Chuck Rocha
Fellow for the American
Workforce
Email
Born and raised in Tyler, Texas,
Chuck Rocha followed in his father's footsteps
as a union worker for the Kelley – Springfield
Tire Company. Chuck started his union career
at the age of 19 as a member of the United
Rubber Workers Local 746. He soon became the
youngest-ever elected officer in the history of
Local 746. Within eight years, through hard
work and a string of electoral and
organizational victories, Chuck Rocha was
appointed the National Political Director of
the United Steelworkers, America's largest
industrial union, in May 1998. He was one of
the youngest people, and at the time the only
Latino, to serve as the National Political
Director of a major American labor union.
During the 2008 Election his intuition and persistence helped perfect the union's outreach to its membership. He grew the Steelworkers' Activist Corps to a disciplined operation made up of nearly 12,000 volunteers and 435 member organizers who were released from their jobs for full-time political work. Mr. Rocha's leadership has built the Steelworkers' political operation by blending traditional grassroots, membership-based organizing with state-of-the-art technology and communications with great success. In the 2008 Presidential Election, members of the USW supported Barack Obama for President by an overwhelming 72%, while non-union members of the same demographic (primarily white males, over the age of 50 with an annual income over $60,000) only supported Obama’s candidacy by a mere 32% in the 2008 election.
In Jan 2010, Chuck created Solidarity Strategies and counts as some of his clients the Communication Workers of America and the Blue/Green alliance.
Chuck served as Dick Gephardt's and John Edwards' National Labor Director during the 2004/2008 presidential election cycles. He is a graduate of the Harvard University Trade Union program, and currently serves on the executive boards of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the National Young Democrats, and LCLAA.
During the 2008 Election his intuition and persistence helped perfect the union's outreach to its membership. He grew the Steelworkers' Activist Corps to a disciplined operation made up of nearly 12,000 volunteers and 435 member organizers who were released from their jobs for full-time political work. Mr. Rocha's leadership has built the Steelworkers' political operation by blending traditional grassroots, membership-based organizing with state-of-the-art technology and communications with great success. In the 2008 Presidential Election, members of the USW supported Barack Obama for President by an overwhelming 72%, while non-union members of the same demographic (primarily white males, over the age of 50 with an annual income over $60,000) only supported Obama’s candidacy by a mere 32% in the 2008 election.
In Jan 2010, Chuck created Solidarity Strategies and counts as some of his clients the Communication Workers of America and the Blue/Green alliance.
Chuck served as Dick Gephardt's and John Edwards' National Labor Director during the 2004/2008 presidential election cycles. He is a graduate of the Harvard University Trade Union program, and currently serves on the executive boards of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the National Young Democrats, and LCLAA.
