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Martin Ludlow, a Los Angeles city councilman, could become one of the most powerful local labor leaders in the nation today, when County Federation of Labor delegates are scheduled to decide whether to endorse him as secretary-treasurer.
Ludlow's path to the union post began when he was just 9 months old and a white couple in Idaho chose to adopt the black child as an expression of their dedication to social justice.
His childhood during the social tumult of the 1960s and '70s was spent in protest with his adoptive parents, Willis and Anne Ludlow, and their three other children. They saw injustice all around: impoverished Native Americans, struggling field hands on the Snake River plain, the war in Vietnam, the nuclear arms race.
"I'll always remember being raised on a picket line," Ludlow said. "I was raised in a world where you absolutely fight for the underdog."
Early on, Ludlow also learned how to navigate the racial divide in America as the lone black member of a white family who lived in a state that had just a couple of thousand black residents.
With that background and his experience in social activism, Ludlow was the unanimous recommendation of the federation's executive board to lead the labor organization at a time when its unions draw their strength largely from immigrant Latinos. "Si se puede" (Yes we can) is now the rallying cry of Los Angeles workers.
"The issue of unity and diversity are not rhetoric with him," said Myung Soo Seok, a senior deputy council aide. "They've come from the life he led."
Ludlow, who at 40 is just two years into his first term on the City Council, agonized over whether to accept the nomination. He would have to give up his council seat to take the position. But to reject it, he said, would have meant turning his back on everything his family fought for. It is also a chance to follow in the footsteps of Miguel Contreras, who built the federation into a political powerhouse and led it until his unexpected death last month.
Once an aide to Contreras, Ludlow would inherit a labor council that has used its money and clout to back labor-friendly candidates and push for job-producing projects,...