ATLANTA—At a time when Latinos are being persecuted by the Trump administration and its right-wing supporters, the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), the AFL-CIO constituency group representing two million Latino union members, came out of their July 28-Aug. 3 convention here determined to fight for the unity they insist can stop the attacks on them and on all working people.
The group’s president, Evelyn DeJesus, opened the gathering with a solemn declaration: “Fifty-three years and still standing, a family for our shared struggles, our dreams, and our unstoppable spirit!” DeJesus told the delegates that the whole country is facing “a moment of urgency.” She said, “Our rights are in danger, our dignity is being challenged, but we say, when they come for one, they come for all of us!
“Building bridges, protecting our legacy, breaking barriers—that’s not just a slogan, but our mission, our movement, our collective determination to strengthen the labor movement across the country.”
DeJesus emphasized that building bridges means “reaching out across generations, across movements, across trade unions, across our dreams” because the forces of the right are trying to divide people. “We are stronger together, not only building alliances, but building a family, by defending each other…. Our children and their children are watching.”
The leadership of the AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor federation, was represented by several officials, including Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond, who moved the attendees with his declaration that “the attack of the administration on everything we believe in has been tremendous.” He talked of the attacks on federal workers, immigrant workers, women, and collective bargaining. He slammed the Trump administration and Congress for “cutting funding for healthcare and education to pay for tax breaks for the billionaires.” Redmond said the Republicans have completely “sold out the working class.”
He issued a call to anyone who seeks public office in the country, saying that the labor movement “needs candidates who support us, who march on our picket lines, who protect immigrant communities.
“When they come after immigrants—it’s not only their problem, it’s all our problem,” Redmond declared. “We must stay unified because an injury to LGBTQ people, democratic rights, and immigrants is an injury to all; we must organize like our life depends on it! Open our union halls, hold hands, feel the power of solidarity: No force can break us! There is no ICE that can deport us! There is no president that can defeat us! No soldier can suppress us! We will win!”
The convention also provided a platform for actionable solutions with workshops, panels, and strategy sessions focused on defending workers’ rights, protecting immigrant communities, advancing equity and justice, and empowering Latino leadership.
American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten made a powerful call for mobilization for the fights being waged now and those still to come.
“We’re under attack like never before. When they are disappearing people, trying to pit immigrants against people who are not current immigrants. We must imagine a future that includes everyone, and we must fight for it at the bargaining table, on the streets, at school board meetings, in state houses, we must fight for that future, as we’re fighting back.
She decried the fear engendered by the MAGA attacks on democracy:
“We can’t put our photos of this event on social media or otherwise until Sunday in order to protecting ourselves! This is America? The arrest of David Huerta—is this America?
“We must talk about the things that bind us: good wages, good benefits, the promise of America, a decent retirement, a voice at work. Let’s do on Labor Day weekend what we did on ‘No Kings’ Day! Take to the streets on Labor Day weekend all together!”
Dr. Juan Andrade of the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute, recipient of a LCLAA award for his lifelong commitment at the convention, sounded the following warning:
“If we are not presently the target, we must stand with those who are! If immigrants are gone, if TPS workers are gone, if DACA students are gone, if naturalized citizens are gone, and if birthright citizens are gone, who will stand for us? We’d be on our own! So, if you want to be around, stand up for them!”
Xochitl Cobarruvias, a member of the Steel Workers Union and head of the Los Angeles LCLAA chapter, delivered a message for and by the women in attendance:
“Mujeres unidas rompiendo barreras—women united breaking barriers. That’s the spirit of our movement. We are teachers, builders, nurses, labor leaders, and proud Latinas leading with power and purpose. When our immigrant communities are under attack, we take it personally. We fight not only for our rights but for the generations that will follow. The youth are the pillars of the bridges we are building—for everyone to cross, documented or not. The struggle continues, but so does our strength. La luche sigue! El pueblo salva al pueblo! United we advance, and unidos ganamos!”
Explaining the role of LCLAA
People’s World interviewed a number of participants at the convention who shed light on the importance of the work being done by LCLAA.
Beatrice Teoete, organizing director for Unite Here, Local 11 in Arizona, said: “We must organize workers in their workplaces. We cannot depend on the government to protect workers. We in labor must organize a lot more shops, a lot of workers.” She said LCLAA has passed 11 resolutions connected to organizing and that it helps pull together Latino communities and workers. The organization has trained and supported members of unions, and, in general, is a good resource for them.
She noted how LCLAA members in unions fight hard in a wide variety of areas, including restoration of workers’ rights, and on small issues like breaks and big issues like living wages and healthcare.
“In 2023,” she said, “many contracts were expired. The union decided that they would fight them at the same time with a series of strikes, a lot in Los Angeles, but in Phoenix at the airport, too. The airport workers went on strike. A survey was done showing how these jobs were creating poverty in the city because of the subcontracting, and we found there was racial discrimination.
“Black workers in Phoenix are 8% of the population, but at the airport, they were 30% of the population, but 50% were making poverty wages, and among the higher paid, servers and bartenders, there were no Black bartenders. Two black servers went to the Attorney General’s office, which sued the city for racial discrimination on behalf of the union. It took a two-year fight, but the rights were restored, and now there is a hiring process that is not discriminatory. Fired workers were brought back, workers got promotions that they deserved, and, on top of that, got $5-10 increases in a four-year contract, free health insurance, up to three dependents, and got their pensions restored.”
Topeta stressed the need for unions to educate workers, especially since many members voted for Trump due to concern about high prices and not understanding important political factors. Such education might have helped them realize he was not the solution. She noted that “workers know how to fight the boss but have to understand now that it is the boss who is in the White House.”
The struggle to defend democracy, she felt, must begin in the workplace. “It means we have to organize more workers. When we organize, we develop leadership, learn why government matters, the necessity to vote, and when we separate ourselves from government, then someone speaks for us, someone will make laws, make decisions on how we’ll live our lives. It’s like in the workplace, if we give all the power to the boss, then we get the minimum. It’s up to us to figure out what we need and be collective and fight and push for that. But we’re busy trying to make ends meet, we’re very busy, so this is a hard lesson to learn.”
On the coming elections, Teoete said that “they will dictate if we have a democracy. Authoritarianism is here. Fascism is here. What 2026 must mean is the reversal of authoritarianism. Never in my life did I imagine that we’d be where we are right now. But it’s not too late. Working along with other organizations, we need to dig deeper in the electoral field, because in 2020, Arizona turned blue. We did a lot of work. It doesn’t happen by magic. We knocked on 800,000 doors, with others, or we knocked on a total of five million doors, and we did the same in 2024, but we lost by 87,000 votes. We must educate voters on how the government works and how to be a part of it and how important it is to vote.”
Roberto Renteria told People’s World that a union contract is critical to protect workers from mistreatment. Renteria has been with the Painters’ union for 15 years.
He said he was proud of LCLAA because “they stick up for Latino and immigrant rights, educate people about their rights, and fight discrimination and unfair labor laws.” As a member, he said he has “helped win back pay, fought against unfair firing, and fought for better working conditions.
Rick Hernandez, with the Brick Layers Union, Local 4 in Louisville, Ky., who organized an LCLAA chapter there, told People’s World he did so, in part, to emulate his parents. Hernandez said they helped people who had come from Mexico. He said LCLAA helps immigrants by lobbying, educating members, getting out the vote, and many other activities.
These were only a few of the participants who made the LCLAA convention into living proof of the determination of the nation’s Latino union members to continue fighting for their rights and the rights of all workers, both organized and unorganized.
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