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Vonda McDaniel Vonda McDaniel has seen a lot of changes in her nearly 30 years of labor organizing. McDaniel first joined a union in 1992, at the Firestone-Bridgestone tire factory in La Vergne where she worked. In a matter of months, she was elected as the shop steward, and that kicked off a lifetime of workersâ rights advocacy.
In 2013, McDaniel was elected president of the Central Labor Council of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, an affiliation of more than 40 unions and community organizations, and she holds the position to this day. She says her job at the tire factory paid well and that it âhelped me pay off my student loans in record time, and helped to get a good start.â But she doesnât see that same kind of opportunity today â people can expect to work longer with less guarantee of a retirement and benefits.