Pride Month Profiles: Alyssa Goodstein

For Pride Month this year, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various LGBTQ+ workers who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights in the United States. Today's profile is Alyssa Goodstein of the Illinois AFL-CIO.

Alyssa Goodstein joined the Illinois AFL-CIO in 2022 after serving as LGBTQIA+ caucus director for Young Democrats of Illinois. A former UAW member while earning her degree at the University of California, Los Angeles, she views organized labor as a powerful force for workplace equality and LGBTQIA+ rights. At the state labor federation, Goodstein co-founded Pride At Work Illinois and helped organize the state’s first LGBTQIA+ and workers’ rights symposium, bringing together labor and advocacy leaders to strengthen protections for LGBTQIA+ workers across Illinois.

Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 06/05/2026 - 09:56

Tags: Pride

Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Mid-Continent Public Library Workers Vote to Form Union

Working people across the United States regularly step up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

Mid-Continent Public Library (MCPL) workers have voted to form a union with Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 6360.

One of the largest public library systems in the United States, MCPL covers three counties across the Kansas City metropolitan area. The new bargaining unit includes nearly 700 part-time and full-time librarians, early literacy associates, information technology staff, delivery services staff and other critical workers.

“From everyone that was there in the beginning four years ago to those that started supporting this week, we couldn’t have done it without each and every one of us,” said Kelli Mulligan Lindsey, an early literacy associate at MCPL Green Hills and MCPL Workers United-CWA Local 6360 member. “Together we can do anything, and together we can continue to make the library a place for everyone in our community.”

Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 06/05/2026 - 08:01

Tags: Organizing