UFCW Local 1529
Standing strong for working families
Powering · Labor Education
Arkansas AFL-CIO
Primum ad solidarietatis — the first state federation in America to merge the AFL and CIO. 190+ locals, 30,000+ working Arkansans, since 1956.
The Arkansas AFL-CIO is the umbrella organization for more than 190 local unions, central labor councils, and subordinate bodies across the Natural State — representing more than 30,000 working people in diverse occupations.
Chartered on March 20, 1956, Arkansas was the first state federation in the nation to merge the AFL and CIO into one state central body. It is not a union — it is a union of unions: every affiliated local remains autonomous, while the federation carries the collective power of all of them.
The federation serves its constituent unions in four major areas:
- Political Action — endorsing, supporting and electing the right people for Congress, the state legislature and state government, with money and people power.
- Legislative Action — a legislative package developed with affiliates, lobbying the Arkansas capitol on behalf of every member.
- Education — trade-union skills training coordinated through the Labor Education Program at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
- Community Service — food banks, blood drives and emergency assistance for members, families and whole communities.
Operations are financed through per-capita dues paid by affiliated locals. Policies are set and officers elected at convention.
Gerald S. Sale, III came up through the rails. As Arkansas State Legislative Director for SMART-TD — the sheet metal, air, rail and transportation workers — he spent years walking the halls of the Arkansas capitol fighting for railroad-worker safety, building coalitions with BLET and fellow rail unions that carried crew-protection legislation all the way to the governor's desk.
A longtime state federation board member before taking the gavel, Sale leads with a simple conviction: Arkansas labor has to move from defense to offense — every local plugged into its Central Labor Council, every member a voter, every capitol hallway walked.
Reach the President's office at president@arkansasafl-cio.com.
Local unions, central labor councils, state associations and district councils whose parent internationals are affiliated with the national AFL-CIO.
Per-capita dues support state-level advocacy, education through UA Little Rock, and community service across Arkansas.
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