Before she even stepped out of law school, Kathy Finn began fighting for the rights of working people. Since 1990, she’s brought that grit and dedication to UFCW 770 workers. With a passion for protecting the health and pension benefits of our members, she currently serves as a trustee on the Southern California UFCW Health & Welfare Fund and the Pension Fund. For 20 years as Director of Collective Bargaining, Kathy sat at the bargaining table during contract negotiations to ensure our members get the benefits we deserve. As Secretary-Treasurer for the last 5 years, Kathy has worked side by side with recently retired John Grant to strengthen our union and make it more democratic. Kathy was recently appointed President of UFCW 770.

A union member for 30 years, Danny Garcia has always shown his love and commitment to UFCW 770 workers. At the age of 16, he started with Hughes Markets. He became more active in the union by stepping up as a Shop Steward, and then as a Picket Captain during the 2003 Strike/Lockout. Danny also volunteered on the Strike Hardship Committee to help assist Local 770 members during the strike. In 2005 he came on as a SPUR with the organizing department and later that year was hired to be a Union Representative for the LA / South LA area. In 2018 he became Field Director and was able to work with field staff and help coordinate contract campaigns from 2018-2022. He was recently appointed by the 770 Executive Board to be Secretary-Treasurer.

Matt O’Malley has never questioned which side he is on. For more than two decades, Matt has worked on strategic campaigns to organize and represent workers in the hospitality, construction, and service sectors. As Vice President, and Director of Research and Collective Bargaining, Matt oversees the strategic research informing Local 770’s organizing, policy, and bargaining campaigns, and, in addition, he leads contract negotiations with unionized employers. Prior to joining UFCW Local 770, he was the Senior Research Analyst at the AFL-CIO Organizing Department’s Center for Strategic Research. He began his career in the labor movement with the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees (HERE), Local 11, in Los Angeles, California, where he led a successful campaign to organize the LAX Radisson. Matt received his M.S. in Industrial & Labor Relations from Cornell University, and his B.A. in Political Economy from Skidmore College. He serves as a Union Trustee of the Western Alliance Trust Fund and was elected to UFCW Local 770’s Executive Board in 2022.

With 17 years of experience in political campaigning, Nam Le is committed to one thing: winning for working people.  From day one, he has been committed to ensuring politics is used for the good of development, housing, and labor. Prior to joining our union, Nam served as a district director for California Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally from South L.A. There his passion for policy and people blossomed. Nam is also Vice President of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance Los Angeles, AFL-CIO.

Maricruz has a passion for empowering workers to fight for their rights in the workplace. Her career has put her at the frontlines of organizing in food manufacturing, grocery stores, drug stores, retail, cannabis, and beyond. During the El Super campaign she worked with the bargaining committee at the stores to maintain involvement and execute 2 strikes. While at UFCW 770, Maricruz coordinated our SPUR program, worked with our bargaining committee members, and trained our developmental team. As the Organizing Director, she has been helping to grow our Union with new CVS members and is currently working to organize workers at Project Angel Food.

Linda Nguyen is Chief of Staff. She brings over a decade of experience building and leading local and national teams that drive campaigns to improve the lives of working-class people, advocating for economic, social, racial and environmental justice through policy advocacy, coalition building and strategic communications. Prior to joining 770, Linda co-founded Jobs to Move America and was the driving force behind the expansion of the organization’s work nationally to Chicago and New York. Her work led to the passing of good jobs policies on over $5.9 billion of public projects and the creation of thousands of new union manufacturing jobs and pipelines for low-income communities of color. She is an Aspen Institute Job Quality Fellow and holds a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University of California, Irvine.

Eileen has been a proud active member of UFCW 770 since 1989. She was a Shop Steward and worker leader at her Sav-ons store where she worked for 16 years. She’s been on 770’s staff since Dec. 2004 and she’s been actively engaged in the union activities: has walked precincts, voted and kept her fellow coworkers and members involved and engaged. She became a SPUR and was hired to be an organizer; 2 yrs later, she was promoted to become a Business Agent.

E-Board Member & Produce Manager at Vons Santa Barbara; 33 years in the Union.

Mike went through the 2003-2004 strike. He started at Luckys, which was bought out by Albertsons, then went to Haggen then back to Vons. He was a SPUR for the international representing Local 770 for the Biden Presidential campaign.

Hector is inspired by the new generation of workers who are organizing themselves to be part of a Union and also fight for broader social issues. Hector wants “to see younger members out there in streets protesting for black lives matter, lgbtq, help create a better environment for the working class people.

For the past 27 years, Ray has worked as a Front-end Supervisor at a Vons grocery store in Ventura, and has also served as a Shop Steward at his store for over 19 years. In 2020, he was part of the Special Projects Union Representative (SPUR) program. In his free time, Ray coaches a youth basketball league in his community.

“My work at Advocacy Day caught the attention of our Political Director, Nam Le, and I was nominated and then appointed to be a Vice President for our Executive Board. I was a Bargaining Committee member for the Ralphs/Albertsons Pharmacist contract, and I’ve participated in several actions for other contracts. I was appointed to the California State Board of Pharmacy by Gavin Newsom in May 2022, where I hold the Union seat with the support of UFCW.

E-Board Member and a Cashier at Arcadia Albertsons, with five decades in the Union!

Sharon has been a Union shop steward for many years and has a record of outstanding involvement in the organized workers issues; she has been to countless rallies in support of Union efforts; has worked on political campaigns and has been the voice of her coworkers by doing interviews in the media about issues that impact our members and their families.

As a shop Steward and Bargaining Committee member during the CVS campaign, Darlene stepped into a role that allowed her to represent and vocalize workers’ collective core issues on and off the negotiating table. In 2022 she stepped into the role of a SPUR and stayed active in many campaigns, including the most successful Master Food Agreement, RX campaign and Super A Foods.

Leilani has been with the union for 30 years. She has been a Shop Steward for over 10 years and has had the opportunity to participate in phone banking, picket lines. Whenever their fellow union members put together rallies or any other campaign actions, Leilani has shown up for them making signs and handing out educational materials to raise awareness and to stand up in solidarity with them.

Evy began her journey at Local 770 on March 6, 1989 in the Food Medical Dept. In June 2004, she transferred to Special Services as a clerk, and in June of 2015, she became Supervisor of the Department. Two years later she became a Field Store Coordinator, still working and helping people with any membership issues.

James has been a Shop Steward since the grocery workers strike of 2003. During that strike, he led workers at his Vons store, at the time, on a 5-month long strike, picketing outside of the store, keeping customers out, and asking them to shop elsewhere, while workers were picketing outside of their store. Since then, he has been defending members and counseling union workers.

Through her experience as a shop steward, a Bargaining Committee member, and a Special Projects Union Representative (SPUR), Heidy has gained a broader understanding of the core issues our members experience. She has led and moved members through various contract and organizing campaigns including the Master Food and RX campaigns, organizing Danone, Farmer John member engagement, and Health and Safety training.

Since 2020, he has advocated for protection at his store with the help of his co-workers. He got nominated to be a part of the CVS Bargaining Committee in the same year and he participated in many store delegations during negotiations.

Cindie is the Southern California Lead for all UFCW locals representing Kaiser workers. She represents the Pharmacy and Lab employees in the Antelope Valley and represents wall to wall members in Bakersfield.
She’s worked for Kaiser for 20 years. She was hired as a Union Representative for Local 770 in 2009.

Darren has been a UFC 770 member for over 45 years. The highlights of his career as a Union Rep include being a Union Representative of 11 Food 4 Less stores. He provided information to many of his members to reject an unfair contract offer that the company tried to win over and use the 2003/2004 strike to protect worker wage standards and benefits.