Join the new Pacific NW chapter of LCLAA

LAS VEGAS (Aug. 10, 2021) — The Pacific Northwest chapter of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) had its charter unanimously approved last week by LCLAA’s national board at the organization’s 2021 convention held Aug. 4-6 in Las Vegas.

TAKE A STAND — The new LCLAA PNW chapter is already the fifth largest in the nation! And YOU can keep it growing by becoming a member (check out this membership tutorial for instructions) and joining its Organizing Committee meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 10 at 5 p.m. via Zoom. Join the meeting here.

LCLAA was founded in 1972 out of the need to educate, organize and mobilize Latinos in the labor movement. It has organized Latinos towards expanding workers’ rights and their influence in the political process.

At this year’s convention, titled El Futuro De Nuestra Comunidad – Cultivating the Groundwork for an Equitable and Just Recovery, LCLAA President Yanira Merino welcomed labor rights movement leaders, union members and allies. Various speakers focused on advancing worker rights, celebrated the contributions and honored the sacrifices of this labor force, and reinforced the interconnected experiences in the new American reality of social, climate, and immigration justice and the advancement of Latinos and people of color.

The convention’s goal centered on fulfilling a robust and justice-driven transformation for communities struggling with economic, racial, and gender injustices while recognizing that higher wages, fair workplace, more robust health care, and environmental safeguards foster a more engaged constituency with political power.

LCLAA members thanked its slate of incredible speakers, which included:

• Elizabeth Shuler, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer
• Fred Redmond, United Steelworkers International Vice President (Human Affairs) and TUCA President
• Robert Martinez Jr., IAM International President
• Rusty McAllister, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Nevada State AFL-CIO
• Assemblywoman Susie Martinez, Nevada District 12
• Assemblyman Edgar Flores, Nevada District 28
• Lee Saunders, President AFSCME
• Lucia Gómez, Political Director of the NYC Central Labor Council – AFL-CIO
• Shannon Lederer, Director of Immigration Policy AFL-CIO
• Sonja Diaz, Founding Executive Director of the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Initiative
• Juan Cartagena, President and General Counsel, Latino Justice PRLDEF
• Randi Weingarten, President AFT
• Noel Candelaria, Secretary-Treasurer NEA
• Amy Hinojosa, President and CEO of MANA
• Maria del Rosario Palacios, Executive Director, GA Familias Unidas
• Manuel Villanueva, California State Director for the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC)
• Melody Gonzales, Senior Advisor for Latino Advocacy, National Education Association
• Evelyn DeJesus, Executive Vice President, AFT
• Marisol Garcia, Vice President of the Arizona Education Association (AEA)
• Karen Reyes, Women’s Leadership Award Honoree, Special Education Teacher and EdJustice Austin Executive Board (AFT and NEA affiliate)
• María Rosalba Gómez Vázquez, Educator and Executive of the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (C.U.T.)
• Rosario Ortiz, Arriba Las Vegas Worker Center member
• Jonas Reyes-Salinas, Union member IUPAT
• Mariachi Joya, Las Vegas High School Mariachi Band
• Diana Gameros, Singer, and Songwriter

Learn more about LCLAA, and its activities and priorities, at LCLAA.org.