"Los Latinos Cuentan:
Honoring the Past, Building the Future"


Dear Brothers and Sisters:

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to LCLAA’s 18th National Convention “Los Latinos Cuentan: Honoring the Past, Building the Future” in celebration of LCLAA’s 37 years of service to the Latino community. Every two years, LCLAA historically gathers the entire membership at its convention. Its purpose is to serve as the launch pad to discuss the issues that the labor movement and Latino working families are facing. The discussion this year will revolve around key priorities, but 2010 is unique because of the distinctive challenges Latinos are facing during this economic recession, problems that require greater public awareness and strategies for advancing an agenda for shared prosperity.

Our 2010 convention – to be held in Las Vegas, NV – promises to be a bellwether for the Latino vote and an opportunity to promote the needs of our community. As part of its 37th Celebration, LCLAA will host a series of events including a women’s leadership luncheon with Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis (invited), a town hall meeting with exciting congressional speakers, as well as important workshops and discussions on the key issues for Latinos and labor, such as: immigration, green jobs and climate change, wage theft, Latino young workers, EFCA, education, midterm elections and the Latino vote. This premiere convention will highlight the valuable work that LCLAA has done over the years and establish the benchmark for its future work by bringing together important Latino and labor leaders; local, state and national political figures; and a diverse coalition of non-profits, think-tanks and community-service organizations to create LCLAA’s agenda for the next years.

I encourage you to fully engage in our workshops and presentations with the goal of taking valuable information back home so you can better inform your community about how Latinos and labor can work together to create progressive policy for our working families. 

Beyond our national work, our strength lies in growing our chapters across the country to drive grassroots organizing and engage our members to mobilize in their communities; this is one of our priorities for 2010. This year is also an important midterm election year and candidates are in full swing stumping for the Latino vote. It is critical that we continue to link politics to organizing and look to the Hispanic community as an opportunity. The policies that Congress and the administration establish must include thoughtful issues that represent our priorities.

This convention will be the crowning highlight of the year and is a unique opportunity to engage with Latino and labor leaders concerned about advancing progressive policy that benefits the both U.S. workers and the U.S. economy and to focus on the critical work that still remains unfinished. Now more than ever our nation needs a strong national Latino labor organization than can be a force of change. We hope to see you in our National Convention to be able to discuss matters of great importance to our community and the labor movement.

In solidarity,
Milton Rosado, National President