Good afternoon, everyone! It’s great to host you all here today. Welcome to the House of Labor!
I want to give a huge shout out to Evelyn [DeJesus] for her incredible leadership. Every chance I get, I like to remind people the labor movement is the largest organization of working women in this country! And every day…we have more and more women not just in this movement but leading this movement.
I want to thank the rest of the fantastic LCLAA leadership team, as well:
- Sergio Rascon, Secretary Treasurer;
- Xochitl Cobarruvias, Executive Vice President;
- The National Executive Board Members;
- And of course Jose Vargas—thank you for your visionary leadership;
- And the sponsors who made today possible.
Thanks to everyone who came together on this fantastic report.
And it could not be more timely…or more important…than it is in this moment.
You hear President Biden talk a lot about being in a battle for the soul of this nation.
It’s a battle that we as a labor movement are smack dab in the middle of.
And it’s a battle that is being fought, every single day, when it comes to immigration.
Right now we have these ideas that were fringe ideas five, ten years ago…which are now the mainstream position of one of our parties.
Greg Abbott, in Texas, defying the federal government, the Supreme Court at the border, with militancy and absolute cruelty.
Governors all over the South who are treating migrants, human beings, as political props.
State legislatures across the country putting the most vulnerable among us—so often immigrant children—at risk by trying to roll back child labor laws. In the year 2024.
And Donald Trump, of course, who spends every day on the trail demeaning immigrants. Dog whistling. Stoking the flames.
And if we’re honest, there was a time a generation or two ago, when we as a labor movement fell for it.
When politicians stoked those fires and we fought each other for crumbs, while the richest people in this country ran off with the whole pie.
We still see that in the painful inequalities that this report lays out, don’t we?
The fact that Latino and Latina workers continue to be over-employed in the most unstable and low paid industries; in front line and dangerous jobs, as we saw during COVID.
The fact that Latina workers have the largest pay gap in our entire country.
$1.2 million that the average Latina worker loses in earnings over the course of her career. One point two million dollars. That is family-changing, generational money.
But this report says something else, too.
It says we’re writing a new story, right now.
It says we have unbelievable potential in this moment.
It says we are coming together in a way we never have before.
It says that UNIONS WIN.
UNIONS are how we fight back, every day, against discrimination, and unsafe workplaces, and occupational segregation—so that Latino and Latina workers get opportunities in the industries of tomorrow.
UNIONS are how we fight so that we’re paid fairly…and have good benefits…and have the basic right to stand up for ourselves at work.
The same way Latino workers did last year at El Milagros, in Chicago, and won more than $2 million in back-pay; and how Farm Workers added hundreds of new members last year on New York State farms, growing their power.
UNIONS are how we give ourselves and our families the chance at a better life.
The union difference is alive and well—with Latino workers making almost $15,000 more per year than non-unionized folks in the same jobs.
This is going to be a year of action. A year to build on this incredible momentum we have right now.
I mean action like the kind we saw so often this past year. Collective action when it comes to our bargaining, and organizing efforts, and taking on these companies that continue to make record profits off our work.
Like when UNITE HERE hotel workers out in California and Las Vegas stood up together and said: Pay us what we’re worth. Give us predictable schedules we can plan our lives around. And NO—you’re not going to just ‘automate’ my job away.
I mean action when it comes to these new federal jobs and investments. BILLIONS of dollars coming down the pike.
So that we’re not just making low-wage industries better for workers…but we’re also opening new doors for Latino and Latina workers to industries of the future like clean energy. Good, high-wage, stable, union jobs that can sustain a family and transform a community.
I mean action from allies in this fight, too. We saw it in Detroit and L.A., and in New York, and everywhere last year, when we joined each other on the picket line. We saw it in moments like when the Major League Soccer Players union stood in solidarity, and got Lionel Messi and Inter Miami to say: NO, we’re not crossing the picket line in L.A. to stay at the Fairmont. We’ll find a union hotel.
We’re talking about action here in D.C., too. Where we as a labor movement are going to keep pushing for comprehensive immigration reform—to actually live up to the values at the heart of our country. To make sure that every immigrant coming to this country is treated with dignity and respect. And given a chance to build a better life, just like we all were.
And action when it comes to the most consequential election of our lifetime.
LCLAA …you—to steal a phrase from Linda Chavez Thompson—you all kicked some como se llama in 2020, right?
Are you ready to do it AGAIN??
Because we know what’s at stake. We know the alternative is not an alternative at all.
Those days of tearing workers apart based on our jobs, our race, our orientation, our immigration status…those days are OVER.
We have the momentum right now—and we can’t let it go to waste.
And LCLAA has the power to do it. Latinos are one of the fastest-growing populations in our country. They’re one of the fastest-growing in our movement, as well.
More than 100,000 Latino workers joined a union from 2021-2022—because they saw the difference it could make in their lives.
So here’s my challenge to everyone in this room today: Go home and tell 3 people in your life who aren’t in a union…what this movement has done for you. Your friend, your neighbor, your niece or nephew—let them know why it’s better in a union. And let’s add even more than 100,000 this year.
We have the power. We have the vision and the strength and the people. Now we just need to get to work
So THANK YOU, again, for this incredible report. Let’s spread the word far and wide…Thank you ALL for being part of this movement. This is our time. Thank you.
