Labor in the News: Jaime Contreras, SEIU 32BJ
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Calling him “one of Washington’s most active advocates for immigrant
rights,” the Washington Post on January 31 profiled SEIU 32BJ Capital Area
District Chair Jaime Contreras (right).
The article focused on Contreras’ advocacy of immigrant rights, including his
current efforts to win a Maryland version of a Dream Act, which would grant
in-state college tuition discounts to undocumented immigrants. Tracing
Contreras’ development from an illegal teen immigrant from El Salvador in 1988
to leading a 16,000-member local union, the article quotes Eliseo Medina’s
assessment of Contreras – the first Latino president of SEIU Maryland and DC
State Council who also serves on the Metro Washington Council’s Executive
Board – as “what the union leader of today needs to be… he sees his
mission as being broader than just simply the workplace but really being able to
help deal with the issues in the broader society where our members live — not
just where they work.” Click here for the complete report. - photo by Linda Davidson/Washington
Post