Victor Bussie

Who was Victor Bussie?

Victor V. Bussie was until his retirement in 1997 the 41-year unopposed president of the Louisiana AFL-CIO, having first assumed the mantle of union leadership in 1956. Journalists often described him as the most significant non-elected "official" in his state's politics. Bussie's influence with governors and state legislators became so great in the 1970s that a trade association known as the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry was established as a counterbalance to the AFL-CIO. LABI won a huge victory in 1976 with the passage of the state's still-standing right-to-work legislation.