Miguel Contreras
Died May 6, 2005

Miguel Contreras, who literally grew up in California's farm fields, moved on to its cities and eventually became one of the nation's most powerful urban labor leaders, died of a heart attack on Friday, May 6, 2005. He was 52. Contreras was on his way to a meeting when he was stricken, said Ben Monterroso, western regional director of the Service Employees International Union. He died on the way to a hospital. Contreras suffered from type 2 diabetes.

At the time of his death, Contreras was the leader of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, an umbrella organization representing 345 local unions with political clout extending from Los Angeles to the state Capital and beyond, as well as holding a seat on the Airport Commission in 2003. Contreras built a formidable labor coalition, in part by pulling diverse unions together through strikes and contract campaigns.

Actors walked picket lines with supermarket strikers, janitors supported locked-out port workers at rallies, and Los Angeles politicians courted union workers largely because of behind-the-scenes work by Contreras.

Mayor James K. Hahn, who had been endorsed by the labor federation, said news of the death was "real sudden, unexpected."

"The working men and women of Los Angeles have had no greater champion than Miguel Contreras. Today, I lost a friend, and our nation lost a remarkable leader." - Mayor James K. Hahn

The Los Angeles labor movement, like labor movements everywhere in the country, was waning in power and visibility. Miguel managed to turn that around by harnessing the rise of immigrant labor. And by so doing he changed the politics of Los Angeles. - Harold Meyerson, labor writer and friend

"Miguel was a true genius of the labor movement." He was a man who came from very humble beginnings and developed - through his experience with his father organizing the United Farm Workers - great courage, great intelligence, and a wonderful way with people." - Cheryl Parisi, Head of the Southern California District Council for AFSCME

"Miguel Contreras dedicated his life to Los Angeles and its workers. He built a movement for working families that will be his legacy. The relationship I had with Miguel went beyond politics and beyond organizing. I have lost a brother. Los Angeles has lost one of its brightest and most passionate leaders. My prayers are with Maria Elena and her children." - Antonio Villaraigosa

We are stunned and saddened at the loss of one of the labor movement's greatest champions and boldest innovators. From the fields of the Central Valley where he picked grapes as a young farm worker to the powerful corridors of Los Angeles city politics, Miguel Contreras tirelessly promoted the principals of equity, justice and dignity for all workers. Through his work, the labor movement in Los Angeles was rebuilt into a model for union progress in America.
As Executive Secretary Treasurer of the Los Angeles Federal of Labor, Miguel led more successful campaigns to organize workers and win better contracts and political battles than in any other city in the nation. Miguel's work contributed to many statewide and even national political victories. Not only did he galvanize a formidable coalition of unions, he gave a voice to immigrant workers who had none, changing the face of the labor movement in Los Angeles.
His unwavering focus on grassroots organizing has set an example for a new crop of union leaders across the country. Just as Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers inspired Miquel, the strength of Miguel's deep convictions has infused the labor movement with renewed purpose and determination.
His lifelong dedication to improving the lives of working men and women will serve as a beacon for union activism for decades to come. We will greatly miss Miguel's contributions as a vice-president of the California Labor Federation and as a labor leader in our state - Art Pulaski, California Labor Federation

We are sad to announce the untimely death yesterday evening of Miguel Contreras, our Executive Secretary-Treasurer. We express our deepest condolences to his wife, Maria Elena Durazo , and their two sons. I would like to announce the appointment of Charles Lester, current Political Director, as interim Secretary-Treasurer, effective immediately. Miguel Contreras' legacy as a champion of working families will be forever remembered. - Ric Icaza, President, Los Angeles Country Federation of Labor

Kam Kuwata, a senior political advisor to Hahn and U.S. senator Dianne Feinstein said he had spoken to Contreras by telephone Friday afternoon. Contreras was in his Los Angeles office at the time.

"He sounded great. He needed to get some information to Sen. Feinstein, and I set that up. Plus, I just wanted to talk to him about what was going on with the mayor's reelection campaign." - Kam Kuwata

Before Contreras took the helm in 1996, the unions were considered "old school" and somewhat cautious in their approach, Contreras pushed labor to embrace Latino activism despite some resistance, a move that proved crucial to some politicians, including mayoral candidate and City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa and Assemblyman Gil Cedillo. Contreras had close ties to Hahn and to Villaraigosa, who was a close personal friend. but in the mayor's race, the Federation decided to endorse Hahn over the challenger.

"Miguel was personally very close to Antonio. On the other hand, he had Jimmy Hahn, who his union had endorsed. Labor generally speaking doesn't break with incumbents who tend to be supportive." - Parke Skelton, Senior Campaign Strategist for Villaraigosa

Contreras' most prominent accomplishment on the Airport Commission was mustering support among labor unions for Hahn's $11 billion-plus LAX modernization plan. Indeed, he and former commission President Ted Stein were considered the two most prominent figures pushing the mayor's airport plan.

"He was just such a young man," Stein said. "He was a person who looked at the long-range future of the airport and put his efforts into trying to better shape that future." - Ted Stein

Contreras was born on September 17, 1952, and was raised working in the fields Dinube of the Central Valley, where at the age of 5 he carried water to his father and old brothers as they picked raisin grapes. both of his parents were farmworkers - his father came from Mexico in his 20s as part of the bracero guest-worker program.

After meeting Cesar Chavez at a rally for Robert F. Kennedy, the Contreras family because active in United Farm Workers in the late 1960s. By the time he was 17, Contreras and his brothers were driving to San Jose on weekends to hand out grape boycott leaflets at grocery stores.

"Mexican farmworkers were seen as nothing more than agricultural implements, to be used and discarded like you would discard an old shovel or an old hoe. He gave us a feeling of real self-worth and a feeling of breaking away those imaginary shackles you had to the grower and standing up for yourself." - Miguel Contreras of Cesar Chavez, 2005

After stints in Toronto, Canada, working on the grape boycott, in Salinas organizing lettuce workers and San Francisco, where he helped lead local hotel workers in a month-long strike. Contreras was recruited as a national organizer for the International Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union. The job brought him to Los Angeles in the late 1980s.

The hotel workers' Local 11 was embroiled in a power struggle, and Contreras was charged with sorting out allegations of ballot fraud. Organizer Maria Elena Durazo, who was challenging the local's leadership, led her supporters in rowdy picketing, protesting Contreras' involvement. She eventually was elected president of the local, and her views on Contreras changed - the two married in 1988.

In Los Angeles, Contreras found a city that had been historically hostile to unions. Although by the 1980s, labor had emerged as a key Democratic ally, its participation in local politics was limited.

In 1994, he was tapped as the Federation's political director and immediately sought to reshape the unions' role. Contreras applied himself to winning over the often-quarreling local union leaders and insinuating himself into the city's power structure. At a time when the national labor movement has struggled, Los Angeles' unions have racked up a remarkable number of victories, securing a living wage ordinance in the city, winning substantial wage increases for workers and beating back a state initiative aimed at limiting the collection of union dues for political purposes, among other measures.

Since Contreras was elected Secretary-Treasurer of the Federation in 1996, becoming the first nonwhite to win the seat, the unions' ranks have grown by 125,000 to more than 800,000, an increase fueled mostly by the city's burgeoning Latino immigrant population.

"People across the country look at L.A. as a model of success." - Anna Burger, Service Employees International Union

Despite its growth, the Federation's political activism has alarmed some leaders of the area's building trades, older unions with largely white and African American memberships, who believe Contreras used the Federation to Advance the influence of Latinos. Contreras said that his strategy simply acknowledged demographic realities. "If we're going to grow our union membership in Los Angeles, it's because we're making an outreach to workers that are here," he said.

But he sought to smooth over anxiety by building coalitions with African American pastors and community leaders around issues such as a proposed Walmart in Inglewood. In the last two years, the federation has run successful high-profile campaigns for two African American candidates. Martin Ludlow, a former federation political director, won his race for City Council and Karen Bass won a state Assembly seat.

In 2000, when he helped lead a strike by janitors, many of them poor immigrants, against building owners in Los Angeles. The work stoppage ended with a new contract for the janitors that was touted as a model for blue-collar labor organizations across the country. Union members celebrated with a march through the city.

That same year Contreras was also a high-profile, if sometimes contentious, figure in a transit strike that paralyzed public transportation in Los Angeles County for more than a month. At one point, he publicly rejected what the Metropolitan Transportation Authority had characterized as its final offer, calling it "cheap" and denouncing it as an attack on "core middle class jobs."

At the same time, he played a key behind-the-scenes role in resolving the strike, when he appealed to the Rev. Jesse Jackson to act as a mediator after it appeared negotiations had broken down. Days later, both sides reached agreement after Jackson kept them at the negotiating for nearly 24 hours.

Despite all his success, Contreras died with one goal unfulfilled. "I have one desire left, one thing I want to accomplish: to help take someone to the White House," he told the Los Angeles Times earlier this year.

At the time of his death, Contreras served on the boards of LA Inc. (Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau), United Way, HAVA (Help America Vote Act), and the Narcotic Addicts Evaluation Authority. He was vice president of the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO.

Contreras is survived by his wife, fellow labor organizer Maria Elena Durazo, and two sons, Michael and Mario.

The funeral took place on May 12, 2005, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels with Cardinal Roger M. Mahony as Principal Celebrant. Pall Bearers were Mario Salazar, Alex Contreras, Antonio Contreras, David Contreras, Juan Contreras, Pablo Contreras, Charles Lester, and Arturo Rodriguez.

In lieu of flowers, please send contributions to the Contreras Family Fund, c/o Amalgamated Bank, 60 S. Robles Ave., Pasadena, CA 91101. 626/432-9900.