Liz Shuler: What to know about AFL-CIO's first female president

President Biden called one of the nation's largest labor unions on Friday, assuring its new leader that the U.S. government would work closely with the organization.

With the death of its longtime leader, Richard Trumka, the AFL-CIO is about to enter a new era. The decades-old organization voted Friday to elect its first female president, Liz Shuler. As president, she'll be leading 56 unions and the AFL-CIO's 12.5 million members, as well as using the group's standing to advance the agenda of organized labor.

Here are a few quick facts about her:

Shuler has a long history with the AFL-CIO and organized labor

Shuler, in 2009, became the AFL-CIO's first woman elected to serve as secretary-treasurer. In that position, she was the organization's chief financial officer and led its initiatives on key issues, including retirement security, the clean energy economy, and public safety reform.

Shuler grew up with a father in Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 125. Later, she worked in multiple capacities for the IBEW, including as a lobbyist.

She's poised to influence various areas of government policy

Shuler is interested in big changes. On Twitter, she wrote: "This is a moment for us to lead societal transformations — to leverage our power to bring women & people of color from the margins to the center."

"This is a moment for us to lead societal transformations — at work, in our unions and in our economy, and to be the center of gravity for incubating new ideas that will unleash unprecedented union growth," she added.

Her bio reads: "Shuler believes the labor movement is the single most powerful vehicle for progress and that unions are a central force in leading lasting societal transformations. She is committed to busting myths about labor, leveraging the labor movement’s diversity for innovative approaches to social justice and making the benefits of a union voice on the job available to working people everywhere."

The Biden administration will be a sympathetic audience for her policy interests

According to news reports, a White House official said Biden and Shuler discussed areas in which they would collaborate. "They discussed the work that the President and AFL-CIO will partner on to create good-paying union jobs, increase union membership, and pay workers a living wage. The President expressed his condolences to Liz on Rich Trumka’s passing," the official said.

Shuler serves in several leadership positions for left-leaning organizations

The AFL-CIO's new president is also on the board of the National Women's Law Center, Economic Policy Center, the Women's Committee of the International Trade Union Confederation, and the Solidarity Center.