WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Executive Committee of the Change to Win Coalition announced today that it has elected Anna Burger as its first Chair and Edgar Romney as its first Treasurer.

Ms. Burger is the International Secretary-Treasurer of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Mr. Romney is the Executive Vice President of UNITE HERE!

The Coalition is a new alliance devoted to creating a large-scale, coordinated campaign to expand the American labor movement. Its goal is to empower the tens of millions of American workers who struggle to make ends meet and whose voice has been silenced by the overwhelming power of global corporations and their representatives in Washington.

“Anna and Edgar represent the very best of the American labor movement,” the Coalition officers said in a statement today. “They are both outstanding leaders whose organizing skills and commitment to the interests of working people will help us build the Change to Win Coalition into a powerful force for working people.”

Ms. Burger is among the highest-ranking women in the labor movement. She was elected SEIU International Secretary-Treasurer in 2001 following nearly 30 years of political and field work for the union.

“I am excited about the challenges ahead for the Coalition,” Ms. Burger said today. American workers need a new voice. I am committed to fighting to bring millions more workers into the labor movement and lift their families up to new levels of economic security.”

Mr. Romney joined the former ILGWU in 1962 as a shipping clerk in Local 99. In 1989, he was elected ILGWU Executive Vice President, becoming the first African-American to hold that position. In 1995, Romney became Executive Vice President of UNITE.

“The Change to Win Coalition is going to be a major force in the American workplace,” Mr. Romney said. “I look forward to working with the Chair and the Executive Committee to help workers restore the American dream for their families.”

The Change to Win Coalition includes the Laborers’ International Union of North America, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, UNITE HERE!, the Service Employees International Union, the United Food and Commercial Workers and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.