Session reports: U.S. Social Forum, Atlanta, June 26-July 1,2007

Note-taker: Ellen Reese, Sociology, University of California-Riverside

Labor Session #1: Immigrant Workers Rights!

Submitted by fazcarate on April 27, 2007 - 9:35pm.

This session will be on: June 29, 2007 - 10:30am

It will be held at: Room 1203 room at the Westin Hotel

Organization Description

The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a voluntary federation of 54 national and international labor unions. We represent more than 10 million workers across the United States.The mission of the AFL-CIO is to improve the lives of working families—to bring economic justice to the workplace and social justice to our nation. To accomplish this mission we will build and change the American labor movement. We will build a broad movement of American workers by organizing workers into unions. We will recruit and train the next generation of organizers, mass the resources needed to organize and create the strategies to win organizing campaigns and union contracts. We will create a broad understanding of the need to organize among our members, our leadership and among unorganized workers. We will lead the labor movement in these efforts. We will build a strong political voice for workers in our nation. We will fight for an agenda for working families at all levels of government. We will empower state federations. We will build a broad progressive coalition that speaks out for social and economic justice. We will create a political force within the labor movement that will empower workers and speak forcefully on the public issues that affect our lives. We will change our unions to provide a new voice to workers in a changing economy. We will speak for working people in the global economy, in the industries in which we are employed, in the firms where we work, and on the job every day. We will transform the role of the union from an organization that focuses on a member's contract to one that gives workers a say in all the decisions that affect our working lives—from capital investments, to the quality of our products and services, to how we organize our work. We will change our labor movement by creating a new voice for workers in our communities. We will make the voices of working families heard across our nation and in our neighborhoods. We will create vibrant community labor councils that reach out to workers at the local level. We will strengthen the ties of labor to our allies. We will speak out in effective and creative ways on behalf of all working Americans.

Proposal Demographics

identify as women

identify as people of color

are immigrants (not born in U.S.)

Session Description

Globalization, free-trades policies, and corporate driven labor policies in the U.S. have put pressure on the U.S. labor movement while simultaneously creating a growing number of workers, largely immigrants, who are super-exploited by unscrupulous employers. To exercise their rights, workers have been self-organizing by creating Worker Centers that advocate for the their members through collective education and action, while also providing a broad array of assistance to its members and their families.

In August 2006, the AFL-CIO decided to partner with Worker Centers across the country by formalizing ties between Central Labor Councils, State Federations and local Worker Centers. This workshop will share different models for collaboration for worker rights and immigration reform.
Suggested Presenters: (not all are confirmed)

Pablo Alvarado, Executive Director, National Day Labor Organizing Netwrok

Caroline Murray, Director, Anti-Displacement Project/Casa Obrera

Eddie Acosta, Worker Center Coordinator, AFL-CIO

Victor Narro, Director, UCLA Downtown Labor Center

Marilyn Baird, Director, Central North Carolina Worker Center


First Name

Fred

Last Name

Azcarate

Contact E-mail

fazcarat@aflcio.org

Proposing Organization

AFL-CIO

Organization Website

www.aflcio.org

Position or Title

Director, Voice@Work

Contact Telephone

202-639-6229

Event Day

Friday, June 29th (Visioning / Envisioning Another World)

Contact Address

815 16th Street, NW

Format

Panel

Contact City

Washington

Keywords

Workplaces

Immigrant Rights

Labor

Audience Number

50-100 people

Contact State

DC

Contact ZIP

20006

Person Reviewing: walda

 

 

Labor Session #1: Immigrant Workers’ Rights!

Organized by the AFL-CIO

Ellen’s notes

 

There were about 60 people participating in this workshop, including the panelists. It was fairly mixed by gender. It was mainly white, Latino, and black. There are two women who speak only Spanish and a woman translates for them (they sit next to her b/c there is no translation equipment). The participants range in ages from 25-50, with most about 35-45 years old.

 

Eddie Acosta (he is a Latino man who is the National Worker Center Coordinator for the AFL-CIO). The name of this session is a little different than the main focus of this workshop, which is on workers’ centers and labor unions.

 

Eddie introduces the other panelists:

 

1. Frances Boyes (white woman, Alliance to Develop Power, an anti-displacement project)

 

2. Joyce Johnson (black woman, Central Carolina Workers Center, which worked on the Smithville campaign. She’s from a right to work state, North Carolina.

 

3. Enco Moto (Latino man, National Day Laborers’ Organizing Network)

 

Eddie: Many workers fall outside of unions: independent contractors, day laborers, etc. Workers united is the main idea. There are about 160 workers centers in the US. AFL-CIO and its affiliate unions sometimes clash at city hall with the workers’ centers. AFL-CIO varies locally in terms of its relationship to immigrant workers and day laborers but it is trying to improve this. There has been a split in the labor movement and pressure from the centers and from the Change to Win Coalition leading to this change. The AFL-CIO has adopted a charter to allow workers’ centers to join the AFL-CIO and be involved at a deeper level at the state and local levels. They can join and sit and the table with other unions. Worker centers will join similar to constituency groups such as CLUE will join central labor councils for a nominal fee. They can’t vote because they don’t pay regular dues but they can join AFL-CIO committees and have a say on the issues.  Local workers’ centers and unions vary and so do their relationships. This agreement started last August. Out of the 160 workers centers, about 15 belong to the interfaith network and 30 belong to the National Day Laborers’ Organizing Network. The specific agreement includes taking the same position on immigration reform at the national level; to work on laws to promote the interests of day laborers; and to help with court cases that can shift policy towards immigrant workers/day laborers.

 

Frances: I am from the Alliance to Develop Power in Springfield, Massachusetts. I am replacing another person on this panel and is new to this organization, so I am reading from my notes. Tenants collectively own the buildings where they live and they own shops collectively. All members are low-income. Members created this workers’ center to create jobs and it functions as a hiring hall. The relationship with the AFL-CIO grew out of the local central labor council. They saw struggles of day laborers as their own. Casa Workers’ Center is open to ADP members and they organize construction workers. Contractors were not using immigrant labor. The workers’ center was built by materials donated by the unions. They see that they have mutual interests with the day laborers in terms of having good jobs. The agreement they developed is a 3 to 1 agreement that for every 3 union workers, one day laborer from the workers’ center will be hired. The center also functions as a legal services center. They train workers to prepare for when the raids of immigrants happen and what to do.

 

Joyce: She is the director, standing in for the Economic Justice coordinator who is most familiar with this workers’ center. Our approach is community unionism. We emphasize dignity, the work, and the potential of everyone. You are a resident and you are important. Their campaign with K-mart became a model. Workers made efforts to unionize and were approached by their ministers who are key to change in the Bible Belt. There was a substantial difference in wages (I think she means between the day laborers and regular workers). Ministers supported the campaign and were arrested when they prayed outside the company’s doors. Students also got arrested and got involved through assignments for their labor studies program in the local university. We engaged with many different community groups. The Smithville campaign has become well known. It created a labor-community alliance. We’ve gone to groceries selling Smithfield ham and other products and pressure the groceries to boycott goods because of a lack of safe and good working conditions. There were back wages owed; we’ve gotten them back. Black, Latino, and white workers have joined together. The service workers are involved in welfare, education, housing, etc. and have used our information to help the day laborers. We refuse to be divided; we’re humans working together.

 

Enco: Antilan represents about 30 organizations that are learning from each other. Our goals: 1. We want to change the negative image that people have of day laborers. 2. We also seek to legalize immigrants. We support all the efforts to do this and to make sure that day laborers are included in all of the legislation that the AFL-CIO is supporting. 3. Protect people’s civil and human rights and improve their working conditions. Often day laborers are not given proper training and equipment to do their jobs. They struggle with anti-immigrant sentiment within labor unions. Its important to have solidarity among all workers. The main differences among workers are in their wages and working conditions. We want day laborers to become union members. We want to identify bad contractors and pressure them to improve working conditions and give them breaks for example. They organize painters and other workers. Its important to validate the work that people do. Home Depot law (a law promoted by this company?) would prohibit day laborers. This is how the national network got started. The relationship between unions and workers centers: we’re like boyfriend and girlfriend holding hands. We are learning from each other.

 

Discussion with audience:

 

A white man from Athens, GA: he’s working with a workers’ center for Central American workers. How do you maintain a governing group with so much turnover among workers? A panelist acknowledges that this is difficult.

 

A white man asks Enco about who he is and he clarifies that he is an organizer hired by the AFL-CIO to organize day laborers, but he isn’t a day laborer himself. 

 

Enco:  There will be a national conference to bring worker center members together. He describes a worker center that collectively owns a housekeeping business and they use non-toxic cleaning chemicals that are good for the environment and they hope to bring more women into it and enlarge their company. This is a model for other cities. In Los Angeles, city council person Bernard Parks developed a bill for a city law that would require home improvement stores of a certain size to create a space for workers’ centers. This would set a precedent for other cities. Home Depot opposes this bill.

 

White man (he belongs to the Young Socialists from Minneapolis): He describes a raid in the plants and ICE took all non-white workers and did the same at the trailer parks. This was after the Sensen-Brenner bill was defeated and after the May Day protests. These raids are reactions to this. Immigrant rights is a life and death struggle for the labor movement. How do we build the immigrant rights movement? We don’t choose the lesser of two evils on immigration bills.

 

Eddie: The AFL-CIO bill was killed in the senate yesterday. Some people were sad but also relieved because this bill is a disaster for working people. In 1986, IRCA was passed and we supported employer sanctions for employing knowingly or not an undocumented immigrant. Since then, the AFL-CIO has changed its position on immigration policy. We seek to legalize all undocumented workers and to raise their wages. The bill represented a compromise on immigration and legalization was traded for guest worker program. What do you do with future immigrants is important. If you are in the US, you should have equal rights. There should be no guest worker program (a lot of applause). What are you for future flow is key. If workers come in for a job that needs to be filled b/c US workers are unavailable, then visas should be given for the number of workers that are needed. Match the number of visas to the number of non-US workers needed by employers and they should be given full labor rights. He opposes employer sanctions and the employer-identified program that identifies what workers are. 7-8,000 employers use this system. Most information is false and this can blacklist union organizers. AFL-CIO opposed the immigration bill and opposed the guest worker program but not all affiliated unions agree on immigration legislation. There should not be parallel movements. We need to bring the two movements together and address immigrants at the point of production.

 

Latina woman (she’s an AFSC volunteer from New Hampshire who is on the national immigrant rights task force and on the labor committee). She says that each state can have their own regulations. She hates to say this, but workers on corners can be a problem sometimes.

 

Enco: We need to educate people to keep the space clean and to not harass people.

 

Latina woman in audience (belongs to an immigrant rights group in Alburquerque New Mexico): What position will the AFL-CIO take in the future. Will they support a bill similar to what you stated in the next 7-8 years? How do you organize workers who feel alienated, temporary, and vulnerable?

 

Eddie: The Congress is still very conservative even though the Democrats now have the majority. Kennedy supported a pro-union bill, the employer of choice bill and he drove the immigration bill. No senator proposed a comprehensive immigration bill but would offer amendments to other bills that were pro-labor. The pro-labor and pro-immigrant lobbies have been divided. We can’t be divided on this issue. I am talking as an individual, not a representative of the AFL-CIO. We need to agree on principals. We cant get a perfect bill. We can’t get what we want if we are divided. Kennedy is a good ally. We struck a bargain in the last bill. 12 million immigrants would be legalized in exchange for a guest worker program. Next year, there is not likely to be an immigration bill passed because it’s a presidential election year. What do we do to push back against the anti-immigration sentiment. We want to fix the Hoffman-Plastics decision. That decision upheld the legality of having a worker during a union organizing campaign answer regarding whether he was documented. Prior policy said that would illegal. We can’t have corporate control of immigration and labor laws. The AFL-CIO tends to separate immigration and labor issues.

 

Joyce: We are all together We use the resources of the documented workers to help the undocumented with theft of wages (back pay of wages) and the need for march permits.

 

White woman in audience: What are you doing to organize women?

 

Enco: In Pasadena, CA, a workers center organized household workers. They were having meetings weekly and discussing gender issues, health, and safety. They reached out to eco-friendly organizations and met a group in San Francisco for workshops on environmentally friendly cleansers (non-toxic). They formed Magic Cleaners, a collectively owned company and they are brining in more women into the company.

 

Joyce: The worker center and public services union combines key issues, such as child welfare and educational justice. They address women’s concerns with schools.

 

White man: There was a raid of immigrant workers in New Haven with only warrants for 10. They came in uninvited into their homes. They separated families. This was backlash against a proposal for giving them identification cards.

 

Joyce: We’ve also had problems with ICE. Unions and the Commission on the Status of Women have opposed these practices. I work in a community that is not very diverse, but the no-match issue arose in Smithfield and they negotiated for workers to stay. There was one case of clear racial discrimination in which black Hondurans were not questioned because they were black, not Latino. After this bill, how do we defend people against these raids?

 

Eli Green (Steelworkers union, a black male oilworker): we need to consummate this marriage b/w workers centers and unions. Black workers were historically used as strike breakers. We need to confront divisions among workers and anti-immigrant sentiment. There are some black, Latino, and white workers unclear on these issues. Minutemen organized a demonstration in Leimert Park (were invited to do so by Ted Hayes). About 60 minutemen showed up and 400 pro-immigrant people did. The police turned the minutemen away.

 

Joyce: But the culture within some unions aren’t open to receiving undocumented workers. People (undocumented) need to move into unions. Some courtships take longer than others. (she jokes that she speaks as someone who has been married for many years after a very short courtship).

 

Eddie: In the Change to Win unions, there’s not enough done to work well with immigrants at the local level. We’re putting together a curriculum to distribute through the Central Labor Councils to educate local union members. Unions and workers centers are working together on this to overcome polarization among workers. You need to let people get their feelings out before you change their minds on these kinds of issues. He wants to end this workshop on a positive note. He mentions that a state assembly woman was attending the workshop earlier but had to leave. She was starting a bill to stop police MOUs.

 

Cuban-American translator stands up and says she also has something positive to share before the workshop ends. She’s from the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Association. They are now accepting passports as ID’s for bank accounts, an issue her group worked on. She also encourages the participants to keep in touch and work together on these issues.

 

Ellen’s responses to USSF Guideline questions:

The panelists in this session seemed rather reformist, although Eddie sometimes sounded Marxist (e.g., using phrases such as organizing immigrant workers at the point of production, etc.). There were socialists in the audience that were urging a more radical line by the AFL-CIO. Participants saw a positive role for the government in that they were pushing for better immigration and labor policies. At one point in the session, Eddie said that there was a state legislator who had left the room that was an ally in terms of supporting workers and immigrants’ rights. The discussion was mainly focused on local and national politics.

There was no discussion of the Social Forum process.

Participants seemed to be from various cities in the nation, though a bit more discussion of the South and midWest than other regions in the US, both in terms of anti-immigrant sentiment actions/sentiments as well as model initiatives and organizing models.   

Various participants in the discussion mainly seemed interested in learning from the experiences of the panelists and their advice for their local work with immigrant workers and workers’ centers, or were interested in getting involved in the AFL-CIO network. Others were interested in discussing national politics around immigration and how to improve immigration legislation and get the labor movement to help in this. There was also encouragement for people to continue to work on behalf of immigrant workers expressed and an effort to instill hope in people demoralized by the challenges by mentioning local victories. When the session ended, various participants came up to the panelists, especially Eddie and there was exchanging of cards, etc.

Session #2: Organizing in the Shadow of Slavery: Domestic Workers, Farm Workers and Low-Wage Workers in the South

Submitted by Ai-jen Poo on April 8, 2007 - 3:28pm.

This session will be on: June 30, 2007 - 10:30am

It will be held at: International C room at the Westin Hotel

Organization Description

This workshop is being coordinated by participants in the National Gathering of Domestic/Household Workers taking place at the forum. We represent 12 domestic workers organizations across the country, concentrated in New York, Washington DC, LA, and San Francisco Bay Area. We are all membership organizations of domestic workers - including housekeepers, nannies and elderly caregivers who are predominantly immigrant women of color low-wage workers organizing for power, respect, and fair working conditions.

 

Proposal Demographics

identify as women

identify as people of color

are immigrants (not born in U.S.)

Session Description

Organizing in the Shadow of Slavery: Domestic Workers, Farm Workers and Low-wage Workers in the South

The session will include a brief history of how the legacy of slavery has shaped the development of the economy in the US, and the persistant racism and sexism that has led to the ongoing exclusion of key workforces of color from recongition and basic workers rights. The exclusion of farm workers and domestic workers from the National Labor Relations Act, and the exclusion of civil sector workers in the South from the right to organize are two examples of this reality. This combined with neoliberal globalization has led to the deterioration of working conditions and the right to organize for all low-wage workers, mass displacement and migration, poverty, and exploitation of migrant farm and domestic workers from the global South in the US. Despite this, farm workers, domestic workers and low-wage workers in the South have been organizing for better conditions and continue to innovate new strategies to hold employers and the state accountable.

The session will put organizations organizing on these fronts in dialogue with each other and with labor historians and political economic theorists in order to deepen the analysis of the roots of oppression facing these workforces, identify the common histories and current struggles and strengthen the organizing through making connections. Organizations will present on their work and their organizing methods and engage one another on key questions related to building a coordinated low-wage workers movement in the US that can undo this racist, sexist legacy, and win justice and respect for all workers.


First Name

Ai-jen

Last Name

Poo

Contact E-mail

domesticworkersunited@gmail.com

Proposing Organization

Domestic Workers United

Organization Website

www.domesticworkersunited.org

Position or Title

Organizer

Contact Telephone

718-220-7391x11

Event Day

Saturday, June 30th (Strategizing the Achieving of Another World)

Contact Address

2473 Valentine Avenue

Format

Panel, slide show, video and testimonials

Contact City

Bronx

Keywords

Cross sector movement work

Informal sector

Migration, Migrant Workers

Audience Number

100-250 people

Contact State

NY

Contact ZIP

10458

Person Reviewing

walda

 

Labor Session #2: Organizing in the Shadow of Slavery

Saturday @ 10:30am

Organized by Domestic Workers’ United

 

Ellen’s notes

 

The audience had about 110 people and perhaps even more than this (some were sitting on the floor and hard to count). Participants were mostly women and very racially and ethnically, mixed. It was mainly blacks and Latinos, but a fair number of men, Philipinos, Asian-Americans, and whites were also in the audience. There was a literature table with literature and t-shirts from 2 organizations for sale along the side. Various people picked up literature, bought shirts, etc. at the beginning and end of the session. Translation equipment was used throughout for Spanish-to-English translation. Since some panelists spoke English and others’ Spanish and there wasn’t enough equipment for everyone, we had to take turns using the equipment. The room was large and overflowing with people, with not enough chairs.

 

Moderator: The session began with a session panelist announcing the creation of a new national alliance of domestic worker organizations.

 

A group of 4 DWU members sing a song, with audience participation and loud clapping with the music. A lot of cheering and clapping when they finish. Then everyone chanted, “We will fight, fight, fight…” It felt like a pep rally.

 

Moderator: The focus of this workshop is black workers/farm workers/domestic workers/immigrant workers. We have exploitation and globalization. Globalization is splitting our nations’ apart and hurting our homelands.

 

The national network includes about 12-14 organizations. The moderator calls out the names of these organizations and affiliated organization that are participating in this session, with a lot of cheering and representatives of each group standing up so we can see them: Domestic Workers United, Migrant Workers’ Association, Women Workers Project, South Asian Women, Committeee for Haitian Refugees, Philipino Workers’ Center, San Francisco Day Labor Women’s Collective, CHIRLA, Coalition for Immoklee Workers, Mississippi Workers’ Association, Garment Workers’ Center…

 

June Johnson (a black woman, probably with the AFL-CIO): US slavery was brutal and dehumanizing. There are apologies for slavery, but it was stolen labor just like your labor is stolen today. We sustained ourselves with traditional medicines. We used tabacco to heal our wounds. Those rich stand on that stolen labor and its dehumanizing slavery. If you think you are nothing, your creativity is also stolen. We lost our sense of ourselves. We are pitted together against our brothers and sisters from Haiti and Vietnam and against Latinos. Our spirit helps us to survive. No matter what happens to us, we are fighting. Our fighting is from love for each other and for human beings. We have mis-education. Everything is based on exploiting people of color, indentured servitude, and exploitation.

 

Gloria (westcoast domestic worker, from POWER in San Francisco, a Latina): The question is where does the US’ richness come from? Its wealth is based on slavery and its not over. This country enslaves humanity and its got a new name, but it’s the same. Other people are brought here and not considered human beings and it continues.  These descendents continue to suffer the ills. Many of us don’t understand. The system says they are poor because they don’t work, but they are exploited. When the first colonizers came, they look for other people to do the work that they don’t want to do themselves. The colonizers enslave Chicanas. First men and women do domestic work, but now its mostly women and are paid a very paltry sum. The conditions are terrible and its an enslavement of every kind. It takes your energy away but we’re so strong, we go back anyway. We are going to work for ourselves. Men think they are superior and keep us in their homes to serve others and all positions controlling the economy are kept away from women. We are strong and we need to continue to education ourselves. We’re the ones taking care of children and we need to get out of our heads that men are superior.

 

Black Workers for Justice (black man from Raleigh, NC): Slavery and the oppression of slaves was based on racism and sexism. I am honored to be in front of so many women leaders. I am part of a state association of workers and women are still paid less than men. This still exists in the south. In the 1970s and 1980s, things changed. How there are more Latinos. Where I grew up, there is Boundary Street and Line Street. These are the actual names of the streets. These are demarcation lines for apartheid. There is an absolute denial of power from working class people and black people. Most politicians are white. I live in a right to work state (North Carolina). There are about 22 such states with laws that deny the right to collective bargaining. This is an important challenge for workers. In his participation in past WSFs, he heard that in South Africa all workers are given the right to collective bargaining and that this is a national law. We need a national law like that. UN charters and free trade agreements give basic right to collective bargaining. How do we unite and fight for the rights of all workers, especially women workers? This is something we need to consider.

 

Coalition for Immoklee Workers (Philipino woman): Our master is the global capitalist system led by the US. Economic/social conditions have been created by global capitalism that colonizes the Philippines for raw material, cheap labor, and markets for their products. This exploitative relationship and structural adjustment programs and neoliberal policies have devastated our countries; food has to even be imported. This creates forced migration of the unemployed/underemployed. Women have an unemployment rate of 11.5%, compared to 11.3% unemployment rate for men. But out of the 340,000 that migrate for work, 70% are women and 90% of them go into the services, mostly domestic workers. There are 200 million migrants. If we displace work, its like water and it goes elsewhere. So many jobs are outsourced (manufacturing and technical jobs). The labor that used to be done by black women (domestic work) is now being done by immigrant women. They’ve institutionalized our slavery by immigration laws that deny our basic labor rights as residents of the country.

 

Domestic workers, like farm workers, are excluded from the National Labor Relations Act. We can be terminated if we organize. There is an innate contradiction between employers and workers and that’s why we need to organize. Technically, we’re under minimum wage law and overtime laws but there’s widespread violations of those laws. We don’t have social security or healthcare. We rely on medicines from the community and from our home countries to survive. These exclusions cannot be tolerated.

 

Black woman from the DWU: Domestic workers  and farmworkers enable those who run the corporations to do their work, but this work is not recognized. Toxic chemicals are used in the fields. Workers have to educate themselves because they aren’t covered by OSHA. We are our brothers’ keeper. Whether you are documented or not, you have human rights and human rights are workers’ rights. When you know that, they can’t mess with you. You tell them you will call immigration and they (the employers) will be sanctioned. We need to stand up for ourselves.

 

Veronica (Coalition for Immoklee Workers-a Latina woman I think): We are exploited as agricultural and domestic workers and we have to get up early to work hard for very little money. Right now, we are fighting for our rights. We organize strikes and marches and attack large corporations like Taco Bell. The agricultural conditions are bad. The existing laws are violated. We have found at least six cases of modern slavery with bosses in full control of their lives (washing clothes, calling home, etc.). They found out that this is illegal. Indentured slavery has also happened to black workers in Florida and North Carolina. They were taken to the fields and they were given drugs. The agricultural industry is very exploitative. What is the root of this problem? Modern slavery. The bosses isolate these workers so they won’t talk to other workers. They live in trailers in very poor conditions and its so bad that you don’t even want to eat there in the trailers. The agricultural workers and the domestic workers’ work is not recognized but now we are fighting!

 

Chanting:(Very energetic and loud)

Si se puede! (repeats).

We will fight back this slavery attack! (repeats)

 

Grace Chang (an academic): She discusses visas and how dehumanization is institutionalized through these visas. In terms of the squalid working conditions, employers want to treat the workers like they are not people. It is largely immigrant and women of color and so employers think they can get away with it, but they are dead wrong (because the workers are fighting back). This labor trafficking in agricultural and domestic work is common but overlooked or taken for granted. Trafficking is associated instead with sex workers. People are ignorant and don’t realize it also happens in the agricultural and domestic labor industries. This trafficking is institutionalized and encouraged by bad immigration policies. Trafficking is defined in US federal laws as involving the recruitment or obtaining of person to work through force; including servitude and slavery. The US is the biggest trafficker and we need to hold the government accountable for this and to recognize the similarities between sex, agricultural, and domestic workers.

 

Audience member (Latina woman): Domestic workers also use toxic chemicals like agricultural workers do. We also need to recognize that construction workers are exploited.

 

Audience member (Latina woman): We work with domestic workers and day laborers. We experience exploitation because of sexism and racism and as immigrants. People’s labor rights are abused and their human rights as immigrants are abused. The immigration laws function very well to maintain a pool of undocumented workers and that’s their intention and then when the government proposes an immigration law, it’s a guest worker program. And the immigration proposal would have required $20,000 for a family of four to legalize and you must prove that you have had a constant employer and this disqualifies domestic workers and day laborers. This is unrealistic.

 

Panelist, Back Workers for Justice (black man): we need to make a link to patriarchy. Most housekeepers are women and we need to link sexual harassment, workers’ lack of pay, etc. to patriarchy. Immigrant rights is another important part of their exploitation. We ned to fully support the May 1st marches and unions didn’t do this. We have an international petition for rights to collective bargaining and for a bill for workers’ rights. This is a struggle for democracy, for basic rights.

 

Panelist (black woman; probably June Johnson): We need to go back to our bases and what they need and are cooking up for change. Not all of our organizations were created at the same time and we need to learn from our grandparent organizations. We have to show how intelligent we women are… These organizations have a lot to give and a lot to learn. We need to break down the sexism, racism, etc. that keeps us exploited. We are all equal and we need to break down the system of slavery. We’ve just planted a seed, we’ve just begun…  (Giving advice to the newer organizations): Be clear about your differences and resolve them. Acknowledge your victories.

 

A panelist announces that over 12 domestic worker organizations joined together and formed a national network, the National Domestic Worker Alliance is made and there is a lot of cheering and chanting.

 

A panelist: We need to turn things around and use our exclusions (e.g., from the NLRA, due to racism, etc.) as our strength.

 

We end the session with another round of chanting, denouncing slavery, exploitation, racism, sexism, etc. and upholding workers’ rights. The moderator also announced that the next session would be closed to the public and would be just for members of the organizations that were part of the new national network of domestic workers so that they could focus on the work of that network. There was a lot of informal networking at the end of the session, folks buying shirts, gathering literature, etc. Old friends saying hello, giving hugs to each other, etc.

Ellen’s responses to the guideline questions:

The formation of the network along with pushing for the labor rights of domestic and agricultural workers and a national right to collective bargaining were the main concrete proposals discussed. There was no discussion of the Social Forum process, except the BWJ comment about learning from international participants in a prior WSF. The panelists had a radical, intersectional perspective on the exploitation of these workers, emphasizing the intersection of class/race/gender/imperialism, etc. The panelists and participants seemed to represent different areas of the nation (but mainly the South/Northeast/West). This workshop seemed to be a pep rally and a consciousness raising session for members of the organizations involved as well as to educate non-members about their issues and organizing.  It seemed to emphasize solidarity among the different workers, emphasizing the similarities in their situation and the need to work together. I talked with a friend in the Philipino Workers’ Center who was there. She was involved in a series of closed meetings, beginning the day before the USSF to discuss the formation of this new network and how it would operate and each organizations’ participation in it as well as what the network stood for and agreed on, etc.

Session #3: Transnational Unity in the Struggle for Migrant Workers Rights

Submitted by sreyes on May 10, 2007 - 8:25pm.

This session will be on: June 30, 2007 - 1:00pm

It will be held at: Mezzanine Center room at the Atlanta Civic Center

Organization Description

We came together to fill in the void produced when no rally was called on May Day 2006 in the City of Boston. In the recent past every May Day was marked by a rally and in particular related to the struggle of undocumented immigrant workers. The links between International Workers Day and the struggle of undocumented immigrant workers coming from all over the world cannot be more clear. We emphasize the historical aspects of these struggles from the Haymarket Square Affair in 1886 to the massive demonstrations of immigrant workers today in the U.S. From the struggle for the 8-hours work-day and the struggle for full rights for all immigrants today.

Session Description

This activity seeks to demonstrate the need to join forces in the world to confront the injustices of a condition created by contemporary capitalism: large masses of migrant workers desperately seeking work to survive. In that process they are abused, victimized, exploited and discriminated.

The U.S. has large masses of exploited undocumented workers, nearly 12 millions in all. Yet, the "immigrant rights" movement in the U.S. has not joined in with the rest of the world but it must. We must move forward the agenda agreed upon at the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya by the Migrant Workers Rights Assembly.

We must make ours the following principles agreed upon by the WSF-MWRA:

"Therefore, it is necessary to keep making the links between migration related questions and the larger struggle against neo-liberal policies that jeopardize everyone’s liberty.

Together, we reaffirm our rejection of the idea that migration and migrants are a problem to be eradicated and that migrants are a source of insecurity, terrorism, or illegal trafficking.

We refuse both to criminalize migrants and to accept the idea that migratory movements are somehow dangerous to people in the receiving countries. Laws concerning migration should be based on human rights rather than on security and repressive considerations.

We call for a change of perspective in the debate on migration. We reaffirm that migrants participate in the transformation of societies and we reassert their positive and vital role. Migrants embody the international solidarity values we all defend. Migrants' rights are human rights."


First Name

Sergio

Last Name

Reyes

Contact E-mail

sreyes1@yahoo.com

Proposing Organization

Boston May Day Coalition

Organization Website

www.bostonmayday.org

Position or Title

Coalition Organizer

Contact Telephone

6172905614

Alternate Telephone

6174410277

Event Day

Saturday, June 30th (Strategizing the Achieving of Another World)

Contact Address

33 Harrison Avenue 5th Fl.

Format

Brief presentation, discussion and strategy building

Contact City

Boston

Keywords

Human Rights

Immigrant Rights

Labor

Migration, Migrant Workers

Workers

Audience Number

25-50 people

Contact State

MA

Contact ZIP

02111

Person Reviewing

jerome

 

Labor Session #3: Transnational United for Migrant Workers’ Rights

Organized by the Boston May Day Coalition

Saturday 1pm

 

I missed most of this session and came in at the end of it, but I got the literature of the organizers after it was over and talked briefly with the organizers.

 

The session appeared to be run  by 2 people, an immigrant man (he appeared to be South Asian or Middle Eastern). He said that he wasn’t in a union. The other organizer was a SEIU Local 521 member and was a black woman. Their literature included a petition for the US government to ratify the UN convention on migrant workers’ rights and they wanted people to copy them and circulate them and send them back to them. When I arrived, there were about 18 participants and they were seated in a circle and they were having a discussion. It was a fairly mixed group, including 2 Asians, Latinas, whites, and blacks.

 

When I arrived, a white Eastern European (?) woman was speaking about ways to make the struggle for migrant workers’ rights more transnational and then she left to go somewhere else.

 

Progressive Labor Party (white man):  These aren’t our borders. Armies defend the country to benefit the government. Borders divide working people. We organized a May Day march (in Chicago?) and had a good turn out based on a communist line. Then he spoke about the importance of having an international armed working class.

 

Boston May Day Coalition/session organizer: How do we move onto action? There are minimal protections. We need to get stronger. Our petitions say that we are not afraid and we are using a mechanism that’s already been created by the UN and its protection of human rights. We need to fight to get the government to support UN conventions protecting migrant workers’ rights.

 

Man from New York, sitting next to the Progressive Labor Party guy: As the economic situation worsens and war continues, we need to build an underground railroad for immigrants. We need to attack the system rather than take an assimilationist approach.

 

SEIU Local 521/session organizer: We are international (her union). No one is really safe in the global economy. I am supportive of non-violent negotiations. I’m in the home health care industry and we make gains by acting collectively and supporting other workers’ struggles in others’ countries. I’m encouraged by these Social Forums.

 

IBEW Local 613 (an immigrant man from Japan): I support other workers but I feel different because their working conditions are different than my own. I’m not undocumented. I need to work to help myself, but I relate to the slogan on the banner. [“It says “transnational unity for migrant workers rights; no worker is illegal”].

 

Boston May Day Coalition/session organizer: The Latin American unions haven’t caught up (not sure what he meant). An example is given of the IWW strike on May Day in Los Angeles as an important historical precedent. When you become aware, what can you do? No movement is perfect. It will be a long, drawn out struggle, so pick small goals to work for or you’ll get frustrated.

 

SEIU Local 521/session organizer: Get to know the people from another state/country. This is how we understand why people move. People move because of layoffs. Its not them vs. us. Its us. We’re too quick to learn stereotypes but not how to bust them. You need to see the human side of it.

 

After the session was over, the IBEW member asked if any one was from the Atlanta area. He wanted to get their cards or contact information to stay in touch with them so that they could work on these issues together. He swapped contact information with two or three other people.

 

Ellen’s responses to the Guideline questions:

 

The concrete action was circulating the petition to the US government to ratify the UN conventions towards migrant workers’ rights. Thus, they saw a positive role for the government, even though they were critical of the US government. There was some conflict between reformists and radicals and on the use of violence, with the more radical members also portraying the US government as becoming more and more of a police state and instrument of the ruling class.

 

The organizers linked this session to the WSF process. They had a banner up that they had used during the 2007 WSF meeting and the idea of their petition grew out of their participation there and the Migrant Workers’ Assembly (see workshop description above). There was no discussion about future local/national social forums, but rather on taking ideas from this workshop back to your local community and organizing for immigrant/migrant workers’ rights locally. At the end, the local participants from Atlanta used it as a way to get to know each other for future collaboration around the issue.