Public Employee Press

Latino Committee Celebrates 22nd Anniversary
Honoring our dreamers

By ALFREDO ALVARADO

Distinguished keynote speakers, tasty Latin American cuisine and top-flight entertainment marked the union's annual Latino Heritage celebration in September and October.

DC 37's Latino Heritage Committee organized a series of well-attended events for its 22nd Latino Heritage Celebration at union headquarters.

The celebration began on September 7 with the traditional ribbon-cutting ceremony by Committee Chair Carmen Flores and DC 37 Associate Director Henry Garrido.

SSEU Local 371 held its celebration the following Friday night, Sept. 14. President Anthony Wells started the evening by asking for a moment of silence in memory of Stuart Leibowitz, who served as president of the Retirees Association until he passed away on August 23. "We owe him so much for his great work," said Wells of Leibowitz, who had been a member of the local.

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employee's Secretary-Treasurer Laura Reyes was the evening's keynote speaker. Reyes was elected in June during the AFSCME convention.

Reyes shared her story of struggling to raise her son who had special needs and her decision to become more active in the union by joining the organizing campaign that increased membership in the United Domestic Workers Homecare Providers Union to 62,000 members from 20,000. In 2008 she became the president of the domestic workers union.

"We not only have to fight for things that we want like health care, but we also have to fight to keep what we've won," said Reyes, who was received enthusiastically by the full house.

Reyes also said that despite the many difficulties she encountered raising her son, today he is doing well and is a full-time college student. "You can imagine how proud I am of him," said the California native.

The evening's cultural presentation was provided by Conjunto Nuevo Mileno, which performed traditional dances and songs from Panama, and one of the city's most popular salsa bands, Ray Castro's Conjunto Clasico, had the members jamming the dance floor well past their bedtime.

Local 420 held its event on Sept. 28, celebrating "The Dreamers," and urging support for the DREAM Act. This legislation would provide conditional permanent residency to undocumented residents who graduate from U.S. high schools and arrived in the country as minors and have resided here for at least five years. Local 420 President Carmen Charles and Associate Director Henry Garrido stressed that this issue should be at the forefront along with immigration reform.

The evening's keynote speaker was immigration activist Nataly Lopez, who has organized more than a dozen workshops nationwide to educate and inform undocumented residents about President Obama's new initiative, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. "This is not just a Latino issue but impacts all undocumented people," said Lopez who also attends Baruch College, where she is pursuing a degree in psychology.

The committee also organized a financial empowerment forum on Oct. 1 with staff from the union's Municipal Employees Legal Services that included Associate Director Robert Martin, Supervising Attorney Sheldon Barasch and Supervising Social Worker Donna D'Andrea. They provided information on handling issues like foreclosure, bankruptcy and planning for retirement.

The festivities came to an end on Oct. 19 with Locals 1549 and 372 coming together for the grand finale.

As with most of the events during the celebrations, Local 1549 and DC 37 President Eddie Rodriguez and Local 372 President Santos Crespo urged everyone to get to the polls - this time on Nov. 6 - to make sure President Obama is re-elected.

The evening's guests included City Council member Inez Dickens and Comptroller John Liu. "DC 37 represents what this city is really about," said Liu, who was introduced by Garrido, who called the comptroller a "true friend of labor."

The veteran journalist and community activist Felipe Luciano was the keynote speaker. He urged the members to put aside ethnic differences and learn about other communities.

"We need to learn more about the struggles and the history of our newer neighbors like people from Mexico and elsewhere," said Luciano, who is currently the host of "Wake Up Call" heard on Friday mornings on WBAI-FM radio.

A dance troupe of youngsters from Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and the Hector Tricoche salsa band closed out the festivities for this year's celebration.