The members of our Board of Directors are elected directly by our membership in our Annual Community Assembly. They serve for a period of two years.
Adiela López
I am Colombian and I arrived in this country in 1997 at which time I started working as a domestic worker and living in the same house that I worked in. After six months they fired me. When I complained, they withheld several days of my salary. Since I knew no one, I started walking from the house in Garden City to Hempstead where someone told me to go to the Workplace Project for help. I did, and three months of struggle later we won my case and recovered the money that they owed to me. Ever since then, I have been a member of the WPP. I am a founding member of the UNITY Housecleaners Cooperative in which I have been an active member since 1998.
Alfredo Leocadio
I was born in Tlaxcoapan, Hidalgo, Mexico, the grandson of Señor Cesar Abadía Arruego. He was one of the many Spaniards who escaped during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) who were welcomed in Mexico. I immigrated to the United States in 1997 leaving my two young daughters and my darling wife in Mexico. I relived the experience of my grandfather—leaving behind your parents, siblings, friends, your country, everything and arriving in a country that is completely different.
At the end of 2004, I attended an event at the Workplace Project and took the Workers’ Rights Course. In 2005, the evictions in Farmingville started and I saw as many of my fellow Mexicans were unfairly evicted from their homes and forced to sleep in the street. The Day Laborers Union of Long Island mobilized, we formed an encampment and organized marches against the Town of Brookhaven. We won that struggle.
Ever since then, I have been a proud member of the organization.
Juan Gómez
I came to this country from Honduras at the end of 2004. I have a six-year-old daughter who I have not seen in all this time. I arrived in this country with the dream of working to help my family. In 2008 I had a problem at work. After working ten days on a construction job, the employer refused to pay me. With the support of the organization, I was able to recover my back wages. Since then, I have remained a part of the WPP to demand justice and our rights.
Mónica Díaz
I was born in El Salvador in 1977. I have lived on Long Island, attending New York Public Schools since 1990. I graduated High School in 1994. Throughout this time I was left alone during the week while my mother worked as a live-in housekeeper.
In 1996 my mother and I were invited to a woman’s group at The Workplace Project, where we learned about or rights and became involved with the organization. Soon afterwards, my mother became part of the organization’s staff and I began to volunteer on a regular basis. Through that work, I have become a community leader who, along with the organization, has organized rallies, lobbied in the New York State Legislature and Congress about important issues such as the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in Nassau County and later a similar bill at the state level. I helped organize the May 1st International Labor Day Annual Rally and the struggle against anti-immigrant hate groups in Suffolk County and worked in alliance with numerous organizations.
I live in Nassau County with my two daughters, Alexandra and Angelina. I continue to serve as a volunteer member of the Board of Directors of The Workplace Project, and in the Educating Committee of Unity Housecleaners Cooperative.
“En la lucha hasta la muerte!”
María Aparicio
I am from Ecuador and I came to the United States in 1988. I came here because there was a lot of poverty in my home country and to provide a better education for my daughter. I am a single mother of three children. When I first arrived, I worked in a factory where we were exploited. They demanded more and more productivity in less time until my body could not take it any longer. I even dreamed about all the work I had to do.
That’s when a cousin of mine told me about the UNITY Cooperative. I went to the trainings and workshops and in that way I got involved with the Workplace Project. I have lived through some rough experiences in this country, but I have also learned how to defend my rights thanks to the work of the WPP.
I am proud to be a single mother, of succeeding in this country and of being an active member of the Workplace Project.
Norma Murillo
I came to this country in 1999 with the plan to stay a short time but now I have been here for 13 years. I learned about the Centro by dropping into the offices out of curiosity—I just wanted to know what they did. I found out about the UNITY cooperative and the other activities that the WPP does. I took the Workers’ Rights course and I became a member of the organization.
I worked in a lens factory where I had an accident and because of that I cannot work for now.
My participation at the Workplace Project has changed my way of thinking and my life. Since arriving in this country, I have seen abuse, mostly amongst the domestic workers. In this way, the work of the WPP is informed by our knowledge of where we are going.
Rafael Velez
I am from the Dominican Republic. I left there in 1986 but did not arrive in this country until 1990. In 1997 a friend gave me a flyer for the Workplace Project and I started to get involved with the organization. I saw the work that they were doing and it seemed important but above all I liked it because they were fighting for social justice. So I took the course on Workers Rights and ever since I have been a member. I work at the Belmont racetrack where, with the support of the organization, we have organized a Worker Committee to defend our rights.
Saúl Linares
I am from El Salvador and I have been a member of the WPP since 2003. I was a day laborer looking for work in Freeport. At one point, an employer owed me for 15 days of work. By asking around for help in being repaid another day laborer told me about the WPP. That is how I arrived at the Workplace Project. Ever since, I have been a member and I participate and support the project as much as possible.