This year we are honored to introduce you to Joshua Lepird, an AFGE activist whose passion for making a positive impact is expressed in his legislative work. His dedication and track record for legislative wins have earned him AFGE Legislative Political Coordinator of the Year.
Josh is currently the South-Central Regional vice president for the Council of Prison Locals, but his involvement in legislative work dated back to 2011 when he was a steward. Donny Boyte, the Local 171 president at the time, tasked him with taking over legislative activity for the local.
Josh worked closely with Legislative and Political Organizer (LPO) Fred McDuff, who passed away in 2021 and is the namesake of the LPC award, and quickly became deeply involved in legislative issues, having a passion for the work.
He assisted the Council of Prison Locals with many legislative goals, and by 2016 was asked to be the regional legislative coordinator for the South-Central Region (SCR), voted into the position by the presidents at the time. He has been repeatedly elected to the position with every South-Central CPL president’s unanimous consent every two years since that time.
Josh has been a key contributor to the council’s legislative action plan yearly and has assisted with spearheading these goals to completion. He travels to Washington, D.C. at least twice a year (except during the lockdown) to work with legislators and locals in Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas. He meets and corresponds with many legislators locally on a regular basis. With his assistance and focus on mobilizing the SCR CPL locals, the council as a whole has successively pushed many bills to be included into law.
Josh also co-created the first legislative training used in Caucuses with Steve Markle, the national legislative representative for the council, several years ago. They continue to teach jointly each year at the South-Central Caucus. The training was adopted nationally for all CPL-33 caucuses and continues to be adapted and improved by the legislative team to train thirsty unionists.
There were many legislative victories from the Council of Prisons Locals between when Josh began legislative work and now, including the passage of the First Step Act, which was a legislative priority the team worked diligently to pass with bipartisan support. Recently in 2022, there were a number of legislative achievements he has worked with the CPL National Legislative team and Locals in the South-Central Region that were successfully adopted through Congress. These were team efforts, and Josh was a contributing member of the national team throughout the process. He would tell you he was just a cog in the machine but deserves recognition for his contributions.
Over the years, Josh provided support and guidance through training unionists on legislative action and building relationships within Congress. As Josh would say, all of these accomplishments were collective victories, and wouldn’t be possible without the groundwork laid over the years by the regional legislative coordinators working with the locals.
Josh held the position of regional legislative coordinator for many years until 2023 and has been a strong, contributing member of that legislative team for a long time prior to his time in office. In August 2023, he vacated the South Central RLC office when he became the South-Central Regional vice president for the council.
Josh said being presented with the Fred McDuff award is a great honor.
“I am so thankful and humbled to be recognized by my peers and leaders for working with so many wonderful activists, including my friend Fred McDuff, an effective activist, trainer, and mentor to me and so many others over the years,” he said.
“Some of the most interesting and important work I've done for the federation was accomplished as an LPC. Though sometimes the job seems solitary, working with other LPCs to accomplish the goals of our council's and the federation is a team effort,” he added. “Unionism is collective action, and successful legislative work requires the very same collective action and targeted messages. I have always worked with others as a part of the collective action for change in legislation, and I am honored to be recognized as one of the many contributors to our legislative successes over the years.”
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