Women's History Month Profiles: Helena Thornton

This year, for Women’s History Month, we’re taking a look at a group of leaders who are currently active making women’s history across the labor movement. Check back daily for a new profile and meet some of the people working to improve not only their community, but also to improve conditions for working people across the country. Today’s profile is Helena Thornton of the Machinists (IAM).

Helena Thornton is the first woman president of IAM Victory Lodge 1725 in Charlotte, N.C. A member of the North Carolina State AFL-CIO’s Carolina Labor School Class of 2014, Thornton has been a shop steward, recording secretary and auditor in her union. “I’m truly a full-blown machinist,” said Thornton, always eager to talk about the benefits and power that come from being in a union, even to her kids and grandkids. “They’ll say, ‘Everything you say is union,’ because it is! If you don’t have a union, it’s going to be hard for you.”