JORGE RAMIREZ
Secretary-Treasurer

Jorge Ramirez was elected Secretary-Treasurer of the Chicago Federation of Labor in 2006.  Prior to joining the CFL, Ramirez was elected Vice President and served as Executive Director of Local 1546 of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents nearly 30,000 members in Chicago and throughout Illinois.

In 2008, Ramirez was selected by County Commissioners to serve on the Board of Directors of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System. He currently serves as a member of the Executive Board of Chicago Jobs with Justice and as a Policy Council Member with Citizen Action/Illinois.  Ramirez is chairman of the Cook County Cooperative Organizing Committee, co-chairman of the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council, an Executive Council member of Chicago Metropolis 2020, board member of the Chicago Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues, and advisory board member of the Occupational and Environmental Health and Safety Education and Research Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health.  Ramirez is also a board member of the Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood and a member of the Board of Regents of Mercy Home for Boys and Girls.

In 2001, Ramirez was appointed to serve as commissioner of the Legislative Redistricting Commission by the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives. He was also appointed to serve on Governor Rod R. Blagojevich’s task force on workplace safety, assembled to stem the number of injuries and fatalities in the workplace, primarily among Latino workers.

Ramirez received a law degree from the Chicago-Kent College of Law, and graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso in 1993 with a double major in marketing and computer information systems. 

The son of Mexican immigrants, Ramirez attended St. Anthony High School Seminary in San Antonio, Texas.

Ramirez and his wife, Catrina, have three sons, Marino, John Paul, and Antonio.