Labor in the News: Jaime Contreras, SEIU 32BJ

(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