Labor & Employment Law

Workers Mourn APALA President John Delloro

By James Parks

John Delloro

John Delloro, president of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), died unexpectedly Saturday after suffering a heart attack.

Delloro, a member of AFT, was elected as APALA’s president in 2009. During his tenure at APALA, the AFL-CIO convened the first National Asian Pacific American Workers’ Rights Hearing in Washington D.C., in November 2009.  Following the hearing, Delloro was a principal author of “Breaking Ground, Breaking Silence,” a report from the hearing. Prior to his election, he served as president of the Los Angeles chapter of APALA and was an organizer for HERE, AFSCME and SEIU.    

APALA First Vice President Luisa Blue said:

We are all saddened by the sudden passing of John Delloro, a brilliant young labor leader, who made incredible contributions to APALA and to the U.S. labor movement.

Delloro worked as executive director of the Dolores Huerta Labor Institute in Los Angeles beginning in 2006. Under his leadership, the program has strengthened labor studies on all nine campuses of the Los Angeles Community College District and has introduced thousands of community college students to unions. Since 2007, he also has taught Asian American studies at the University of California-Los Angeles. In 2009, Delloro received the Unsung Hero Award by Asian Pacific Americans for Progress.

Kent Wong, APALA’s founding president, said of Delloro:

As a nationally recognized union leader, labor educator, organizer, teacher and mentor, John Delloro touched the lives of many and will be remembered for his compassion, his generosity of spirit, and for his visionary leadership.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on June 07, 2010 (boomark / email).