Latin American Workers Association (LAWAS)

The Latin American Workers Association (LAWAS) was based in London and active in two phases - the early 1980s and then 2002-13. Many of its activists went on to play a leading role in different community organisations, campaigns and trade unions, and it was a direct predecessor of the current cleaners movement.

So far this collection mainly covers LAWAS' second period (2002-13). The material relates to:

individual workplace campaigns: media coverage, campaign materials, correspondence, meeting minutes etc
educational resources from workshops, courses, and the innovative language exchanges, and for general distribution in the community
general materials on workers' and migrant rights, Latin American solidarity, advice sessions, information about LAWAS and cultural activities, some co-produced with other groups
internal records of assemblies, meetings, finances etc

The material is mostly paper documents but also includes artefacts like flags and t-shirts. In the latter years much material was produced online, so we hope to organise an electronic archive in the future. Many online reports from 2008-11 are still temporarily hosted at: https://thecommune.wordpress.com (English)
http://lacomunauk.wordpress.com (Spanish)

We are in an ongoing process of receiving and cataloguing material and welcome any assistance or donations of material in any format (audio, visual etc).

We also hope to arrange future events following the Archive's public launch at Mayday Rooms on 21 May 2016.

You can contact LAWAS via Mayday Rooms or by messaging our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LatinAmericanWorkersAssociation

Although the Association is no longer functioning (apart from the Archive Team), we use the facebook page to share anything related to LAWAS' history and also to help publicise current Latin American workers' struggles.

LAWAS Archiving Team