Ex-Mass. labor leader joins AFL-CIO partnership team

Kathleen Casavant, formerly the highest ranking woman in the Massachusetts labor movement, has been appointed assistant director of organizing at the national AFL-CIO's Unity Partnership Team.

Casavant, 54, was the first woman secretary-treasurer of the 400,000-member state AFL-CIO. She stepped down Feb. 24 after seven years in office.

Casavant said she was named to the position on April 3. She said the new national team was created after the National Education Association formed a partnership with the AFL-CIO in February.

As an assistant director, Casavant will be responsible for encouraging teachers to join union federations in 13 states, including Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota. She will continue to reside in Massachusetts. ''I will be going around the country talking to unionized teachers and bringing them into the AFL-CIO," said Casavant. ''I am very excited because what we are doing will allow the two organizations to work more closely, and it will strengthen the labor movement."

The two groups disclosed their affiliation about six months after the Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union left the national federation to start a labor coalition called Change2Win. A few months later, two other unions -- the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and UNITE HERE, a laundry and maintenance union -- left the federation. The unions said they wanted to step up the federation's organizing efforts.