by Abe Asher, Jacobin
In 2006, Hugo Soto-Martinez was just weeks away from becoming the first member of his family to graduate from college when something happened that changed the course of his life.
Soto-Martinez grew up in South Los Angeles as the son of two immigrant parents who worked as street vendors. When Soto-Martinez was sixteen, his father hurt his back and became unable to work, forcing Soto-Martinez to drop out of high school and get a job at a hotel in downtown Los Angeles to help support his family.
Soto-Martinez kept the hotel job for years. He worked shifts as a food runner as he made his way through high school and then college, after which he planned to attend law school. But by 2006, things at the hotel had taken a turn for the worse. Working conditions had quickly deteriorated under new management, and eventually one of Soto-Martinez’s colleagues asked him if he wanted to try to unionize the place. He did.
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