NVP Andrea E. Brooks Will be MissedApril 29, 2009By National President John Gage We are deeply saddened to inform you of the loss of a great friend to the labor movement and the AFGE family, AFGE National Vice-President, Andrea E. Brooks. NVP Brooks passed away Sunday, April 26, at the age of 65. NVP Andrea E. Brooks was an ardent fighter for civil, women’s and human rights in the workplace and we recognize her extraordinary contribution to working people across America. NVP Brooks began her government career at Ft. Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, IN, rising through the ranks of AFGE while working at the Department of Veterans Affairs. NVP Brooks was soon chief steward, then vice president, secretary-treasurer, executive vice president and then president for ten years of AFGE Local 490 at the Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Los Angeles, California. She also was a national representative, a national vice president for the 12th District and a member of the Human Rights Committee. NVP Brooks' labor activism has always included collaboration with the AFL-CIO, where she served on the Executive Council. She was voted vice president of the California State AFL-CIO and helped to formulate the first federal sector subcommittee at the Los Angeles Central Labor Council. As the national vice president for Women and Fair Practices, Brooks held a vision for AFGE to move into the forefront of civil rights activism. "I want AFGE to be known as the civil rights union," Brooks emphasized. Ms. Brooks believed that too often minorities have let others define what a "minority right" is. She looked to mobilize "a Civil Rights Movement" of all races and cultures. NVP Brooks is survived by three adult children–two sons and one daughter–and six grandchildren. She was from Indianapolis, IN. Funeral arrangements will be forthcoming. |
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