January 28, 2008

A DEDICATED FRIEND – Wanda Naomi Weaver, 1920-2008, was an AFSCME pioneer and activist.

Photo Credit: Council 13

Wanda Naomi Weaver, who helped AFSCME International Pres. Gerald W. McEntee found Pennsylvania Local 2534 (AFSCME Council 90), died Jan. 15 in Carrollton, TX, after a brief illness. She was 88.

Weaver, a clerk in the tax department Pennsylvania Department of Transportation until she retired in 1987, was an outspoken union activist. In 1975, she demonstrated her courage during a strike by 70,000 state employees when police officers handcuffed and dragged her down the steps of the state capitol building, injuring her severely. She later refused to accept the governor’s pardon, explaining she didn’t need one for standing up for the rights of her members.

President McEntee says:

Wanda will be sorely missed by everyone who knew her. She was my ‘get-it-done’ person – there was nothing she couldn’t accomplish. When we first met, I gave her a bunch of union cards, and in just one day, she got all 300 signed! And always spoke up and defended the workers, even at the risk of her own safety. AFSCME is a better union because of her.

Wanda Weaver will always be remembered for her passionate and aggressive representation of AFSCME members and her selfless commitment to improving the working conditions of workers in general, but AFSCME members specifically.

Since February 2006, AFSCME members in Pennsylvania contributed more than $40,000 to the Wanda Weaver Fund, which helped pay her expenses at an assisted living facility.

Memorial donations in Wanda Weaver’s memory can be made to the AFSCME Fallen Heroes Fund, 1625 L. St. NW, Washington, DC, 20036; the American Lung Association or any shelter for battered women.

To read more about Weaver, read this article from Public Employee Magazine and this story from The Patriot-News.