Ignacio De La Fuente was born on January 1, 1949 in Mexico City. He immigrated to California at the age of 21 and subsequently became an American citizen. Mr. De La Fuente settled in Oakland, California and began working in a foundry as a machinist. His career in labor relations was launched in 1977 when he was elected to union representative. Mr. De La Fuente has served as Business Manager and as an International Representative for the Molder's Union. He is presently employed as the International Representative for Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics, and Allied Workers International Union, AFL-CIO-CLC. In this capacity he negotiates contracts for wages, health and pension benefits for approximately thirty companies. He handles grievance and arbitration procedures.

Mr. De La Fuente's interest in public service was initiated when he became involved in trying to stop a wave of plant closures in Alameda county during the 1980's. His discovery that local government was ill prepared to deal with the mass dislocation of industrial workers inspired him to seek elected office so he could bring his expertise in this area directly into the decision making process.

First elected in 1992, he served as the chair of the Council's Economic and Community Development Committee until January 1999. At that time, due to the passage of Measure X which removed the Mayor from the City Council, Mr. De La Fuente became the first Council member to be elected President of the Oakland City Council.

Mr. De La Fuente has been the point person for the city's efforts at Downtown and Neighborhood revitalization, expansion of the City's retail base and of course business retention particularly in the manufacturing sector. He is credited with the revitalization of Fruitvale’s International Boulevard shopping area, including major developments of the Fruitvale Station Shopping Center, Super K-Mart and the upcoming Fruitvale Transit Village. He is also credited with demolishing the Montgomery Wards building to make way for a critically needed new school in the Fruitvale. Other recent efforts have included his school safety initiative and his Decent Housing Task Force’s “Dirty Dozen landlords” campaign.

Mr. De La Fuente Co-chairs the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Joint Powers Authority, overseeing the City’s Coliseum-Arena complex and three professional sports franchises. Among his proudest accomplishments is authorship of the City's Hire Oakland policies that expand opportunities for Oakland residents in the areas of employment and small business growth and the City’s Equal Access policy - the first of its kind in the country - that will provide bi-lingual services to limited-English speakers.

In January 2001, Mr. De La Fuente started his second term as Oakland’s City Council President and third term as City Council Representative to District 5 (San Antonio-Fruitvale).

 

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