Every board night has its constants: the clock, the gavel, and a sea of green union shirts, with Anel Gonzalez at the helm. With her iPad resting on her lap, she attentively listens. When the moment arrives for her union constituent report, she approaches the lectern. She is steady, measured through the hard topics because it’s not just her voice she carries — it’s more than 300 voices.
Anel Gonzalez has dedicated 22 years of her career to Palomar College, where she has held various positions, including academic department assistant and foster youth liaison. In her current role, she represents classified employees as president of the Council of Classified Employees (CCE).
Her role with CCE is no surprise; her dedication can be traced back to her youth.
Gonzalez was born in Cuernavaca, the capital of Morelos in Mexico, often called the City of Eternal Spring. Gonzalez’s mother was a professor at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and also worked at a secondary school, while her father was a business owner and a taxi driver.
In the 1980s, Mexico faced an economic crisis marked by high inflation and food shortages. To find better opportunities for Gonzalez and her two younger brothers, her parents chose to leave their life in Mexico for the United States.
“That sacrifice they made for us … I think myself and my siblings have never taken that lightly. We all came here for the American dream, and that was like when the American dream wasn’t killing us,” Gonzalez said. “My parents were full of hope, just that we would have a better life.”
After moving to California, Gonzalez and her family rented a trailer at the Rincon Indian Reservation. Gonzalez described her upbringing as humble and calls herself a product of public education.
Her father left school as a child to work, and her mother later helped him learn to read and write, while promoting lifelong learning for Gonzalez and her siblings.
“He didn’t have the privilege of education, but he always knew that it was, like, that was a key and I still believe that education is a key out of poverty,” Gonzalez said.
Looking back, Gonzalez credited the teachers who cared about her learning for opening her eyes to the possibilities of higher education.
“It was my teachers, they saw potential in me that I didn’t even see,” Gonzalez said. “I just remember thinking when teachers would ask, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m worried about, like, do we have enough food at home?’”
Among the people she remembered most were Mrs. Julie, her math teacher, and Dr. Byrne, her English teacher, who helped her believe she could achieve her education goals and one day own a home, a future that had seemed out of reach from the trailer where she grew up.
Gonzalez attended the University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara), where she began as a premed student and later double majored in Spanish and English literature. She planned to teach, and although she did not pursue that path, her love for literature remains strong.
“Something that really changed my life was ‘Rain of Gold’ by Victor Villaseñor,” Gonzalez said.
“Rain of Gold,” published in 1991, tells the story of Villaseñor’s parents, who were undocumented immigrants from Mexico. Gonzalez felt an immediate connection, especially because the book mentions Escondido, where she grew up. She borrowed it from the library and wrote Villaseñor a letter sharing how much it meant to her and promising to buy her own copy when she could afford it. To her surprise, he sent her a signed hardcover and later visited her school, Orange Glen High School — a moment that stayed with her.
After graduating from UC Santa Barbara, Gonzalez worked at the nonprofit organization Interfaith Community Services, where she handled grant writing. She dedicated many years before a collaboration with Palomar led her to the college in 2002.
“I feel very blessed and lucky to have been here for 22 years, and it is a great milestone to just be here and like to have worked with so many students and so many great colleagues,” Gonzalez said.
Since 2018, Anel Gonzalez has been the president of the CCE, a union that advocates for and amplifies the voices of the noninstructional staff who keep college operations running at Palomar.
Gonzalez got involved with the union when the district was considering reducing benefits for families and cutting pay, which concerned her as she had a young family. In 2024, Gonzalez became full-time president, marking a significant achievement for the union.
“I found myself in the negotiations team as a note taker. So I started very slowly, getting into the union business and looking behind the curtain,” Gonzalez said.
She was a site representative, a grievance officer, and later became vice president before taking on the presidential role. Gonzalez managed these roles while also working in outreach and administration.
Gonzalez’s colleagues say she is a person who truly cares.
“She’s so smart, and she’s so bold, and she cares about Palomar College. She cares about her coworkers. She cares about her family,” said Jena Kruhmin, CCE vice president of membership.
Her performance and attitude make her stand out, even outside of CCE.
“I think that she has brought a lot of energy, she has a lot of integrity, so she’s really given the CCE a boost, I think, in terms of visibility and consistency and very good negotiating to develop an excellent contract,” said Teresa Laughlin, former Palomar Faculty Federation co-president.
The union presidency comes with challenges. At board meetings, Gonzalez speaks up for herself and the classified staff, but they frequently face pushback from the Governing Board and the district, like the recent cost-of-living-adjustment dispute.
“Compromise is a lot of the stuff that we do, and it’s not easy. I can totally see why presidents of the country age super fast in the four years,” Gonzalez said. “There are times where it’s just very hard to continue. ‘Why do I even do this?’ ‘Why do I even care?’ Stuff like that. But, I wake up the next day and I’m like ‘Okay, I’m gonna lick my wounds.’ And you live to fight another day, you know?”
Cesar Gonzalez, Anel’s husband, said her union work has changed their lives as much as it has impacted them, highlighting her dedication to the union.
“I don’t know how many weekends or holidays she’s got her union phone out, and she’s talking to the team to help them, coaching them through something,” Cesar Gonzalez said. “That’s what it takes. You have to be engaged as a leader, and that’s who she is.”
When it comes to her life outside of Palomar, Gonzalez considers her children to be her biggest achievement.
“I do live my life for my kids, you know, to be a good example. First, it was for my brothers, because I was the oldest and then it was just for my kids. I think my greatest milestone is to have kids that are pretty amazing, like the people that I want to be around,” Gonzalez said. “My kids really helped me center around what kind of person I want to be.”
Julia Gonzalez, her 22-year-old daughter, sees what that looks like from the other side.
“She made a life for herself where I never had to worry about stuff like that. I never had to worry about a language barrier or financial worries that her family had,” Julia Gonzalez said. “It was just a very calm, quiet childhood. I’m very privileged, and she made that life for me.”
In her free time, Gonzalez is working on a book about her family history that she hopes to finish by the end of the year, partly so her children will understand where they come from. She has also enrolled in a guitar class at Palomar to pick up a new skill just for herself.
“It really gives me some Zen,” Gonzalez said. “I’m looking forward to just continuing. Despite the hard times, we have a lot of good solidarity happening. So, I’m looking forward to our union being stronger.”