Idar, Clemente N.

Clemente Nicasio Idar, American Federation of Labor (AFL) organizer, writer, and orator, was born in Laredo, Tex., on November 11, 1883.

As the first Mexican American organizer in the mainstream labor movement, Idar fought to improve wages and working conditions for Mexicans and Mexican Americans in the United States. In 1918, Samuel Gompers, president of the AFL, selected Idar to help coordinate, and translate at, the Pan American Federation of Labor Conference in Laredo. By November of that year, Idar was working as an AFL organizer. As an AFL representative, Idar chartered already existing Mexican and Mexican American workers organizations, and organized workers that were not previously unionized. Idar also served as translator for the AFL, producing Spanish-language versions of speeches, newspaper and magazine articles, and union constitutions and by-laws. He worked primarily in Texas, but also traveled to other states, including Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, and California, and to Mexico. Idar was an accomplished public speaker and wrote articles for English and Spanish-language periodicals, primarily about organized labor. Clemente Idar died in San Antonio, Tex., on January 23, 1934, at the age of 51.