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Workers Mourn APALA President John Delloro
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John Delloro, president of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), died unexpectedly Saturday after suffering a heart attack.
Delloro, a member of AFT, was elected as APALA’s president in 2009. During his tenure at APALA, the AFL-CIO convened the first National Asian Pacific American Workers’ Rights Hearing in Washington D.C., in November 2009. Following the hearing, Delloro was a principal author of “Breaking Ground, Breaking Silence,” a report from the hearing. Prior to his election, he served as president of the Los Angeles chapter of APALA and was an organizer for HERE, AFSCME and SEIU.
APALA First Vice President Luisa Blue said:
We are all saddened by the sudden passing of John Delloro, a brilliant young labor leader, who made incredible contributions to APALA and to the U.S. labor movement.
Delloro worked as executive director of the Dolores Huerta Labor Institute in Los Angeles beginning in 2006. Under his leadership, the program has strengthened labor studies on all nine campuses of the Los Angeles Community College District and has introduced thousands of community college students to unions. Since 2007, he also has taught Asian American studies at the University of California-Los Angeles. In 2009, Delloro received the Unsung Hero Award by Asian Pacific Americans for Progress.
Kent Wong, APALA’s founding president, said of Delloro:
As a nationally recognized union leader, labor educator, organizer, teacher and mentor, John Delloro touched the lives of many and will be remembered for his compassion, his generosity of spirit, and for his visionary leadership.
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3 Comments
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My condolences on the loss of Brother Delloro. I hope they get a good labor leader
The first time I had the pleasure of meeting John was on Hollywood Walk To The Docks in April of 2008. It was an arduous, long 3 day- 28 mile hike from Hollywood to San Pedro where he both walked and pushed his daughter, Mina, much of the way in her stroller. It was on that walk I learned what I’d never known or even realized about the labor movement I was now jumping into with both feet.
John shared his personal experience how having a mother who was in nursing would be such a strong influence on him in becoming an organizer and labor activist. John and I became friends and I had the pleasure of being asked to guest speak to his students several times at Dolores Huerta Labor Institute in Hollywood about the Entertainment Unions SAG and AFTRA.
With John’s encouragement, I pursued my AA in Labor Studies at LATTC. John was the best teacher I have ever had, anywhere particularly when he taught 20 union brothers and sisters (some at odds with one another) at the Fire Station off of Beverly Blvd downtown about the History of Unions in Los Angeles. John was always involved with what each student’s unions were doing and what our concerns were. He integrated what we were there to learn in a fascinating and encouraging way. Amongst the many things John taught us, one of the most important things was how to balance both sides of the equation. He guided us to not fall prey to emotional judgments or reactions, but instead how to weigh both sides of an argument through role-playing, “management vs union” (in one instance) in order to understand our own causes and how to reach our goals more pragmatically and effectively.
One of the things I loved most about John as a teacher is that you could tell he loved his job, he loved educating and opening minds to what has been, and what can be.
John also happened to always have this uncanny ability to predict what was going to happen politically or economically in the news. Many of us would return the following week to class to further discuss how these current events would directly affect how we must think about organizing- not just our respective unions, but also ourselves for a better tomorrow.
John Delloro indeed did “touch the lives of many and will be remembered for his compassion, his generosity of spirit, and for his visionary leadership” – we have lost a dear friend, a father, and a truly inspiring leader. My deepest heartfelt condolences go out to his wife and 2 beautiful (brilliant) children at this impossibly difficult time. God Bless you John, you will be greatly missed.
I had the pleasure of meeting John at the last National AFL-CIO Convention. We spoke briefly about the asian-american communities of SE MN, chiefly in Rochester, MN. I was so looking forward to talking more extensively with him about organizing workers in a smaller city. He was so energetic and wise in the few words we had. The work will continue, but he will be missed.