Organized Labor

San Mateo Representative with Distinguished Career of Fighting for Organized Labor Succumbs to Cancer on Feb. 11

San Mateo Congressman Tom Lantos, a Holocaust survivor and member of the House of Representatives for 27 years, died Feb. 11 of complications from cancer. He was 80 years old. Lantos had announced Jan. 2 that he would retire at the end of his term. He was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus in December and had been receiving treatment in Washington, D.C. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Lantos received the diagnosis from his doctors the week before Congress recessed in December, but spent two weeks consulting with doctors, his wife, Annette, and other family members before making his decision to retire.

Lantos said he felt fortunate to have had a long career as a member of Congress. “It is only in the United States that a penniless survivor of the Holocaust and a fighter in the anti-Nazi underground could have received an education, raised a family and had the privilege of serving the last three decades of his life as a member of Congress,” he said. “I will never be able to express fully my profoundly felt gratitude to this great country.”

Lantos was the first Holocaust survivor ever elected to Congress. He is known as a champion of human rights. He became chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in January 2007 after years of serving as ranking member under the Republican majority. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement that she felt “great personal sadness and deep appreciation for his outstanding leadership. His experience, intelligence and compassion will be deeply missed,” Pelosi said. Pelosi called Lantos “one of America’s leading experts on foreign affairs and most effective advocates for human rights both at home and abroad.” She added, “As the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to Congress, he has used his position to fight for those whose voices have been silenced by hatred and oppression.”

Born in Budapest in 1928 to middle-class Jewish parents, Lantos was only 16 when the Nazis rolled into the Hungarian capital in 1944. He twice escaped from a labor camp and eventually made it to a safe house run by the Swedish humanitarian Raoul Wallenberg. Lantos and his wife Annette survived but lost almost their entire families in the death camps. Their experiences in the Holocaust would shape his priorities in Congress. In 1983, he founded the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. Annette Lantos, who works as volunteer in his Washington office, has directed the caucus ever since.

Lantos & Labor
Rep. Lantos credited organized labor with making his election to Congress possible in the 1980 election that saw Republican Ronald Reagan become president and many democrats lose seats in Congress. He ran after other Democrats passed on the chance to challenge the Republican incumbent Bill Royer. “I’m profoundly conscious of the fact that without labor’s energetic and committed campaign, I would not have begun my long Congressional career,” Lantos said at a breakfast meeting held by the San Mateo County Central Labor Council last October.

He was praised by many union activists and labor leaders for his unyielding support for labor.

“Tom Lantos was an unstinting friend to labor, an economist who understood the value and necessity of our movement, and the most gracious of men.  We will miss him dearly, said Mike Theriault, Secretary-Treasurer of the SFBCTC.

During the 2003 lockout of grocery workers in Southern California and subsequent negotiations between Safeway and the United Food and Commercial Workers union, Lantos wrote to Safeway CEO Steve Burd to urge him to meet the union’s demands. Lantos was a staunch ally of unions at the San Francisco International Airport and joined many rallies. In 2004, he rallied with screeners represented by the Service Employees International Union at the headquarters of Covenant Security to support their demand for a fair contract. He also fought for the rights of immigrant workers at the airport after the Department of Homeland Security changed citizenship requirements for screeners and baggage handlers.

“Tom Lantos was a fighter. His passion for justice and his articulate and incisive analytical skills on our behalf will be a legacy that few elected officials will ever be able to match. His life experience gave a strong basis for his wisdom. Tom never forgot his roots, his dedication to those who fought oppression, or his compassion for humanity,” said San Francisco Labor Council executive director Tim Paulson and San Mateo County Central Labor Council executive secretary-treasurer Shelley Kessler in a joint statement. “As a member of the House of Representatives, his fierce advocacy for working men and women won him a 100% voting record. He co-sponsored the Employee Free Choice Act to protect the right to organize, but in addition to legislation, Tom participated in many acts of support for working people. Hundreds of picket lines were graced with his presence, whether at the crack of dawn or a moonless midnight, Tom was there.”

Daz Lamparas, a former organizer for SEIU and currently Secretary of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance San Francisco Chapter, said that, “In 2002, immigrant airport screeners who were legal permanent residents were threatened to be laid off by the Federal government because of the passage of the Aviation Transportation Security Act (ATSA), which mandates that only U.S. citizens could work at the airport. At San Francisco International Airport, more than 1,000 Legal Permanent Residents (green card holders), mostly Filipinos and other Asian Pacific immigrants, were affected. The Bay Area Organizing Committee, a coalition of labor, churches and community groups approached Congressman Lantos early in the morning sometime in September 2002 to help pressure the Immigration and Naturalization Service (now Immigration and Customs Enforcement) Regional Director to expedite more than 300 SFO airport screeners who were qualified to be naturalized.

Compassion & Intelligence
Shelley Kessler said that Lantos’ staff shared his commitment to his constituents and could always be counted on to help. “There was never a time when we couldn’t call staff in his office and get help for our members,” she said. “They are incredibly responsive to so many really diverse and tough situations and are willing to work with us to help union members and the greater community.”

Lantos held a Town Hall Meeting on the underground economy and low wage workers several years ago attended by many local elected officials. “As a trained economist with great political acumen, Tom’s understanding of how the economy impacts people goes beyond just policymaking,” said Kessler. “He has a concrete understanding of how economic policies affect people in the community.”

“He defended the rights of janitors at the airport to not have to work for poverty wages, in front of the head of the SFO contractors,” Kessler added. “He’s not afraid to be unpopular and go up against corporate CEO’s or Bush Administration officials. But at the same time he is the consummate diplomat, very gracious and personable. He did many things for which he got no public acknowledgment. He visited injured veterans at Walter Reed hospital out of compassion and caring, not for any fanfare, when he didn’t have to do so.”

Lantos also used his understanding of economics to point out the flaws and dangers of so-called free trade agreements. “We never had to question him on his commitment to fair trade over ‘free trade.’ He understands the implications of ‘free trade’ agreements and their impact on workers,” Kessler said.
Bill Nack, Business Manager of the San Mateo Building and Construction Trades Council, said Lantos was consistent in his support for union members being employed in rebuilding the state’s infrastructure. “He’s been a strong advocate for the building trades unions and recognizes that skilled labor built America and unions not only protect the rights of those workers but provide the training to create a skilled workforce,” Nack said.

Lantos: Vital Work
At the October meeting with union members, Rep. Lantos said the 2008 presidential election would be historic and that, “It would be a nightmare to miss the opportunity to elect a pro-labor candidate,” which he said any of the Democratic Party candidates would be.
He pointed out that electing a Democrat to the presidency would benefit labor with better appointments at the cabinet level and to the National Labor Relations Board. “We need to control the Executive branch,” he said. “You couldn’t find a better example [of anti-labor appointments] than the Bush administration.”

Lantos also was a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would streamline union elections with provisions for card-check elections rather than going through the NLRB election process.

Lantos said that he would finish his term and continue the work he has done for his 27-plus years in the House of Representatives. “Throughout my adult life I have sought to be a voice for human rights, civil liberties and social justice, both at home and around the world,” Lantos said in a statement. “My wife, Annette, and I look forward to continuing this vital work with purpose and verve every day for the remainder of my term.”