Congratulations to AFGE Local 1039 President and Navy veteran Freddie Cuellar for being named AFGE Veteran of the Year!
Freddie has been an active member of the labor movement for the past 13 years, and president of his local representing Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) for the last six. He has distinguished himself as a young leader in the fight for social justice, living wages, and fair treatment for all workers.
In the local labor movement, he has made the fight for Title 5 rights for AFGE members his personal campaign. He has made organizing a priority at his local by engaging new members in innovative ways, continuing to grow his local in challenging times. During the pandemic, he helped organize multiple masks, Lysol, diaper, and food giveaways to help members who were struggling.
In addition to becoming one of the youngest local union presidents in the nation when he first took the job, he has racked up a remarkable list of achievements, including serving as the co-chair of Texas AFL-CIO Young Active Labor Leaders, as a board member of the Texas A. Philip Randolph Institute, and as executive vice president of the Harris County Labor Assembly, which represents over 50,000 union members in the Houston Area. He is the youngest person in history to ever serve on the Harris County Labor Assembly executive board.
Beyond his significant contribution to the labor movement in Harris County, he has been active in local politics to advance the issues he is passionate about. He has served in a variety of positions on local campaigns with the Harris County Democratic Party and the Office of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.
For his political activism, AFGE has appointed him as National Y.O.U.N.G. Committee member District 10 covering Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and New Mexico, and AFGE Legislative Political Coordinator District 10.
Freddie has also been heavily involved in his local community. Growing up in Houston’s northside, Freddie was instrumental to the effort to create a local park for the next generation of youth coming from his neighborhood.
He is a frequent presence at rallies, media appearances, and other advocacy events, speaking on behalf of working people. From speaking to end the 2019 government shutdown, to feeding families affected by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Freddie has been on the front line for Texas families.
The City of Houston last year gave him the high honor of proclaiming Feb. 23, 2021 Freddie Cuellar Day in celebration of all the work he has done over the past decade fighting for working class people and giving back to the community.
At the Veteran of the Year award ceremony during our union’s annual legislative conference, Freddie recounted his long journey from a rough neighborhood of Greenspoint in Houston to become who he is today. He thanked his labor mentors for guiding him and supporting him.
“The labor movement is another movement that challenged me in a lot of ways, and it brought me to a different challenge where I had to learn to work with different kinds of people and grow faster, be a certain kind of person,” he told LegCon attendees. “And when I think about those things, I wouldn’t be here today without my mentors.”
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