California Labor Federation selects president

Allen Young
Staff Writer- Sacramento Business Journal

The California Labor Federation has elected Kathryn Lybarger as its new president, the union announced Tuesday. Lybarger succeeds Connie Leyva, who was elected to the state Senate in November as a Democrat from Chino.

Lybarger has worked as a lead gardener at University of California Berkeley since 2001. Prior to that, she performed groundskeeping services at San Francisco State University.

In 2011, Lybarger was elected president of Local 3299 of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, which is the largest union representing University of California workers.

Since that time, Lybarger has helped increase membership for Local 3299 by 45 percent, up to about 19,000 members. Last year, Lybarger oversaw the first-ever hospital strike of patient care technical workers at the University of California. Two years before that, she actively worked to pass the Proposition 30 statewide ballot measure.

Lybarger also serves as an international vice president for AFSCME. The California Labor Federation is the state affiliate for the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. Members of the AFLCIO include AFSCME, which represents 1.6 million workers nationwide.

[Source]: Sacramento Business Journal