The Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan Latino organization affiliated with the AFL-CIO and the Change to Win federation.
[4] LCLAA is the voice of Latinos within the AFL-CIO, and one of seven official constituency groups within the organization.
It is based at AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C. LCLAA has 26 chapters in the United States and Puerto Rico, and represents millions of Latino trade unionists.
[5] LCLAA was founded in 1972 as part of a wave of constituency group organizing within the AFL-CIO.
LCLAA's first president was Ray Mendoza, a member of the Laborers' International Union of North America.
The second is to advance the social, economic, political, and civil rights of Latinos by building coalitions with and among other unions and other national groups.
LCLAA also conducts voter registration, education, and mobilization efforts throughout each election cycle.
State and local councils do not exist in all areas, however, and the LCLAA constitution provides for at-large membership where they do not.