Latino Workers Mobilizing for Employee Free Choice

by James Parks, May 5, 2009

Update: The LCLAA leadership forum set for this weekend has been rescheduled to Oct. 1-4.

Latinos make up the fastest growing segment of the workforce and union movement. To gain a better life for themselves and their families, Latinos and all workers need the freedom to form unions and bargain.

As part of that effort, the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), an AFL-CIO constituency group, is stepping up its efforts to mobilize in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.

 LCLAA members from across the Midwest will meet this weekend in Chicago for the first of three regional leadership development forums. At this forum and at future gatherings in Philadelphia and in Orange County, Calif., LCLAA members will develop strategies to build support for the legislation and expand organizing.

In a recent study, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that between 2007 and 2008, Latinos made up nearly 30 percent of the new union members. The value of unions to Latinos is clear. Latino union members make 43 percent higher median wages than Latinos who don’t have a union. Those and other demographics of the Latino community make union membership especially helpful to Latinos, says Gabriela Lemus, executive director of LCLAA. For example:

• The income of one in six Latino seniors is below the poverty level. Joining a union would mean that they would more likely be prepared for retirement.
• Latinos are among the youngest population group in the United States with a median age more than 10 years younger than the median age for the U.S. population overall. Union membership would assist them in earning a livable wage. It also could move many into jobs where they learn more skills, take on greater responsibilities and gain added benefits.
• Union workers are 28.2 percent more likely to be covered by employer health insurance, have better insurance because employers are more likely to pay for a higher share of family coverage. A higher percentage of Latino workers are uninsured than in any other group in the country.

In a recent letter to LCLAA members, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker said linking politics to organizing is critical for all union members, including Latinos. 

The Latino community will play an integral role in strengthening these linkages. At the same time the policies that…Congress and the Obama administration are addressing, including the Employee Free Choice Act, health care reform [and] immigration reform will have a significant impact on the Latino community.

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