José La Luz

He was the architect of the grassroots campaign that resulted in the 1998 passage of Puerto Rico's Law 45, which granted bargaining rights and allowed for the unionization of over 120,000 public employees.

[3] La Luz credits his grandfather – a self-made small merchant in the mountain town of Ciales – and his mother, a rural school teacher who nurtured and educated poor children in nearby barrios, with being his key role models by mentoring him and instilling a sense of compassion and justice.

[4] Pedro Rosselló will sign into law today the unionization project for public workers, of which indicates the process for dozens of labor organizations seeking representation for nearly 200,000 employee in the central government… various union leaders who supported the project will attend the ceremony to sign the legislative piece…among the leaders invited by Rosselló is Jose La Luz, the managing director of the United Public Service Workers, affiliated with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

La Luz is a longtime member of the Democratic Socialists of America[8] He currently serves on the National Political Committee, the leadership body of the organization.

During that time, La Luz was the international director of the ACTWU when the NAFTA debate to eliminate barriers to investment and trade between the United States, Mexico and Canada raged in the US.

In the early 1990s La Luz became one of the leading voices in debating these topics[13] in many forums sponsored by one of the major Latino organizations in the country, the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project before NAFTA was ratified.

Law 7 also caused massive layoffs in Puerto Rico of over 19,000 public sector employees and aggravated an already dismal economic unemployment rate that affected thousands of working families struggling to make ends meet.