Tomas Laster

Tomas Laster joined CWA Local 1180 in February 2023 as a Staff Representative for the private sector organizations.

He has demonstrated a commitment to social justice and labor throughout his life, volunteering with farmworkers’ rights organizations in his college years and helping to implement a restorative strategies curriculum for public schools in the Sarasota County public school system.

As a Human Rights Investigator and Director of Complaint Investigation in Florida, Tomas investigated and resolved hundreds of workplace grievances affecting low-wage migrant farmworkers. Through this work, he was able to negotiate systemic changes affecting thousands of workers in industrial agriculture. In the meantime, he volunteered with his local Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) chapter and helped restore lost wages for restaurant workers.

While working as a bartender in Brooklyn, Tomas and his coworkers organized their workplace, achieving a unanimous filing with Workers United and negotiating their first collective bargaining agreement.

Outside of his work with CWA, you can find Tomas cheering on the Argentina soccer team, hanging out with his two large cats, or playing music with his friends and his wife Leah.