4th Biennial Convention

APALA's 5th Biennial Convention was held from August 5-8, 1999 in Washington, DC at the Capital Hilton. 

Guest speakers included:

• The Honorable Patsy Mink, Representative from Hawaii
• Dean Grafillo, Organizer for ILWU Local 142
• Chawee Sukajatanee, LAX Airport Organizing Campaign
• Tony Cube, Washington Alliance for  Immigrants and Refugee Justice
• President John J. Sweeney, AFL-CIO
• President Gerald McEntee, AFSCME

The convention included the following plenaries and workshops:

• Economic Justice for All Communities
• Building Asian Pacific American Leaders in Unions and APALA
• APALA 2000
• "There Shall Be No Justice Until the Rubber Meets the Road" - Launching the "Campaign for Worker Justice"
• Breakouts discussing affirmative action, hate crimes & racial tension, immigration, labor & community relations, living wage, chapter development, leadership development, and a special Cantonese track.

Our 1999 award recipients at the gala included: 

Ho Nhu Lai (UFCW)
Philip Vera Cruz Award

UFCW Local 428 (San Jose, California)
Vincent Foo Award  

Beverly Umehara (OPEIU)
Art Takei Award

Karen Narasaki, Executive Director, National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium
APALA Community Award