The San Mateo County Central Labor Council (SMCCLC) was created as the local body of the national AFL-CIO, and serves as an umbrella organization for the labor community in San Mateo County. It consists of approximately 100 affiliated local unions and represents more than 80,000 union members and their families. The Executive Board sets policy for the local labor community. Staff, officers and delegates also serve on a myriad of community and county boards and commissions. SMCCLC activities include political and legislative action and advocacy, economic development in San Mateo County, union organizing and contract support, community services programs in cooperation with the United Way of the Bay Area, and an apprenticeship readiness program, operated through their non-profit, the San Mateo County Union Community Alliance (SMCUCA).

Shelley Kessler worked at the Labor Council for 31 years, first as the political director and subsequently as the Executive Secretary-Treasurer until her retirement in 2016. During that time, she was also a Vice-President of the California State Labor Federation. She began her working career in non-traditional jobs for women, working as an automobile assembler, spot-welder, and mechanic. Her record as an advocate for women in the labor movement includes assertiveness training seminars, helping women deal with sexual harassment and job discrimination issues, and development of high school curriculum/job training programs that cover labor issues without sex bias. She helped develop “We Do The Work,” a national television program with positive portrayals of working people, and was an organizer and President of the Western Workers Labor Heritage Festival, a celebration of worker’s culture. She helped organize Congressional hearings on job safety and workplace injustice and participated in some early organizing for the widely recognized Airport Child Care Program (Palcare) for workers at San Francisco Airport. She received a special award from the Independent Federation of Flight Attendants for her support and leadership during a national flight attendants strike.