Marlo Bryant Cunningham began her federal government career at the U.S. Social Security Administration, where she immediately joined AFGE. In 2012, she transferred to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) with her AFGE membership in tote. Now 26 years later, she is still an AFGE member, women’s activist, and a fighter for human rights.
In 2013, Cunningham began working on the agency’s Hostile Work Environment Team. As a team member, she helped to negotiate telework for customer service representatives among the several program areas within OPM. It was during that time when she discovered that the representatives in Retirement Services were all GS-4. She quickly worked with management to ensure that these positions, which were all held by women, were afforded the opportunity to compete and secure higher graded positions.
In 2015, Cunningham ran for the chief steward position in her local. She was not expected to win because she was the newcomer, and the incumbent was a longstanding officer of the local. It was a difficult time for Cunningham as she was the primary caregiver for a then disabled parent, brother, and child. The agency tried to force her to choose, and it was on that principle that she ran for the position and won.
“I ran for the chief steward office because I felt there was a need for kindred representation for women, and that position had just the right amount of access to tackle those issues. No woman should ever have to choose between work and family. Work and life must have balance.”
Throughout her time as Chief Steward, Cunningham fought for equality in performance standards. That fight took her all the way to Congress.
“My fight not only won a change in my personal performance standards but also for all of the legal administrative specialists who were in my same position,” she explained. “This allowed for an increase in positive performance appraisals and made employees eligible to receive monetary awards for their performance. “
Cunningham has also settled more than 50 grievances throughout her career that have specific and significant impact on women—opportunities for details, temporary promotions, back payment for untimely career ladder promotions, financial awards in excess of $15,000 for grievances where women were shown disparate treatment in hiring and career enhancement, and a plethora of other EEO monetary settlements.
Cunningham has served on OPM's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) Team where she worked to have the group’s charter to include equitable goals and missions as well as recently assisted in writing OPM's internal strategic plan for DEIA.
Most of us remember Cunningham when she took center stage leading the charge in preventing the OPM/GSA merger, implementing the negative CBA, the devastating Executive Orders that eliminated official time, and other changes that were being put in place by the agency under the Trump Administration. She was able to ensure that the union and the agency maintained status quo throughout the Trump era.
“I have walked the halls at Capitol Hill many times to advocate for OPM maintaining its independence from the White House. We met with the Oversight Committee and developed transition papers where some of my suggestions were adopted by the NAPA study in solidifying OPM's role in this government,” she said.
This was most important because OPM sets the standards for many of the federal agencies to follow.
“As a woman, it is not easy to gain the respect of many. However, my actions have spoken volumes for the respect I have gained,” she added.
With this, she has maintained a commitment to assisting others, including new local presidents and officers, by helping them to become acclimated to their new roles, and offer mentorships to many of her union peers.
What is nearest to Cunningham’s heart is her recent and personal accomplishment. After 30 years, she completed her college education. This accomplishment is special because she started her college journey in 1991 at Coppin State University but stopped when she was hired for her federal government job. Ms. Cunningham will walk across the virtual stage at Strayer University in May to receive her bachelor's degree with Honors in Business Administration. And just like she did in 2012, she will carry her AFGE union membership in tote.