Clara Mejía Orta

Clara Mejía Orta was born in México and migrated to East Los Angeles, CA, in 2011. She holds a degree in American Studies from Georgetown University with minors in Justice & Peace Studies and History. Her undergraduate dissertation “mirARTe: Art, Resistance and Life in East LA” documents how art is used as a tool of resistance in periods of community activism from the Chicano Movement to present day. Clara completed her master’s degree in Labor Studies from UMass Amherst and prior to starting her graduate studies she was a labor organizer for the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770 in Los Angeles. 

 

Clara’s dissertation, “La Planta: Latinx Worker Survival in U.S. Slaughterhouses” documents the experiences of Latinx and immigrant meatpacking workers in the United States. Her dissertation rethinks the meatpacking plant as a political space. This framework enables her to interrogate how Latinx and immigrant workers change the culture of the plant and construct their community outside of meatpacking plants. Via extensive oral histories with meatpacking workers, a story of struggle and survival emerges, as Latinx immigrants adjust to new cultural and racial environments while navigating the intricacies of working in one of the most dangerous industries where their bodies and their labor are seen as disposable and replaceable. Her research bridges Latinx workers’ struggle on the shop floor with that of the Latinx organizers who are fighting for a greater voice within the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). A fight that prioritized immigrant worker organizing, development of Latinx leadership, and a strong stance on immigrant rights.