Under Meizhu Lui's leadership, United for a Fair Economy (UFE) has broadened its reach, tapping into the concerns of grassroots constituencies, including those who do not speak English as their first language. UFE is a national, independent, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that raises awareness that concentrated wealth and power undermine the economy, corrupt democracy, deepen the racial divide, and tear communities apart.
A self-described “troublemaker,” Ms. Lui was a hospital food service worker at Boston City Hospital and AFSCME activist for 20 years and became the first Asian president of Local 1489 in Massachusetts. In 1993 she became an organizer for Health Care For All, building a multi-ethnic coalition that challenged Boston's hospitals to fund community-driven health projects. Meizhu is a long-time member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, a national organization well known for its participation in struggles for fundamental social change.
Ms. Lui has co-authored three annual “State of the Dream” reports published by UFE on Martin Luther King Day. Her articles have also appeared in the Wealth Inequality Reader (Dollars & Sense, 2004) Inequality Matters (The New Press, 2005), and in Yes!, Orion, and Social Policy magazines as well as in Black Commentator, the online news source.
Ms. Lui serves on the Center for American Progress's National Initiative to End Poverty. She is a Trustee of the Hyams Foundation in Boston. Her work in Boston has been honored by the YWCA, the Immigrant Workers' Resource Center, Mass Senior Action Council, the Boston Women's Fund, and the Big Sisters Association. She received the Randolph-Rustin Award for the Education of African American Workers from the Labor Studies Program at the University of Massachusetts-Boston.
Ms. Lui has given plenary presentations at conferences of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, United Methodist Women, the National Coalition of Asian Pacific American Community Development, and the national Inequality Matters conference, among others.
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