Pride at Work names Peggy Shorey as Executive Director

Pride At Work, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) constituency group of organized labor, has selected longtime LGBT and labor activist Peggy Shorey to serve as the organization’s new Executive Director. Shorey, who has been an organizer and community leader in Connecticut for the past 17 years, succeeds Jeremy Bishop, who resigned earlier this year to join the Obama administration in the U.S. Department of Labor. Shorey will begin her new responsibilities at Pride At Work’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. in January.

“Peggy has a long history as a union and LGBT leader with extensive skills running social justice nonprofits,” noted Donna Cartwright, Co-President of Pride At Work. “She has built effective and vibrant coalitions -- including partnerships with unions, the faith community, political and community organizations and the broader LGBT community -- the kind of coalitions that change opinions and win lasting victories. We are certain that Peggy has the experience, enthusiasm and progressive politics to take Pride At Work to the next level.”

Find out more after the jump.



Shorey has been a union member since 1993 and has worked for both the UAW and SEIU. For the past ten years, she has been an executive officer with the Greater Hartford Central Labor Council, and also served as an at-large Executive Board member for the Connecticut AFL-CIO. As an openly bisexual union leader, Peggy was founding co-president of the Connecticut chapter of Pride at Work.

In 2001, Shorey began working as a union organizer for the UAW, working with factory workers, graduate employees and adjunct professors, among others. In 2005, she became an International Representative with the UAW, where she most recently led the public relations campaign for the UAW at Foxwoods, the large Connecticut casino, training rank-and-file members and leaders in speaking to the media, and coordinating press efforts around the successful union election.

Most recently, she has organized and mobilized Connecticut state employees providing health care services as an organizer for District 1199, SEIU. Her work focused on administration of the state employees' contract and protecting vital state services. In addition, Shorey has extensive political experience in Connecticut, including organizing LGBT committees for candidates, providing technical support on numerous successful campaigns and staffing organization’s internal member-to-member communication programs.

As Co-President of the Connecticut Chapter of Pride at Work, Peggy led in organizing the state's first-ever labor fundraisers in support of marriage equality. The Connecticut Chapter organized a dozen state labor unions in support of marriage equality, and worked with Connecticut AFL-CIO leadership to pass a statewide resolution in support of marriage equality. This year, both Pride at Work and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists in Connecticut jointly submitted and passed an employment nondiscrimination resolution at the AFL-CIO convention, specifically including gender identity and expression.

In 2007, Shorey traveled to Guatemala with a union women's organization, STITCH. The visit included meeting with women union leaders at local textile factories, a banana plantation, and discussions with human rights leaders. The trip focused on the effects of CAFTA and international efforts in support of the right of all workers to form unions.

In 2008, she served as campaign manager for a successful campaign to defeat a coalition of anti-union and anti-gay organizations pushing for a constitutional convention. Shorey organized a progressive coalition whose efforts won a 19-point victory on the ballot question.

Along with a progressive/labor cycling team, she co-founded the Connecticut AIDS Bike Tour, a long-distance charity ride dedicated to raising funds and awareness about the work of 14 HIV/AIDS service, education and advocacy organizations within Connecticut. Shorey also was an active member of the United Church on the Green, UCC, helping to organize “radically inclusive” events building relationship at the intersections of people of faith, the LGBT community and communities of color.

“This is a deeply challenging time for all working people – for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender families, and for the labor movement as a whole” said Shorey. “I am honored and excited to have the opportunity to take on this new role with Pride at Work.”

“The struggle to make a concrete difference in workers’ lives is needed more urgently than ever,” she noted. “When we build coalition across our communities, such as through Pride at Work, we can more effectively organize to win justice.”