 The UCLA Downtown Labor Center and the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) hosted the Asian Pacific American Leadership School, October 5–7, 2007. The LA Trade Tech Labor Center partnered to provide college credit to the forty participants. “The vision of the school is to challenge and empower Asian Pacific Americans to take leadership roles in their unions and their communities,” said Kent Wong, director or the UCLA Labor Center.
Trained by some of the most respected Asian Pacific American (APA) union leaders in the country, participants were exposed to workshops on leadership development and panel discussions addressing the importance of community and labor coalitions. Organizers also facilitated strategic planning sessions to ensure that participants were able to incorporate these tools into their respective organizations. “The strength of the [school] is that we are able to incorporate trainers who understand the specific characteristics of the APA community. Our training is unique in that it creates a support system for APA union members . . .” said Gloria T. Caoile, executive director of APALA.
Guests included María Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor; Judy Chu, vice chair of the California Board of Equalization; Assemblymember Mike Eng; Warren Furutani, Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees; and Armin Reyes, president of the ABC Unified School Board.Participating organizations included several AFSCME locals, CFA, IBEW Local 11, ILWU Local 13, several SEIU locals, UNITE HERE Local 11, UTLA, WEA, five APALA chapters, Garment Worker Center, Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance, and Public Allies. |
