Charlie Wishman

Iowa Federation of Labor

Charlie Wishman became Secretary-Treasurer of the Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, in January of 2012, and President of the organization on May 1st, 2020.

Charlie is a member of IAM Local 254. He has also been a member of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

He has worked as community liaison for the Food Bank of Iowa and first became a union member working as an organizer for Iowa Citizen Action Network in 2006. In 2009 he became a Communications Specialist for AFSCME Iowa Council 61.

In the fall of 2011 he came to work for the Iowa Federation of Labor as Communications Director. Charlie also served as President of the Iowa Workers’ Compensation Advisory Council and also serves on the Iowa Workforce Development Board, the Labor Advisory Committee of the University of Iowa Labor Center, United Way of Central Iowa, the John L. Lewis Museum Board, The Iowa Labor History Society Board, the Labor Advisory Board of the Chicago Federal Reserve, as well as other boards and working groups to advocate for the advancement of the cause of working people.

Charlie graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in 2002. His family lives in Des Moines. He is widowed and has two children who attend Des Moines Public Schools, Isaac and Ivy.