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Mazur to leave AFSCME

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Jeff Mazur, the Executive Director for AFSCME Council 72 in Columbia, will be stepping down from his role in the labor fight at the end of the month to take a new position with the St. Louis-based non-profit: LaunchCode.

Mazur has served as ED for AFSCME for 5 years since his return to the organization in 2010 after a brief stint with the administration of Gov. Jay Nixon. Since then, Mazur has served as one of the more energetic, vocal, and visible advocates for both public and private organized labor groups around the state.

Mazur
Mazur

He’ll now move to LaunchCode where he will be Director of Public Partnerships. LaunchCode is a non-profit that partners with local businesses and public entities to fill job positions in tech jobs, with particular emphasis in coding. LaunchCode prides itself on helping individuals find typically well-paying jobs in coding even if they lack the college degree or job experience normally sought by businesses.

Mazur’s work will likely bring him in close contact with public entities like the Missouri Technology Corporation and the state Division of Workforce Development, where resources are allocated to job training and placement. Mazur, a vocal advocate for a higher minimum wage and a sharp-tongued social media personality, said the work LaunchCode did created a “win, win, win.”

“They’re working to fill an unmet need in the businesses community for people who have skills in tech jobs for things like coding,” Mazur said. “There are all these people who have the capacity and the drive to do it, particularly younger people, but who don’t have the credentials ordinarily needed for that sort of work. Essentially we want to give them on-ramps to those good jobs in tech fields even if they lack those tech credentials.”

Mazur said the core of his work would be developing the local workforce, something he said excited him and provided a real, tangible benefit to local communities.

“Its core is about the development of the workforce and it reflects the growing needs in technology of the business community of the state,” Mazur said.

Mazur will be relocating to St. Louis in the coming months to take over his new role, but remains with AFSCME through the rest of the month and, perhaps most importantly, remains their head honcho through veto session, where Right-to-Work legislation is expected to be the focus of the debate.