L.A. was the city where the ethnicity and ideology of union leadership came to reflect the heterogeneous character of its working class and remake the movement. This took root in the 1990s when Miguel Contreras transformed the Federation of Labor.
When kitchen workers at Twin Peaks in TN walked out, protesting a racist manager along with unfair firings and wage theft, they were joined by wait staff who had been abused by the same manager.
On average, Latina workers are paid only 67 cents on the dollar relative to white non-Hispanic men, even after controlling for education, years of experience, and location.
As the nation becomes more Black and Brown, an economic crisis in wage earnings could be on the horizon.
In today’s United States, labor unions and Latino voters are two key pillars of progressive politics. Yet when Eliseo Medina worked for the UFW from 1965-1978, the situation was very different. The UFW was the only union that prioritized grassroots electoral outreach, and among the few groups focused on registering Latino voters and getting them out the vote. Medina would play a key role in expanding this UFW model nationally, and through the broader labor movement.
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