Spotlight: Delegate Assembly Keynote Speaker

Our Delegate Assembly keynote will be given by one of labor’s most dynamic leaders, María Elena Durazo, Vice President for Immigration, Civil Rights and Diversity with UNITE HERE. 


Maria Elena Durazo. Photo c/o UNITE HERE.

Durazo began her involvement in the labor movement with the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (which became UNITE HERE).  Durazo went on to become President of UNITE HERE, Local 11.  In 2006, she was elected as the Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. 

The New York Times wrote that “as the executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, she presides over what is widely perceived as the most successful group of unions in the country.”  That sentiment was echoed by the LA Times who wrote, “Maria Elena Durazo is probably the single most influential individual in Los Angeles politics.”

Durazo serves as an Executive Vice President of the national AFL-CIO and as a Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee. She was named Most Valuable Local Labor Leader by The Nation magazine in their 2014 Progressive Honor Roll.  Capitol Weekly named her the third most influential non-elected California official in its 2010 Top 100 List.

Durazo will be speaking at the IFPTE Local 21 International Convention scheduled to take place in Las Vegas from July 27 to 30, 2015. The twenty-two person delegation will include eleven delegates to be elected this year.