Member Spotlight: Wayne Bostick (APRI)
Member Spotlight is a recurring blog post series intended to highlight and connect the dots between the programs and priorities of the NC State AFL-CIO and the leaders and activist members of our affiliates who make it all possible.
I’m Wayne Bostick, and I am currently the president of the North Carolina A. Philip Randolph Institute (NC APRI). The APRI is the oldest constituency group of the AFL-CIO and was co-created by Asa Philip Randolph, who started the first predominantly African American labor union. I first got involved with the APRI through a woman named Thressa Robinson, who was a founder of the Durham chapter and a member of my church. I went to a meeting in 1995, and once I got there, I realized this was something I had been doing all my life - speaking up and speaking out for others.
After serving as a communications specialist in the Army, I worked my first union job at the David Taylor Research Center with the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). At the time, I didn’t understand the union’s importance in getting me the wages and the benefits that I had. But whenever somebody was going through problems on the job, they would come to me to speak out, which meant I’d often be the first one to get fired. Later on, I worked at the ConAgra Plant in Garner with the United Foods and Commercial Workers Local 204 (UFCW). I had just gotten off work the night before the heartbreaking explosion at the plant. Even though we went back to work in that building for another year, the company eventually closed it, so I retrained as a plumber and started my own small business.
Even while self-employed, I never left the labor movement. After more than a decade of membership, I became the President of the Durham APRI chapter in 2010, and President of the statewide APRI chapter in 2019. Through the NC APRI, I took over operation of Mary's Pantry, which has been in the North Carolina AFL-CIO building for decades. The pantry is a Partner Agency of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, and every Saturday we open our doors and distribute food to the community. The food bank is important because people have low paying jobs and high bills, and need something that can help them offset those costs.
I want people to know that there are lots of ways to get involved in the APRI. We have chapters throughout the state that do food and clothing distributions, informational forums, and other programs, as well as what we’re known for nationally: voter registration, 365 days a year. I also want people to understand how important it is to be involved in the electoral process, and also to support unions, because strong unions are what make the difference in ensuring that everyone has a livable wage job.
You can support Mary’s Food Pantry by scanning the QR code below or by visiting this link: secure.actblue.com/donate/maryspantry.
