Michael podhorzer talks about the value of a volunteer
Michael Podhorzer (born 1956) is the political director of the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions in the United States.
On June 28, 2011, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka announced that Podhorzer would be the Federation's new political director. Previously, he served at the AFL-CIO as deputy director of the political department since 2005. He came to the AFL-CIO in 1997. While at the AFL, he helped establish Working America, the community partner of the AFL-CIO that has grown to 3 million members nationwide. Podhorzer serves as the executive director to Workers’ Voice, a “super PAC”. As political director, Podhorzer is leading the AFL-CIO’s strategy of counteracting the influx of spending by Republican-allied super PACs by stepping up its ground game for the 2012 elections, as well as helping lead the Federation’s voter protection efforts and mobilization strategy. The AFL-CIO said they will have more than 400,000 activists to work on the fall 2012 election. And on Election Day, the Federation will deploy 5,000 to 6,000 poll monitors to watch voting booths. Podhorzer has worked in progressive politics since 1976. Prior to the AFL, he was associate director for Citizen Action and worked at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). He also is chairman of the board of both the Analyst Institute and Catalist. He serves on the boards of America Votes, Committee of the States and Progressive Majority. He graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park.