She was subsequently elected to the executive boards of the San Antonio Central Labor Council and the Texas AFL-CIO. She was elected a vice president of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement in 1986. She was first elected an international vice president of AFSCME in 1988. In 1993, Chavez-Thompson became the first Hispanic woman elected to the Executive Council of the AFL-CIO. On March 1, 1995, she was elected executive director of AFSCME Texas Council 42, a statewide council of the union based in Austin with 12,000 members in 21 unions.