by James Parks, Jun 30, 2007

The Centro Legal de la Raza in Oakland, Calif., is the first local worker center in the Golden State to affiliate with a local AFL-CIO central body.

The worker center, which serves low-wage and immigrant workers in the East Bay region of northern California, announced a landmark affiliation with the AFL-CIO Alameda County Central Labor Council (CLC) that will encourage closer cooperation in the advancement of immigrant and worker rights.   

Says Sharon Cornu, secretary-treasurer of the CLC:

Low-wage and immigrant workers in Oakland face enormous challenges in enforcing their labor and employment rights, rendering them ripe for exploitation at the hands of unscrupulous employers. Working together, union members and day laborers will promote and enforce greater workplace rights for all workers—union and nonunion, immigrant and native-born alike.

Patricia Loya, executive director of the Centro Legal de la Raza, adds:

The challenges facing low-wage and middle-class workers are closely connected.  Together, we’ll be stronger in the fight for workers’ most basic rights—a right to decent pay, to a safe workplace and fair treatment.

Last year, the AFL-CIO’s Executive Council approved a plan that paved the way for AFL-CIO central labor councils and state federations and worker centers to work together on issues ranging from workplace rights to immigration reform to health and safety and other job-related concerns.

The 140 worker centers in 80 cities and towns serve as a place for day laborers and low-wage workers, many of them immigrants and people of color, to come together and learn about their rights. The centers also operate as advocates for the workers, approximately 200,000 in the United States.

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