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Copyrighted Copyright UC Regents and UNITE HERE Local 11. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owner. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
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UC Regents, Institute for Research on Labor and Employment
10945 Le Conte Ave, Suite 2107
Los Angeles, CA 90095.
UNITE HERE Local 11
464 South Lucas Avenue, Suite 201
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Description
Biography/History: María Elena Durazo is one of eleven children born to a family of farmworkers in California’s San Joaquin Valley. She became politicized as a student at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California, and began working in the labor movement during the 1980s as an organizer for the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) in Los Angeles. She went on the challenge the established leadership of HERE Local 11, which was dominated by mostly White bartenders and actively excluded the growing Latino/a immigrant workforce of hotel employees. With the support of the International, María Elena was elected president of Local 11 in the early 1990s. She later became the head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and the national vice president for civil rights and immigration reform for UNITE HERE. In 2018 she was elected to the California State Senate to represent the 24th District, which encompasses much of Central and East Los Angeles.
Scope/Content: Interview Contents: Participation in the Los Angeles labor movement during the 1970s through the 1990s — Influence of her farmworker family and exposure to the labor and antiwar movements at a young age — Early connections to other labor and immigrants’ rights activists — Organizing with the ILGWU — Pursuing a law degree at the People’s College of Law — HERE Local 11 and the old-guard leadership — Trusteeship and running for local president — Fostering rank-and-file organizing — 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act —John Wilhelm, Jennifer Skurnik, and Karl Lechow — Developing leaders in the rank and file — Organizing nonunion hotels — Cesar Chavez, Reverend James Lawson Jr., and the politics of nonviolence in the success of the labor movement in Los Angeles.
Type
moving image
Form/Genre
Oral histories
Extent
1:15:00
Language
English eng
Subject
Labor unions--California--Los Angeles Labor union locals--California--Los Angeles María Elena Durazo UNITE HERE Local 11
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