AFGE members elect new leader

Nearly 10 weeks following news the nation’s largest federal employee union was losing its president, the American Federation of Government Employees has announced its new leader.

J. David Cox was announced Aug. 15 as AFGE’s new national president at the union’s convention in Las Vegas, according to Federal Times. Cox is replacing John Gage, who served as national president for nearly 10 years. Gage said he wanted to spend more time with his family and contribute to the labor movement in other ways as reasons for his departure.

Cox served two consecutive terms as AFGE’s national secretary treasurer, a role in which he helped add more than 52,000 new members and expand the size and reach of AFGE’s political action committee and its legislative action fund.