and other former USLAW leaders are involved in a campaign to convince Unions to call for a ceasefire in the ongoing, horrific war between Israel and Hamas that has created a catastrophic, existential crisis for Palestinians living in Gaza. Kathy and another delegate submitted a resolution to the national CLUW Convention in November, 2023, calling for a ceasefire. The Resolution was unanimously adopted. Previously, Kathy served on the Boards of Americans for Democratic Action (Philadelphia Chapter), the Pennsylvania Consumer Action Network, Citizens for Consumer Justice, Citizen Action (national Board), as President of the Board of Pennsylvania Citizen Action, and in her own community, on the Board of the Francisville Neighborhood Development Corporation. She chaired the Program Committee and served on the Steering Committee for the UNITY 2000 March and Rally of 25,000 protesters, held in Philadelphia the day before the opening of the Republican National Convention, July 30, 2000.
Kathy has played important roles in many electoral campaigns and she has been a leader in major issue campaigns, including Labor Against Apartheid, the Living Wage Coalition, the All Women’s Health Campaign, the Campaign for Contraceptive Coverage, the movement to end the wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Coalition for Healthy Families and Workplaces, which successfully advocated for passage of a City of Philadelphia ordinance requiring all employers to provide paid sick leave to employees.
For her service to working women, to workers’ health and safety and for a lifetime of progressive political activism, Kathy has been honored by the Pennsylvania Consumer Action Network; Philadelphia FIGHT (HIV/AIDS advocacy and service agency); the United Way of SE Pennsylvania; AFSCME Local 1971; POWER (Post Office Women for Equal Rights); Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Omega Omega Chapter; the People’s Weekly World; Philaposh; the Pennsylvania Labor History Society; Philadelphia Jobs with Justice; Philadelphia NOW; the Philadelphia NAACP at their 100 th anniversary celebration; the May Day USA Education Committee; the Philadelphia Chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute; and National COSH (Committees on Occupational Safety and Health).
Kathy was also appointed to the 2000 Electoral College by the Pennsylvania Democratic Party where she cast a ballot for Al Gore for President. National CLUW awarded Kathy their first ever Trailblazer Award at their September, 2011 Convention in Orlando, FL. On June 28, 2012, Kathy received the Paul Robeson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bread and Roses Community Fund. In March, 2015, Kathy was named a Philadelphia Woman of Moxie at an annual celebration of Women’s History Month established by Philadelphia City Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown. She was honored by the City Council of Philadelphia upon her retirement in April, 2016.
Kathy retired from her AFSCME DC47 Health & Safety Director position in April, 2016. In August, 2023, she was elected Recording Secretary of PARA (Pennsylvania Alliance for Retired Americans, an AFL-CIO affiliate), where she also serves as liaison to the Philadelphia CLUW Chapter.. She remains active in many of the organizations she has supported and led throughout her career, in the struggle for peace, and economic and social justice.