In 1996 and 1997 Peter Cervantes-Gautschi traveled the U.S. and Mexico interviewing leaders of groups that organize low-wage workers. This cross border element was present at the outset because a large proportion of the workers in the U.S. were Mexican immigrants, and the workers in Mexico were employed in the production chains of U.S.-based transnational corporations. Through these discussions he determined that the groups shared certain common challenges, chief among them the need to continually regenerate the organization. This involves the ability of the organization to build and train a strong, democratic leadership, to become strategic (every step planned and intended by the leadership), and to develop a life of its own, constantly incorporating new people and new energy.

With this in mind, seventeen of these groups founded Enlace in 1998 to help them learn from each other’s experiences and to explore other ways of strengthening their organizations. By continuing to listen carefully to the needs of these organizations, we have grown steadily and now have 23 affiliates that represent a base of approximately 300,000 low-wage workers. Enlace has developed a series of training programs with pedagogical methods familiar to elite institutions but rarely made available to low-wage workers with the objective of assisting them in their struggle for social and economic justice.