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Nancy Wohlforth

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Nancy Wohlforth
NationalityAmerican
Alma materColumbia University
OccupationTrade unionist
Organizations
Known forLabor and LGBTQ activism; first out LGBTQ international union officer; first out LGBTQ member of the AFL–CIO Executive Council
Movement
Board member of
  • Vice-President OPEIU, Local 3, (Elected in 1983)[2]
  • Secretary-Treasurer and Business Manager, OPEIU, Local 3 (Elected in 1986)[3]
  • Co-President, Pride at Work, 1996–2009
  • Secretary-Treasurer Emerita, OPEIU, 2003–2009[2]
  • Executive Council, AFL–CIO
AwardsPride at Work Solidarity Award, 2018

Nancy Wohlforth was an American union leader and activist who advocated for a variety of civil, labor, and LGBTQ causes throughout her career including single-payer healthcare, domestic partner worker benefits, and non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ workers. She was the first out member of the LGBTQ community to be elected to the AFL–CIO Executive Council in 2005.[4]

Early Political Activism

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Then known as Nancy Freuden, the last name being that of her first husband, she joined the Trotskyist Workers League in 1971. She volunteered to work full-time as a proofreader in the party’s national office for their publication Bulletin to which she occasionally contributed articles under the alias “Nancy Fields”. She was not involved much in the leadership of the party until when in 1973 she divorced her first husband and entered into a relationship with the National Secretary of the Workers League, Tim Wohlforth, which quickly led to marriage. Following this she became Wohlforth’s constant companion and a leading member of the Workers League, much to the consternation of a lot of the party’s membership. In The Fourth International and the Renegade Wohlforth, her and her husband were accused of carrying out a “wrecking operation” where they spent thousands of dollars from the party’s funds on a “national tour” that the party claimed, “had more the character of a honeymoon than a political intervention”. During this time multiple branches of the party were closed and membership numbers sharply contracted.[5]

Following concerns being raised about her attendance at an April 1974 London meeting of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) as well reports sent to Gerry Healy of the Workers Revolutionary Party of the scale of the losses in membership of the Workers League, Healy called for Tim Wohlforth to come to London to discuss the crisis. During their meeting Healy directly asked Wohlforth if Nancy was in any way connected to police or intelligence agencies, which Wohlforth denied. Despite the reassurances the ICFI continued to investigate and found that this was not true: Nancy Wohlforth from the age of 12 until she graduated university was raised and financially supported by her uncle Albert Morris who was a member of the Office of Strategic Services as well as the head of the CIA’s IBM computer operation program.

Under conditions of mass surveillance and penetration of leftist organizations during the era of COINTELPRO, the fact that this information was not disclosed was seen as a massive breach in the party’s security. The party’s national committee voted to temporarily remove Tim Wohlforth from the position of National Secretary and suspend Nancy Wohlforth from membership pending an ICFI investigation into her personal background. Before the investigation concluded both resigned from the party after which they would join the Socialist Workers Party(SWP).[6] The SWP came to the Wohlforths’s defense, calling the investigation into them a “witch-hunt” and that the concerns over possible state infiltration were the result of “paranoia” on the part of the Workers League in general and Healy in particular.[7] They noted that the ICFI’s investigation ultimately cleared Nancy of any accusations of being a state agent, with the ICFI countering that despite the outcome the fact her close personal relations with a CIA member were not disclosed in and of itself justified the investigation taking place.

Career

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Early career with OPEIU Local 3

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In 1980, Wohlforth helped found the Lesbian and Gay Labor Alliance (LGLA).[8] She was also active with Office and Professional Employees International Union, Local 3 in San Francisco, California. Wohforth was a member of "A Growing Concern," a caucus within Local 3 seeking to reform the organization and draw attention to women's and gay issues after a 19 week-long strike at Blue Shield failed. In 1983, she was elected to be Local 3's Vice-President as a part of "A Growing Concern's" first slate of candidates. Wohlforth later took on Business Manager responsibilities for the union and was elected to be their Secretary-Treasurer in 1986.[2] As an out lesbian, Wohlforth faced rumors that she was in relationships with straight colleagues; however, her reputation as an out lesbian gave her credibility with LGBTQ workers and helped her win over local shops including the Episcopal Community Service, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Information Store, and Hospitality House.[3]

Creation of Pride at Work

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On June 24, 1994, LGBT labor leaders met in New York for "Pride at Work, the Founding Conference of the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender People in the Labor Movement" meeting. The meeting was partially in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. Wohlforth, representing LGLA and OPEIU, co-chaired a group working to create an organization uniting the different LGBT, labor organizations into a single organization, Pride at Work.[9] Nancy was elected to the position of co-president with Cal Noyce in 1996, and Pride at Work adopted a resolution in support of affiliation with the AFL–CIO as an official constituency group at the same conference in San Francisco. They went on to secure constituency status in 1997.[10]

National leadership

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In 2003, Wohlforth was elected as the Secretary-Treasurer of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) making her the first open member of the LGBTQ community to hold an international union officer position. A couple years later, she was elected to the AFL–CIO Executive Council in 2005, making her the first open LGBTQ person elected to the Executive Council.[11][12]

Death

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Wohlforth died on December 31, 2024.[13]

Awards

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  • In 1999, the Advocate listed her among their Best and Brightest Activists.[14]
  • Pride at Work Solidarity Award, 2018.[15]

Writing

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  • Holcomb, Desma; Wohlforth, Nancy (2001). "The Fruits of Our Labor: Pride at Work". New Labor Forum (8): 9–20. JSTOR 40342287.
  • Wohlforth, Nancy; Santora, T. (June 6, 2007). "LGBT Solidarity". The New York Blade. 11 (25): 43.
  • Wohlforth, Nancy (October 10, 1999). Stop the Hate (Speech). AFL-CIO Convention. Los Angeles, CA – via Recovering Democracy Archives.
  • Wohlforth, Nancy (June 11, 2009). "Why LGBTs Should Care About Unions". Philadelphia Gay News. 33 (24): 11–20.

References

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  1. ^ "Advisory Board and Steering Committee". Labor Campaign For Single Payer. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c Nancy Wohlforth - A Tribute. 2010. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  3. ^ a b Frank, Miriam (June 13, 2014). A Labor History of Queer America. Temple University Press. pp. 146–148. ISBN 9781439911396.
  4. ^ Styrsky, Stefen (September 21, 2005). "Lesbian Assumes a Top AFL-CIO Role". Gay City News. Archived from the original on June 26, 2019. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  5. ^ https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/fi/tvsr/Trotskyism-Versus-Revisionism-Volume-7.pdf
  6. ^ https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/05/23/lxnt-m23.html
  7. ^ https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/swp-us/education/1976-12-dec-Healys-Big-Lie-Slander-Campaign-vs-Hansen-EfS.pdf
  8. ^ Heath, Terrance (September 19, 2018). "Meet the woman who quietly made sure Democrats became LGBTQ friendly". LGBTQ Nation. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  9. ^ "Program for the Pride At Work "Founding Conference Of The Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, And Transgender People In The Labor Movement," June 24, 1994" (June 24, 1994) [Textual Record]. Labor in America Collection, Fonds: Pride at Work Records, Box: 4, p. 2. College Park, MD: Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland Libraries.
  10. ^ Hunt, Gerald (1999). Laboring for Rights. Temple University Press. pp. 79–80. ISBN 9781439901175.
  11. ^ Yates, Michael (May 1, 2009). Why Unions Matter. NYU Press. p. 163. ISBN 9781583671917.
  12. ^ "Pride At Work co-president elected to AFL-CIO Executive Council". Between the Lines. Livonia, Michigan. August 18, 2005. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  13. ^ "OPEIU Celebrates the Life of Former Secretary-Treasurer Nancy Wohlforth". opeiu.org. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  14. ^ "Our Best and Brightest Activists—Society: Nancy Wohlforth". The Advocate. Liberation Publications. August 17, 1999. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  15. ^ "2018 Pride at Work Convention August 23-25, 2018 Convention Program" (PDF). August 23–25, 2018. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
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