Clayola Brown

Biographical Details
"Clayola Brown began serving as National President of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, located in Washington, D.C., in August 2004. Ms. Brown is a Vice President and a member of the General Executive Board of Workers United since its formation in March 2009.  She has been a member of the Board of Directors of Amalgamated Bank since February 1991 and has served on the Audit Committee of the Board from February 1993 to August 1997 and serves on the Trust Committee of the Board since February 2008.

"Although Ms. Brown has worked for UNITE HERE International Union since 1970, her involvement with the labor movement began many years earlier. As a sewing machine operator at the Manhattan Shirt factory in Charleston, South Carolina, she and her mother were activists in an organizing campaign at the plant.

"After choosing to pursue a career in labor, she began working for the Textile Workers Union of America in their claims department in September 1970. Ms. Brown moved up through the ranks, working as a trainer, organizer at the J.P. Stevens campaign in the South.  She became education director for the newly merged Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union; then civil rights director.  She was elected manager for ACTWU’s laundry division affiliate, servicing more than 13 years.  She was elected International Vice President in 1991 and has been reelected every election since that time.  In 1995, she was elected to the AFL-CIO Executive Council, where she served for 10 years."