A longitme Baltimore Teachers Union president and chief negotiator, has been elected to help lead one of the largest union organizations in the country.

Loretta Johnson was elected vice president of the AFL-CIO, a national federation of labor unions, according to a release sent Tuesday by the American Federation of Teachers, the parent group of the BTU.

Johnson was president of the Baltimore Teachers Union’s paraprofessional chapter for 35 years and president of AFT Maryland for 17 years. She was said to be the driving force behind the new, landmark BTU contract, living up to her reputation as one of the most relentless negotiators many city school officials said they'd ever sat at the table with.

“It’s wonderful to be recognized in this way by my peers in the labor movement,” Johnson said in the release. “I look forward to using my position with the AFL-CIO to continue my lifelong fight for working people."

Johnson also served for 30 years as a vice president of the national AFT before being elected AFT executive vice president in 2008. Johnson will become AFT secretary-treasurer on Sept. 9.

“Lorretta knows the challenges faced by working families because she’s spent her entire career working for them,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten, in the release. “Her years of experience as an educator, union member and labor leader will be invaluable in her role as an AFL-CIO vice president.”