In May 2002 Pierrette “Petee” Talley was elected as Ohio AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer becoming the first woman ever elected as one of two principal officers in the 63-year history of the labor federation. Talley was re-elected to a fifth 4-year term in 2018 prior to her retirement in 2019.
She spearheaded many local and statewide initiatives and campaigns throughout her 40-year career in organized labor and community social justice and civic engagement work. In 1992 she began registering voters and making sure they got to the polls to vote. She has organized efforts to protect the vote and ensure voters’ ballots were counted. She has implemented non-partisan door-to-door canvassing though her work with the Ohio Coalition on Black Civic Participation/Ohio Unity Coalition. She recently helped voters in Ohio navigate through the pandemic to ensure they were able to participate in the 2020 presidential election
