Bringing Together Community Partners

Bringing together community partners to do what they do best is what we do best.

Working with partners in business, school districts, government and more, we are able to tackle challenges that none of us could otherwise. United we can help whole families build brighter futures for themselves and generations to come.

Organized Labor and United Way of Erie County

Since 1946, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and United Way Worldwide have enjoyed a cooperative relationship through which they and state and local United Ways provide services to members of organized labor, their families and their communities. In total, organized labor gives more than one million dollars to United Way of Erie County each year.

Partnership Contact: Ron Oliver, Vice President Labor Division and AFL-CIO | Community Service Liaison ron@unitedwayerie.org (814) 456-2937 x248

UNITED WAY OF ERIE COUNTY AND ORGANIZED LABOR WORK TOGETHER TO:

Train union members to assist co-workers and their families with information about available local services and to refer them to the appropriate organizations.
Recognize labor leaders who have rendered outstanding United Way volunteer service by annually awarding the J. David Dever Memorial Award, presented for outstanding service to United Way of Erie County and the Erie Community.
Solicit contributions from workers through payroll deduction, which account for approximately two-thirds of the funds that United Ways raise each year. Through the Labor Letters of Endorsement Program of the Department of Labor Participation, the AFL-CIO president asks presidents of AFL-CIO-affiliated unions, state federations and central labor councils to send letters endorsing United Way campaigns to their memberships. The Labor Letters of Endorsement Program encourages individual union members to volunteer their time and contribute their resources to United Way campaigns.
Provide a full-time AFL-CIO Community Services Liaison to serve as a relationship manager who maintains a positive relationship with one of our largest group of supporters, assists in fundraising activities with both union and non-union workers and companies, and serves as a primary source of health and human service information and referral to those in need, again regardless of union membership.

Partners