Labor Profile: Union Summer Intern Lizet Ramirez

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Legendary farm workers organizer Cesar Chavez is not just a hero to Union Summer intern Lizet Ramirez (r), he was a co-worker and close friend of her father, Agustin Ramirez, who’s also one of her biggest heroes and a longtime union activist, first with the United Farm Workers, and later with the Longshoremen. “We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community,” Ramirez quotes Chavez, “Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.”  Ramirez is a student at the University of California Santa Barbara, where she’s pursuing a double major in political science with an emphasis in international relations and history of public policy, as well as a minor in labor studies. Ramirez plans on attending law school for labor law after she graduates. Following a busy junior year at UC Santa Barbara, Ramirez decided to enroll in the UC at D.C. program -- which selects 25 qualified students to work in D.C. internships over the summer – which placed her in the Union Summer program. “Working for the D.C. Labor Council is a great opportunity to further my experience as a labor activist while having the opportunity to help the workers in D.C. metro area,” says Ramirez. - report/photo by Boaz Young-El, AFL-CIO Union Summer Intern