John Sweeney

John Joseph Sweeney (born May 5, 1934) was the president of the AFL-CIO from 1995 to 2009. Born in The Bronx, New York, Sweeney is the son of Joseph (a city bus driver) and Agnes (a domestic worker), both Irish immigrants. The family moved to Yonkers in 1944, where Sweeney attended St. Barnabas Elementary School and graduated from Cardinal Hayes High School. Sweeney's father took him to numerous union meetings, and it is there that Sweeney began his life-long commitment to the American labor movement. Sweeney enrolled at Iona College in New Rochelle in 1952. Sweeney worked as a grave-digger and building porter to pay his tuition, and joined his first union at this time. In 1956, he graduated with a degree in economics. After graduation,...