An animated graphic with the names of famous AAPI labor leaders on a blue background with the words “Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month”

Hi John,

This month, we celebrate the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities, workers and leaders who have made a lasting impact on our labor movement and our nation. We are proud that nearly 800,000 AAPI Americans call themselves union members.

We also recognize that AAPI Americans have faced significant challenges in the workplace for generations—including discrimination, harassment and violence—and we have to be honest about the anti-immigrant history of the labor movement that does not align with our values today.

The labor movement must be a place where every worker is welcome—with everybody in, and no one left behind. Through organizing and collective action by working people, and with incredible leadership from AAPI activists and leaders across the country, we have seen the major force the labor movement can be for AAPI Americans, too.

Learn more about the history of AAPI Americans in the labor movement here. This guest blog post was written by Sandra Engle, executive director of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA).

As Sandra writes:

I do look forward to the day when our AAPI labor history is seamlessly woven into the fabric of all labor history. A day when we think of our labor heroes and conjure up not only the images of Mother Jones, A. Philip Randolph and César Chávez, but also Larry Itliong or May Chen, who led the 1982 International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) strike in New York City’s Chinatown. I think that is a fitting responsibility for us today to honor our heroes of yesterday.

We invite you to learn more about the important work of APALA and download its toolkit on anti-Asian racism.

In Solidarity,

Team AFL-CIO

P.S. We’ve got some extra inspiration from our own modern-day AAPI labor leaders. You can view the list of all the workers we’ve profiled this month here.