Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher

Lorena Gonzalez is president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO—the first woman and first person of color to be elected to the post. Under her leadership, the Federation has built a stronger, more accessible labor movement through prioritizing all forms of organizing and building solidarity across unions. She has dedicated her career to expanding workers’ rights through organizing, politics, and legislation. From transforming the San Diego region as head of the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council, to passing landmark labor laws in the State Assembly, to her historic leadership of the California Federation of Labor Unions, she has relentlessly championed the cause of the working class.  Her efforts have achieved groundbreaking advances for millions of working Californians—including paid sick leave for all employees, overtime pay for farmworkers, and the strongest laws in the nation against worker misclassification and wage theft. She has revived the member-to-member political program to build engagement and power for all union families. These historic victories established California at the forefront of labor policy and set a national agenda on workers’ rights. As both a legislator and labor leader, she has been a leader in tackling emerging technology in the workplace, including creating protections against dangerous warehouse production quotas at Amazon and leading the fight to establish guardrails for the use of AI. She currently serves as the national co-chair of AFL-CIO State Federation AI Task Force and on the Public Policy Institute of California’s Statewide Leadership Council. She is a graduate of Stanford University and earned a master’s degree from Georgetown University and a law degree from UCLA.