The United Latinos of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) is an organization of union members and allies who have joined together to promote issues and pursue interests important to Latinx workers.
We are committed to building a strong and powerful Union by creating an engaged and dynamic membership and promoting Unionism in our communities to advance social and economic justice.
The United Latinos promote the goals and objectives of the UFCW as it endeavors to insure the benefits and protections provided by the UFCW within our membership and in Latino communities.
United Latinos members seek to insure an inclusive and diverse labor movement and will fight for justice for all, without regard to race, citizenship, immigration status, color, creed, gender and gender identity. We believe in collective liberation for all.
The United Latinos was founded in 1987 by a group of UFCW Latinx leaders and allies who wanted to increase representation and participation of Latino leadership through the UFCW. Our organization was founded with the goal to have representation and a voice within the UFCW because Latinx staff members rarely moved up the leadership ladder.
Through the years, our role within the UFCW has grown and transformed. We've become the voice for immigrant, Latinx, and refugee workers. Advocating for immigrant workers has given purpose to our organization and has centered the United Latinos at the intersection of social, economic, and gender justice for ALL workers.
In 2016, the United Latinos launched the New American Citizenship Program, a scholarship aimed to lessen the financial burden of applying for citizenship for our UFCW members. This program has fundamentally improved the lives of our Latinx, immigrant, and refugee members. The United Latinos of the UFCW have evolved through the years but remain loyal to the original mission of the organization— to become an outlet for Latinxs to harness their leadership for the betterment of our members and union.
The Latinx population is growing fast. As of 2020, we have become the largest racial or ethnic group to be eligible to vote. The Latino vote is a powerful – we need to harness that power and redirect it towards pro-worker and pro-immigrant policy.
When we empower Latino workers we empower our great Union and we empower our community. The United Latinos are an asset and a resource to the UFCW, its Locals and to the Labor Movement. Through outreach programs, we also build partnerships with community groups also working to improve the rights and lives of Latinxs in Puerto Rico, Canada, and the US.
By working together and promoting unionism in the community we will help make the UFCW a fighting champion for the needs of ALL Latinos, immigrants, and refugees.
