Contacts

Committee for Free Trade Unionism

 

 

 

Mr. Donahue is chair, Committee for Free Trade Unionism.

Mr. Donahue is President Emeritus of the AFL-CIO. A life-long trade unionist, he served successively as a local union official, vice president of the Service Employees Union, Assistant to the President of the AFL-CIO, Secretary-Treasurer (1979-1995) and President (1995).  He is currently Chairman of the Committee For Free Trade Unionism, promoting independent and democratic trade unionism.

He served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor for Labor-Management Relations from 1967 to 1969. From 2000 to 2005 he was Chairman of the Advisory Committee to the Secretary of State on Labor Diplomacy and was Chairman of the U.S. Special Trade Representative’s Labor Advisory Committee from 1989 to 1995.

He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and was a member of its Board of Trustees for 10 years and is a Vice President of the Muscular Dystrophy Association.  He is also a past member of the Board of Directors of the National Endowment for Democracy, the Carnegie Corporation, Brookings Institution, the National Planning Association, the Work in America Institute, Manhattan College, and the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy. He holds a B.A. from Manhattan College and J.D. from Fordham University School of Law.

Mr. Joyce is vice chair, Committee for Free Trade Unionism.

Mr. Joyce is a member of the boards of  the Center for Religious Freedom and The Committee on the Present Danger. From 1979 to 1999, he was president of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, AFL-CIO. He served as president of the International Construction Institute, a Rome-based NGO working in developing countries and Central and Eastern Europe. He was also labor chair of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Committee on the Application of Standards, and chair of the Democratic National Committee’s Labor Committee. He served on the executive committees of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), the Inter-American Organization of Workers (ORIT), and the International Federation of Building and Wood Workers, and was on the boards of the National Endowment for Democracy, the National Democratic Institute, and the Commission on Central American Reconstruction and Redevelopment.

Mr. Magidson is treasurer, Committee for Free Trade Unionism

A former vice president of the American Federation of Teachers for 28 years, Magidson also served as chair of both its Political Education and Democracy Committees. He is a former secretary/treasurer and executive vice-pPresident of the New York State United Teachers, and former President of the Jewish Labor Committee. He serves as a Board member on the Albert Shanker Institute.

Mr. Mazur is vice chair, Committee for Free Trade Unionism

Mr. Mazur is President Emeritus of UNITE (Union of Needle trades, Industrial and Textile Employees). He was a vice president of the AFL-CIO from 1986 to 2001, and chaired its International Affairs Committee from 1996 to 2001. He was a member of the President’s Labor Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations (ACTPN) and has represented the American labor movement in dozens of countries around the world, helping democratic labor movements in those countries develop leadership and expertise. His long standing interest and involvement in international affairs was also reflected in his membership on the Executive Board of ORIT, the Western Hemisphere regional organization of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. He is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Tri-lateral Commission, the Ditchley Foundation and the board of the National Strategy Information Center. Mr. Mazur was the AFL-CIO Chairman of the Cuba Committee and represented the AFL-CIO on an international trade union delegation to Cuba in 2000, which met with dissidents.

David Brombart is a member of the board, Committee for Free Trade Unionism

He is a former international labor leader and political activist in Europe, Africa and the United States. His assignments for the AFL-CIO included the promotion of free labor unions in Africa, serving as a Senior Staff at the ICFTU (now ITUC) and as an advisor to and member of the U.S. delegation to the ILO. He is an Officer of the National Order of Benin, Togo and Senegal.

Joel  Freedman is a member of the board, Committee for Free Trade Unionism

He has been a trade unionist for more than four decades. He served as an organizer, as an elected local union official, and, for more than twenty years, as Assistant to the President of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers. He helped to establish democratic trade unions on five continents. Freedman has served as an AFL-CIO delegate to the International Labor Organization, the ICFTU and ORIT. He also represented American Social Democrats, at meetings of world leaders, for 20 years. He is an attorney who has taught at the University of Pennsylvania, and several other institutions of higher education.

Ms. Kistler is the program director of the Committee for Free Trade Unionism

Ms. Kistler continues working towards expansion of the international campaign for freedom of association and the release of political and trade union prisoners in Cuba. Her work on Cuba was recognized in the early 1990’s when the AFL-CIO established its Committee for a Free Cuba, and asked her to coordinate its programs. Through her efforts, a U.S. State Department grant was obtained to assist Cuban labor activists trying to organize democratic and independent trade unions.

Ms. Kistler previously worked as a senior program officer at the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, AFL-CIO, for more than 30 years. During her last five years there, she managed and helped implement capacity building programs for trade unions in East African countries, including a temporary assignment as field representative in Nairobi, Kenya. While working with the American Institute for Free Labor Development, she traveled extensively throughout the Andean Region and assisted with the development of programs promoting worker rights.

Jorge Pérez López

Mr. Pérez López is a member of the board, Committee for Free Trade Unionism

He is a well-known international economist. His research and writing on Cuba has focused on national economic policies and performance, the sugar industry and the external factor. His most recent writings include: “Corruption in Cuba: Castro and Beyond (with Sergio Díaz Briquets), University of Texas Press; 2006; and “Reinventing the Cuban Sugar-Agro Industry (with José Alvarez), Lexington Publishers , 2005. He holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of New York at Buffalo, and M.A. and PhD in Economics from the the State University of New York.