Immigration, Civil Rights, and Diversity
Maria Elena Durazo will discuss her experiences as a civil rights, labor rights, and immigrant rights organizer and the need for diversity in the workforce, public office, and beyond.
Maria Elena Durazo is Vice President for UNITE HERE International Union, which represents more than 270,000 hospitality workers in the U.S. and Canada. Under her leadership in 2016, UNITE HERE and its Las Vegas local, the Culinary Union, led an unprecedented citizenship drive, helping more than 2,000 residents apply for citizenship. This campaign launched the union’s large-scale door-knocking campaign in Nevada, the only swing state to go blue. In Phoenix, Maria Elena and UNITE HERE helped lead the campaign where voters defeated the anti-immigrant Sheriff Joe Arpaio, opening the door for the state to go Democrat.
Maria Elena started working at the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) Local 11 as an organizer in 1983, and soon after launched a campaign to transform the local into a democratic organization that was truly accountable toward its membership. She was elected as President in 1989, and helped to build Local 11 into one of the most active unions in Los Angeles County. Maria Elena was the first Latina to be elected to the Executive Board of HERE International Union in 1996.
In 2003, Maria Elena became National Director of the Immigrant Workers’ Freedom Ride, a national campaign to address the nation’s immigration laws.
From 2006 to 2015, Maria Elena Durazo was the first woman elected Secretary-Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO. At the Federation, she represented the interests of more than 300 local unions. In 2010, Maria Elena was elected a Vice President of the national AFL-CIO Executive Council, where she served as the first leader of a local labor movement on the highest body of the AFL-CIO. She currently serves as co-chair of the National AFL-CIO’s Immigration Committee.
Maria Elena has served on several Los Angeles City Commissions under mayors Tom Bradley, Richard Riordan, and Antonio Villaraigosa. She sits on various boards, including LAANE; the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board; the Los Angeles Coalition; and United Way. She was recently re-elected as Vice-Chair for the Democratic National Committee.
A resident of Los Angeles, Maria Elena is the mother of two sons, Mario and Michael, grandmother to Seneka and Sydney, and the widow of Miguel Contreras. Maria Elena is a graduate of St. Mary’s College in Moraga, and earned a law degree from the People’s College of Law in 1985.
This program is presented in partnership with the Laspa Center for Leadership.