Yadhira Alvarez is Chief of Staff of the Laundry, Distribution and Food Service Joint Board, Workers United, SEIU and lead negotiator in Workers’ United/SEIU’s first contract bargaining with Starbucks in New Jersey and Connecticut. She is also an M.A. student in Labor Studies at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies. Her union work has brought her to areas as diverse as homecare, industrial laundries, hospitals, warehouses, and the public sector. As a lead contract negotiator with Workers United, she has fought to win significant increases in wages and benefits for members, as well as large sums for workers improperly fired after COVID-19 exposures.