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Jeff Johnson was born in Long Island, New York, in 1951. Johnson earned his B.A. in political science from Georgetown University and his M.A. and A.B.D. in political economy from the New School for Social Research. At Georgetown University he became involved in Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam War movements. Johnson began his union career in New York, N.Y. as a member of Local 2190 of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) in 1979. He worked as a teacher of labor economics and labor studies for members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 3. Johnson also taught classes for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU), Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU). Johnson taught classes for the National Congress of Neighborhood Women and worked as faculty at the Harry Van Arsdale Center for Labor Studies at State University of New York (SUNY) and the The National Labor College.

In 1986, Johnson drove across the country with his wife and began working for the Washington State Labor Council (WSLC) as the Research Director. He also served as the shop steward for the WSLC’s unionized employees in the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), Local 8 from 1988-1993. Early in his career, Johnson was introduced to Tomas Villanueva, the president of the newly formed United Farm Workers (UFW) in Washington. At the time, farmworkers were not protected by minimum wage, pesticide control, or child labor laws, and they were ineligible for unemployment insurance or workers' compensation. Johnson and Villanueva worked together over a five year period to establish child labor and health and safety protections specifically for farmworkers, and they also ran minimum wage and workers' compensation initiatives. In addition, they launched a lawsuit to include farmworkers in unemployment insurance programs. In 1992, Johnson and Villanueva worked with Chicano activist and lawyer Guadalupe Gamboa and his uncle, a professor at the University of Washington, to write a collective bargaining bill for farmworkers in Washington, modeled after the California Labor Relations Act.

In 1993, Johnson became the WSLC’s Lead Lobbyist following changes in WSLC leadership due to the election of Mike Lowry as Washington governor. In 1998, he spearheaded another minimum wage initiative, creating a broad coalition of community organizations to back the campaign. Johnson was also involved in the WSLC's work around immigration reform and efforts to connect with the Latino community, including by affiliating with CASA Latina. Johnson assumed the role of Special Assistant to the President in 2008, while remaining the lead lobbyist.

In 2010, Johnson was elected president of the WSLC and served two terms before retiring in 2018. During his time as president, Johnson was involved in much of the community outreach and coalition building from before. The WSLC, under his leadership, supported the first campaigns to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour, first in SeaTac then in Seattle. He also promoted efforts to address issues of racism in labor and worked with state legislators on climate justice initiatives.

Johnson is still active in Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action (PSARA), the Board of Labor Network for Sustainability, and other local causes.