“While bargaining in education remains elusive, 我们将有Sharon多年的积极建设和乘务员培训在德克萨斯的AFT，当我们最终达到我们的目标，一个讨价还价的合同.”
Texas AFT President Zeph Capo
Sharon Cole, one of the early trainers for what we were then known as, the Texas Federation of Teachers, died recently. 莎伦是我们工会组织的导火索，她教新员工加入工会运动的具体细节，并指导当地工会的领导人. Our friend Ed Sills, communications director for the Texas AFL-CIO, wrote this fitting tribute to her.
The Texas AFL-CIO is saddened to learn of the death of Sharon Cole, 谁在德州365在线体育的成功中发挥了非凡的作用.
Sister Cole and her husband, John Cole, a long-time Texas AFT President, were one of the great power couples in Texas labor history. As a reporter covering the Legislature in the 1980s and early 1990s, 我亲眼目睹了这一点:约翰会主持新闻发布会，并作为工会的公众形象, 但记者们会涌向沙龙，以获得更多的细节，以及工会能够透露的字里行间的一切. It was a Mr. Outside and Ms. Inside vibe characterized by superb communications skills and determined advocacy. Though Sharon Cole officially was in charge of leadership development and training, her portfolio took in the entire Texas AFT operation. As Communications Director of the Texas AFL-CIO, 我也有幸帮助了一些莎伦在德州AFT组织的领导力培训会议, and can say from experience that those operations were (and are) valuable, efficient and enthusiastically received.
科尔夫妇的任期包括在教育改革和学校财政公正方面的全国性重要斗争——后者是一场征服了一些险峰的历史性民权斗争. 他们参与为公立学校提供公平资金的运动，是在美国教育委员会受挫之后.S. Supreme Court. Ultimately, 德克萨斯州最高法院发布了主要的法院裁决，立法机构朝着在全州为学生提供均等资金的方向前进.
Though some local Texas affiliates of the American Federation of Teachers are older, Texas AFT was founded in 1974, 那是一个公共部门工会开始在劳工运动中发挥更大作用的时代. 在该州有四个组织试图代表教师和其他公立学校雇员的情况下，AFT是一个新兴的组织. Two of those organizations can be characterized as non-union and/or anti-union. The third, our friends at the Texas State Teachers Association, have joined with Texas AFT in meet-and-confer arrangements in a number of large school districts; TSTA was founded in 1880. 在约翰·科尔和莎伦·科尔的领导下，德克萨斯的AFT在数量和效率上都有所增长.
德州劳联-产联的历任主席都自豪地指出，德州劳联是德州联邦最大或第二大的工会, 取决于哪一天你算美国政府雇员联合会的成员. The union went from “being able to meet in a closet” to the 66,如今它已经拥有了1万名会员，并毫不掩饰地宣称德州AFT是一个彻头彻尾的工会, seeking collective bargaining, opposing the so-called “right to work” law, 并参与了全国工会所期望的那种协调行动主义. Sharon Cole played a seminal role in laying the groundwork for the union’s rise.
In addition to building an organizing culture, 科尔夫妇制定了另一项德州AFT至今仍在沿用的标准:他们在员工招聘方面非常出色, hiring some of the best advocates in state government and cultivating their talents. To this day, Texas AFT makes a mark that goes well beyond its numbers.
莎伦·科尔(Sharon Cole)是俄亥俄州派来的一位真正的劳工特使，她带领新的活动人士来到德克萨斯这片可以进行集体谈判并为教师和学校员工建设权力的乐土,” Texas AFT President Zeph Capo said. “While bargaining in education remains elusive, 我们将有Sharon多年的积极建设和乘务员培训在德克萨斯的AFT，当我们最终达到我们的目标，一个讨价还价的合同.”
任何关于莎伦·科尔的记忆都不能不提到科尔一家是科珀斯克里斯蒂的中坚力量, 已经开始了他们的得克萨斯工作(会议后，而组织在俄亥俄州)在当地的AFT附属公司. (科珀斯克里斯蒂(Corpus Christi)的子公司将产生另一位受人尊敬的得克萨斯州AFT总裁和科尔的门徒, the late Linda Bridges.)科珀斯基督学校的情况，以及意识到其他学区也处于类似的位置，促使科尔夫妇将他们的活动带到州一级. For years, 科尔夫妇为了巩固联盟的基础做出了个人经济上的牺牲.
“It was my good fortune to work with and know Sharon Cole,” said former Texas AFL-CIO President Becky Moeller, another history-making labor activist from Corpus Christi. 除了为小学生做宣传，她还致力于为工会积极分子提供教育. Her Continuing Education programs within AFT and labor in general were legendary.”
“John Cole and Sharon Cole were a dynamic duo,” Moeller said. “They complemented each other professionally and personally. Many in the union movement were touched by Sharon’s activism and love of the work she did.”
莎伦·科尔(Sharon Cole)在前德克萨斯大学AFT校长路易斯·马尔法罗(Louis Malfaro)担任教师的第一年就亲自签约成为德克萨斯大学AFT的会员.
"就在我收到反工会教师组织的邮件的同一周，莎伦突然给我打电话说, ‘We believe strikes should be reserved for the grand old game of baseball,’” Malfaro said. “I was livid. When she called, I asked, ‘Is this a real union?她向我保证，Texas AFT是美国劳联-产联(AFL-CIO)的一个附属机构，是一个真正的工会. She was at my classroom door the next morning with a membership card, convinced she had a live one on the line.”
马尔法罗说，莎伦·科尔对系统性组织的信念影响了AFT在全国的分支机构. He adds she was a joy to work with: “Her ribald sense of humor, easy way of connecting with just about everyone she met, 在德州AFT公司的办公室里，从走廊里传来的粗哑的笑声永远铭刻在我的记忆中.”
Eric Hartman, the long-time Legislative Director of Texas AFT recruited by John Cole, described Sharon Cole as a “happy warrior.” He said the couple was “a true partnership, a team that served the members very well.”
Hartman said Sharon Cole’s versatility was extraordinary, especially considering the years in which the union was akin to a family operation, with minimal staff. “She was the one who could do it all,” Hartman said.
Jerry Quinones, a retiree who worked for AFT in local, state and national capacities, said Sharon Cole’s role in the growth of the union was indispensable. “She lit up a room,” Quinones said. “She was always upbeat and positive, with so much energy and so much drive.奎诺内斯说，这种个性在夏季和冬季的领导力培训课程中得到了广泛模仿，并成为全国工会的榜样.
德克萨斯州劳联-产联主席里克·利维说，莎伦·科尔在该州劳工联盟的历史上发挥了重要作用. “莎伦·科尔是德克萨斯州改善公共教育运动的核心人物，”利维说. “Her commitment to training, leadership development, 组织力量为整个工会运动留下了遗产，并帮助德克萨斯AFT不仅在教育政策上，而且在影响工薪家庭的所有问题上成为领导者. We will deeply miss her.”
德州劳联-产联向约翰·科尔、科尔的家人和德州AFT公司表示衷心的哀悼. Arrangements are private