A Los Angeles union boss, who hosted a meeting that featured racist comments from the city council president, resigned Monday amid backlash after an audio recording of the conversation was leaked to the press.
Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera participated in the closed-door October 2021 redistricting conversation with council members Nury Martinez, Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo in October 2021, where Herrera supposedly made racist remarks that was recorded without his knowledge.
The meeting took place at a labor federation office and was illegally recorded as part of a serious security and privacy breach, the alliance told its affiliates.
The officials were discussing how to maintain political power in the city’s Latino communities when Martinez reportedly said, “Mike Bonin’s son, you know the little monkey.”
He supposedly made these remarks about Bonin’s black son in Spanish and went on to refer to his fellow Democrat, who is gay, as a little bxxtch, while offering to give Bonin’s adopted son a beatdown.
Martinez also mocked the appearance of Koreatown residents that hailed from the Mexican state of Oaxaca and used profanity to describe how District Attorney George Gascón was “with the blacks” politically.
Herrera was not heard making offensive remarks, but was put on administrative leave from his post leading a coalition of some 300 labor groups, after officials and other labor leaders called for everyone involved to resign.
Herrera offered to resign during a meeting with the federation’s executive board Monday night. The board accepted his resignation and was set to make a formal announcement Tuesday.
“We are focused on rebuilding solidarity and trust in the worker movement,” Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, head of the California Labor Federation reportedly said.
The reorganization came after Martinez resigned from her post as the council’s first Latino president Monday. However, she would not give up her seat in the legislative body.
León and Cedillo had remained in the council amid widespread calls for them to step down.
Herrera was reportedly pressured to resign by eight hospitality unions that called for his dismissal in a joint statement Monday morning. His fate was sealed when his local Teamsters union amplified that demand before his meeting with the board.
“I want to be absolutely clear… Racism has no place in the labor movement and will not be tolerated. I was appalled to learn that deeply disturbing racist, and incredibly hurtful comments were made in a meeting held at the LA County Federation of Labor last year,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler tweeted in a Sunday statement.
It’s a crying shame we can’t love each other and except our differences.
“accept” 🙄
Some folks are racists & don’t even realize it.
I’m not particular, I hate everyone the same!