The Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters (SWRCC) is ushering in a new era of union leadership with the announcement of Pete Rodriguez as its new leader.

Rodriguez, who was elected the new executive secretary-treasurer and chief executive officer earlier this month, is the first Hispanic to leader the organization in its history. He is now the head of the largest Regional Council in the United Brotherhood of Carpenters (UBC).

While he takes a lot of pride in his historic election, he said in an interview that he plans to “put it on a shelf to show that I’m not just a ‘Hispanic EST.’”

This is Rodriguez’s latest promotion with the Union since originally joining in 1996. He was heavily influenced to join by the recommendation of his father, an immigrant who arrived in the U.S. undocumented and worked as a union labor.

The past 25 years has seen him rise the ranks of the SWRCC, from team coordinator with the Carpenters/Contractors Cooperation Committee, to Local Delegate, Trustee, President, to now Executive Secretary & Treasurer. 

In a statement, Rodriguez laid out his objectives for his latest role.

“As the new Executive Secretary-Treasurer/CEO of the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters, I’m going to be laser-focused on recruiting new members into the Union to meet the workforce needs of the future, while ensuring our current members have the skills, education, and support they need to succeed,” he said.

“From embracing technology, to preparing for new green jobs, to teaching mental toughness, our members will be prepared for the millions of infrastructure jobs coming to our region in the next decade,” Rodriguez continued. 

Along with also newly-elected President Frank Hawk and Vice President Sean Hartfanft, Rodriguez will be prioritizing visiting job sites and Union halls to listen to members’ concerns and introduce them to the new leadership’s platform, which includes initiatives that will drive the Union’s focus of creating solid union jobs, union wages, and union benefits for their members. 

The first of the initiatives is to remove obstacles to becoming a member of the Union, which will be done by expanding pre-apprenticeship and Veteran outreach programs, as well as opening a new outreach center in South Los Angeles to recruit local hires to work on new stadiums and Olympic-specific projects that will build community wealth in the area. 

Currently, the SWRCC represents more than 58,000 members across Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Southern California, and is an organization that is over 67% Latino.