[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 60 (Wednesday, May 13, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E847]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E847]]
                      TRIBUTE TO PATRICIA A. FORD

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 13, 1998

  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in honor of Patricia A. Ford, the 1998 
recipient ``Unionist of the Year'' award bestowed by the Central Labor 
Council of Alameda County on May 8, 1998 in Oakland, CA. Raised and 
educated in Oakland, California, Patricia A. Ford began her career as a 
labor activist in the early 1970's when he helped to form an employee 
caucus at Alameda County's Highland Hospital. The group sought to 
reform its independent union, the Alameda County Employees Association, 
and Ford helped lead a successful effort to affiliate the union with 
SEI as Local 616.
  Ford became one of the new local's first and most effective shop 
stewards, and Local 616 members quickly tapped her for leadership. In 
1975, she was the first African-American woman elected Vice President 
of the Executive Board, and in 1978, the first African-American woman 
elected Local 616 President. Meanwhile, Ford made the union her career 
as she became the first rank-and-file member selected to work as a 
field representative. In 1989, the Local 616 Executive Board appointed 
Ford to the union's top position, Executive Director and a member of 
the Executive Committee of the Central Labor Council of Alameda County. 
She was the first African-American to serve in that capacity.
  Under Ford's leadership, Local 616 made tremendous strides, 
successfully extending its organizing into the private sector, where it 
now represents employees of Prison Health Services and the AIDS Project 
of the East Bay. Ford also developed and hosted the first SEIU-
sponsored Civil and Human Rights Conference, attended by leaders and 
members from throughout the SEIU western region. Since then, the 
International Union has expanded the Civil and Human Rights Conference 
to all regions.
  In 1992, Ford was elected to the SEIU International Executive Board, 
and became President of SEIU Joint Council 2 in the Bay Area. In 1995, 
Ford was elected Secretary-Treasurer of the Western Conference, a 
position she still holds. In April 1996, Ford made SEIU history when 
she was elected as the International Executive Vice President on a 
leadership slate headed by International President Andrew L. Stern. 
She, thus, became the first African-American, and only the second 
woman, elected to a top leadership post at SEIU.
  Ford was a member of the Board of Directors of the Alameda Alliance 
for Health which manages the MediCal program for Alameda County and is 
a parishioner of the Williams Chapel Baptist Church in Oakland, 
California. She has a son, Andre, and two grandchildren, Ayauna Phajae 
and Christopher Erin.
  Her life-long commitment to service for all working people has been a 
model for all of us. With heartfelt congratulations, I salute Patricia 
A. Ford as the Central Labor Council of Alameda County's 1998 
``Unionist of the Year.''

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