WOD 2014: Michele Liebtag

Michelle Liebtag
Political & Education Director, CWA Local 1036

Michele Liebtag is the Political & Education Director of Communications Workers of America Local 1036 located in Trenton NJ. Local 1036 represents over 7,000 public sector workers in New Jersey and Delaware.  Michele works every day to advocate for workers’ rights, effective public services and to get members involved in politics.

Michele is the Secretary/Treasurer of the Mercer County Central Labor Council and Vice President of the Southern NJ and Atlantic and Cape May Counties Central Labor Councils. She is the Treasurer of Working Families United for New Jersey, a group dedicated to progressive grass roots organizing around economic equality and opportunity.  She is an active member of the Time to Care Coalition which worked in partnership with the NJ AFL-CIO to get Paid Family Leave passed in NJ and has lobbied in Washington, DC for different work/family initiatives.

Michele received her Master of Arts in Labor and Industrial Relations and her Bachelor of Arts in Labor Studies from Rutgers University, Summa Cum Laude.

Michele was born and raised in Bordentown in Burlington County.  She joined her local Girl Scout Brownie Troop which taught her strong values of teamwork, community service, leadership and responsibility.  This is also where she learned to love Thin Mint cookies, and still does.

After marrying her husband, Adam, in 2004, she moved to Frenchtown in Hunterdon County where she shares her home with dog, Olive, and two cats, Floyd and Bean.  

Advice for Girl Scouts

Know that the lessons you are learning in the Girl Scouts are LIFE LESSONS.  You learn about working together with other people for a common goal or common good.  You learn about doing something for other people, about charity work, about thinking outside of yourself, about the greater good.  You learn about how to see a project through to the end, even if it takes a lot of hard work to get there.  You also learn that hard work can be fun, if you are doing it for the right reasons and with great people.  And finally that by working hard and with others you have the power to effectuate the change you want to see in your world.