Economy/Labor/Biz

The San Francisco and Marin Food Banks provide food to 225,000 people each year through different food programs – one of these is their food pantry program. Seventeen percent of the people the food banks serve are homeless. The rest are low-wage workers, older adults, children and the unemployed. The food for the food pantry program is distributed by 230 local pantries in the area, including a small neighborhood organization in San Francisco’s Mission district every Thursday.

As head of the 800,000-member Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, Maria Elena Durazo is one of the nation’s most powerful union leaders, and a key player in the ongoing immigration reform negotiations. But before her current post, she led a hotel workers’ union. She said one of the hardest parts of the job was convincing workers who were in the country illegally to organize. They feared they could be easily fired, and she said that fear had rippling implications.