[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 103 (Wednesday, June 20, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E873]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      HONORING THE CAREER AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF MR. JORGE RAMIREZ

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DANIEL LIPINSKI

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 20, 2018

  Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Mr. Jorge Ramirez on 
the occasion of his retirement as president of the Chicago Federation 
of Labor. Jorge's reputation as an esteemed and extremely effective 
leader is well-deserved after 8 years as president and 12 years on the 
board of the CFL. He fought for and succeeded in making life better for 
hundreds of thousands of workers and their families.
   Jorge Ramirez is the son of Mexican immigrants who grew up on the 
Southwest Side of Chicago near Midway Airport. His father was a meat 
packer in Chicago's Back of Yards neighborhood during the 1960s, 
working long hours for limited pay and with limited rights. Eventually 
his father and fellow workers formed a union, knowing that they were 
stronger together than they were alone. Jorge continued this tradition 
and found his own way into the industry, first joining the United Food 
and Commercial Workers International Union Local 1546 in 1988 where he 
served as Executive Director.
   Since his election as the first Latino President of the Chicago 
Federation of Labor in 2010, Jorge Ramirez worked closely with 
stakeholders and cultivated a mutual respect with them, avoiding 
layoffs, improving health insurance for union workers, and stabilizing 
Chicago's pension funds. He was critical in ushering in a higher 
minimum wage for the city starting in 2019, guaranteeing a much better 
standard of living for so many workers. Jorge's work was also crucial 
in establishing a new five-year contract between the city of Chicago 
and the Coalition of Unionized Public Employees. That agreement alone 
benefited approximately 20% of the city's employees, including motor 
truck drivers, plumbers, laborers, and members of the building trades. 
Most recently, he led the charge for an $8.5 billion O'Hare Airport 
expansion plan--an effort that will both modernize one of Chicago's 
aviation hubs and create over 60,000 jobs.
   In addition to his accomplishments with the Chicago Federation of 
Labor, Jorge is an active community leader, as well as a devoted 
husband and father. His roles have included positions with the Cook 
County Health and Hospitals System Board of Directors, Chicago 
Infrastructure Trust, the Cook County President's Council of Economic 
Advisors, and Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Philanthropically, he 
has donated his time to the Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, the United 
Way of Metropolitan Chicago, and the Archdiocese of Chicago Office for 
Immigrant Affairs. All the while, Jorge and his wife, Catrina, have 
raised four amazing sons for whom he bakes as a hobby; his specialty 
being cheesecake.
   I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Mr. Jorge Ramirez. His 
resilience and commitment have helped countless people improve their 
lives and the lives of their families. I congratulate him on his 
accomplishments, thank him for his service, and wish him well in his 
future endeavors.

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