Dear IAM Family,
Hispanic Heritage Month is an opportunity to celebrate the generations of Latina and Latino workers whose skill, sacrifice, and solidarity have strengthened our union, our communities, and the entire labor movement.
Across the IAM, Latina and Latino members help build America, maintain our transportation systems, protect our communities, support essential public services, and perform countless other jobs that keep our nation moving. Their contributions are an important part of our union’s strength and our shared history.
The IAM has always understood that our union is strongest when every worker has the opportunity to be heard, participate, and lead. That commitment is reflected in programs such as the Spanish Leadership and Organizing Classes at the William W. Winpisinger Education and Technology Center. By providing education in Spanish, the IAM equips members with the skills and tools necessary to organize their workplaces, represent their coworkers, and become leaders at every level of our union.
We are also proud of the history made by IAM General Secretary-Treasurer Dora Cervantes, the first Latina to serve in that position. Her trailblazing leadership continues to open doors and demonstrate what is possible when our union invests in the talents and leadership of all our members.
Our work also extends beyond the IAM. Through our support of organizations such as the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, or LCLAA, we help advance economic justice, political empowerment, and workplace dignity for Latino workers and their families. These partnerships strengthen the labor movement and ensure that the concerns of Latino communities remain central to our collective fight for justice.
In these challenging times, we must remember one of the labor movement’s most fundamental principles: an injury to one is an injury to all. When any worker or community is attacked, exploited or denied dignity, it affects all of us. Unions have a critical role in bridging the gaps that divide working people – whether those divisions are based on race, ethnicity, language, immigration status, or background. Through solidarity and collective action, we can bring people together around the values we share and build a future in which every worker has a fair opportunity to succeed.
While Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to celebrate progress, it is also a reminder of the work still ahead. Latina and Latino workers continue to face wage inequality, unsafe working conditions, discrimination and barriers to exercising their rights on the job. The IAM will continue organizing, educating and mobilizing to confront these injustices and ensure that every worker – regardless of language, background, or place of origin – has the opportunity to build a better future through a strong union contract.
To our Latina and Latino IAM members and their families: thank you for your leadership, your culture, your courage, and your solidarity. Your contributions make the IAM stronger every day.
Together, we will continue building a union in which every member has a voice, every worker is treated with dignity, and everyone has an opportunity to lead.
In solidarity,
Brian Bryant
IAM International President
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