12 Facts About Miguel Contreras

Miguel Contreras was an American labor union leader.

Miguel Contreras later led San Francisco hotel workers on a month-long strike.

Miguel Contreras was recruited by the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union, who made him a national organizer in Los Angeles.

Durazo and Miguel Contreras later resolved their differences, and were married in 1988.

In 1994 Miguel Contreras became political director of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, a central labor council of the American Federation of Labor.

In 2000, Miguel Contreras led Los Angeles janitors in a strike against building owners that led to their winning a favorable contract.

Miguel Contreras was a major figure in the transportation workers' strike of the same year, enlisting Jesse Jackson as a mediator in negotiations between the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the union.

Significantly, Miguel Contreras put the County Fed's support behind that union even though it was not a member of the Fed; many saw his action as a way to build bridges between the large Latino membership in the Fed and the transit workers' largely African-American membership.

Miguel Contreras organized one of the largest immigrant-rights rallies in United States history, which drew some 20,000 people to the Los Angeles Sports Arena.

Miguel Contreras' body was transported to Centinela Freeman Regional Medical Center; no official autopsy was conducted.

Miguel Contreras denied that Contreras' death was treated with unusual consideration by city and medical staff.

Miguel Contreras requested that journalists cease investigations into his death.