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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.
State of the Union: The State of Labor in Tennessee nashvillescene.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nashvillescene.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
One victim of a double shooting Monday morning in the StoneBridge neighborhood was president of a union that represented about 1,100 workers in Middle Tennessee.
Deborah Sisco, 60, is also described as a friendly neighbor on Whispering Oaks Drive, where residents frequently walk their dogs. She was really nice. She just waved all the time, neighbor Debbie Geisser said. She d try to pet my dog.
Sisco and her daughter Marie Varsos, 31, died in a shooting that Lebanon Police Department Sgt. PJ Hardy described as a domestic case that escalated. Marie Varsos was estranged from Shaun Versos when the shooting took place, police said.
Power, responsibility, and the importance of accountability tennessean.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from tennessean.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
February 3, 2021
This year, for Black History Month, we re taking a look at a group of leaders who are currently active making Black history across the labor movement. Check back daily for a new profile and meet some of the people working to improve not only the conditions in their community, but also the conditions for working people across the country. Today s profile is Vonda McDaniel.
Fiercely loyal to the working people in her Nashville, Tennessee, community, Vonda McDaniel continues to be a powerful leader through her faith and commitment to all people. By bridging the struggles of race, class and gender with her visionary strategy for a better future for all of us, she has always placed the needs of the labor movement before her own. She is a graduate of Tennessee State University. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., A. Philip Randolph Institute s Nashville chapter and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. She was recently appointed to the Tennessee State