Latinos Plan Ways to Build Political Strength

by James Parks, Nov 23, 2006

Latino voters played a big role in the Nov. 7 election results that ended control of Congress by Big Business special-interest Republicans and returned working family-backed candidates to the majority.

U.S. Census figures show Latinos make up at least 10 percent of the population in 11 of the 28 congressional districts that switched from Republican to Democratic.

Nearly three-quarters of Latino voters (71 percent) voted Democratic this year, up dramatically from 56 percent in 2004.

Now Latino workers and political leaders are meeting to discuss strategies to build on that political power. The AFL-CIO constituency group, the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), and the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (NHCSL) held the first Annual Labor Breakfast at the caucus’ meeting in San Juan, P.R., this week.

Two of the main issues discussed were the privatization of Puerto Rico’s public services, as well as the need to grow the number of Latino state legislators around the United States.

Last month, Puerto Rico Gov. Anibal Acevedo-Vilá unveiled his plan to decentralize the state government. LCLAA President Milton Rosado said the group opposes the move:

It is important to bring awareness about the proposed privatization of Puerto Rico’s government services because it moves the responsibility and burden from the state government to the municipalities.

The theory behind the government privatization is that it will lessen its size and personnel-related expenditures. However, by moving the government from the state to the municipalities, collective bargaining for government employees is also removed, as there are no such rights at the municipal level.

Furthermore, the manner in which the restructuring is taking place lacks transparency and clarity, and is taking place without labor-management cooperation.

Earlier this year, nearly 100,000 state workers in Puerto Rico were shut out of their jobs because of a fiscal crisis. After a weeklong standoff, government and religious leaders reached an agreement to reopen the government.

Members of LCLAA and the NHCSL also discussed the critical importance of growing the number of Latino candidates at the state and local levels.

LCLAA Executive Director Gabriela Lemus says:

Without this pipeline, Latinos will never be able to increase the number of representatives nationwide and thus will never reach parity with the rate of demographic growth. 

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