Urgent Support Needed to Help Get 4 Immigrant Rights Activists to Kent State Fightback Conference!
[please excuse duplicate postings]
Dear Labor and Immigrant Rights' Activists,
We are writing this letter to urge all supporters of labor and immigrant rights to make a financial contribution, large or small, to the travel fund aimed at helping to get four members of the Alliance for a Just Immigration Policy in California -- Ariana Juarez, Rodrigo Ibarra, Sandra Huerta and Melina Juarez -- to the Kent State Labor-Community Conference Against the Corporate Agenda. All four activists (three students and one unemployed worker) will be traveling to Ohio from the Bay Area and Central Valley of California.
The Alliance for a Just Immigration Policy met in Davis, California, on June 11 and mandated these four activists to represent the coalition in Kent State. Rodrigo will coordinate a workshop on the immigrant rights' movement and will also be a keynote speaker at the conference's Saturday night rally. Sandra will be a speaker at the workshop on immigrant rights, and Melina will be a speaker at the workshop on the defense of public education and the fight against the budget cuts.
To date we have been able to raise $1,050 toward the $2,030 needed to pay for the travel, lodging and registration costs of these immigrant rights activists. We need your help to make up the difference.
Please fill out the coupon below to let us know that your contribution is in the mail.
We also would like to inform you that soon after the June 11 meeting in Davis, Alan Benjamin and Rodrigo Ibarra, on behalf of the Alliance for a Just Immigration Policy, proposed to the organizing committee of the Kent State fightback conference that a paragraph on immigrant rights be added to the Action Proposal that is being submitted by the organizers to the Kent State conference. We are proud to announce that after consultation, the Kent State organizing committee agreed to include our proposal as Point No. 12 of their document.
This is point No. 12:
"12. We call on the Labor Movement to Mobilize Against the growing wave of criminalization of Immigrant Workers and for a Reform of our immigration Laws based on the position ADOPTED by the AFL-CIO convention 1999 - and reaffirmed by the August 2010 national convention of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (AFL-CIO) - That Demands Immediate legalization for all undocumented Workers, protection of the right to organize for all Workers, the repeal of employer Sanctions (E-Verify) to guest-worker Opposition Programs and AgJobs, and the Strengthening of family reunification. "
To read the entire Action Proposal and to learn more about the Kent State conference, please go to www.laborfightback.org. You will also find below the document that Rodrigo Ibarra and Alan Benjamin presented to the Kent State organizers motivating support for this added paragraph.
As you can readily understand, the participation of Rodrigo, Melina, Sandra and Ariana will be very important at the Kent State conference -- which is why we would like to thank you in advance for helping us to get them there and ensure that all their costs are covered.
A big abrazo to all,
In solidarity,
Alejandra Juarez, Rodrigo Ibarra and Alan Benjamin
Co-Editors
El Organizador
P.S. You will also find below-- following the Travel Fund Pledge Coupon and the Dossier on Immigrant Rights -- the Program and Agenda of the Kent State Conference.
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KENT STATE TRAVEL FUND PLEDGE COUPON
[ ] I will be sending a contribution of $ ______ to help defray the travel, registration and lodging costs of four Bay Area immigrant rights' activists -- Rodrigo Ibarra, Melina Juarez, Sandra Huerta and Ariana Juarez -- to the Kent State Conference. I will send my check, payable to The Organizer, to The Organizer, P.O. Box 40009, San Francisco, CA 94140.
NAME
CITY
STATE
EMAIL
(please fill out coupon and return to <
[email protected]>)
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LETTER FROM ALAN BENJAMIN AND RODRIGO IBARRA TO ELN COORDINATING COMMITTEE
Dear ELN Coordinating Committee members:
We would like to propose an important one-paragraph addition to the Action Proposal that you are submitting to the Kent State conference. We are submitting this proposal in our own name and on behalf of the Alliance for a Just Immigration Policy -- which is sending four representatives from the Central Valley and SF Bay Area of California to the Kent State conference.
The paragraph is based on (1) a resolution adopted by the San Francisco Labor Council in July 2010, and (2) a resolution adopted by the national convention of LCLAA (the Latino constituency group of the AFL-CIO) in August 2010. [See resolutions below.]
"We call on the labor movement to mobilize against the growing wave of criminalization of immigrant workers and for a reform of our immigration laws based on the position adopted by the 1999 AFL-CIO convention -- and reaffirmed by the August 2010 national convention of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (AFL-CIO) -- that demands immediate legalization for all undocumented workers, protection of the right to organize for all workers, the repeal of employer sanctions (E-Verify), opposition to guest-worker programs and AgJobs, and the strengthening of family reunification."
The most logical place to add this paragraph is after Point No. 11, making this a new Point No. 12 and making the Action Proposal a 15-Point Action Proposal.
Just a few words to motivate this last-minute addition, which is the product of a meeting in Davis, California, organized by the Alliance to build support for the Kent State conference:
- As you know, the wave of criminalization of immigrant workers is growing rapidly, fueled by the Tea Party but also embracing major sectors of the Democrats. Alabama, and now Georgia, are the latest to adopt (or are close to adopt) anti-immigrant laws that are even more stringent than SB 1070 in Arizona.
- Under pressure from these extreme right-wing forces, in fact, the new version of the Single Payer legislation submitted to this Session of the U.S. Congress by Representative McDermott of Washington State (H.R. 1200) and its companion piece in the Senate, submitted by Senator Bernie Sanders (S.915) no longer would provide healthcare coverage for the millions of undocumented immigrants who live, work, pay taxes, etc. in this country. The previous version of the bill -- H.R. 676 in the House, also known as the Conyers bill -- called for single-payer healthcare coverage for all "residents" in the United States, regardless of nationality or national origin. The new bill would cover only "citizens." While both versions of the bill -- the Conyers bill and the McDermott bill -- have been submitted to the Congress, it is obvious to all that the weakest version is the one that will be pushed the most by the Members of Congress, by the labor movement and by all other organizations beholden to the Democratic Party. (This back-tracking is something we also will have to take note of in our Conference proceedings and conclusions.)
- The issue of comprehensive immigration reform is going to be an issue in the upcoming election campaign, as Latino voters and activists are insisting that Obama, who is courting their vote very aggressively, should deliver at least something on his promises.
- For the first time ever, the AFL-CIO formed a Task Force this year to help build and promote the May 1 actions for labor and immigrant rights all across the country. Trumka spoke at one of the biggest such rallies in Madison, Wisconsin. Trumka strongly opposed the laws criminalizing immigrant workers, called for equality and fair treatment of all workers, and chastized the scapegoating of immigrant workers as an effort by the corporate elite to attempt to "divide and conquer."
- Having said all this, however, the AFL-CIO leadership has backtracked from the excellent resolution adopted at the 1999 Biannual Convention of the AFL-CIO in Los Angeles, which called for full amnesty/legalization of all undocumented immigrants, an end to guest-worker programs and employer sanctions, and more. This occurred, without a vote of any AFL-CIO leadership body, much less a convention, when Trumka issued a joint statement on immigrant rights together with SEIU's Andy Stern in late 2005.
- In light of this backtracking, the militant wing of the Latino labor movement fought hard and passed a resolution at the national convention of LCLAA in Las Vegas in August 2010 that reaffirmed the 1999 AFL-CIO resolution and went even further by urging the repeal of NAFTA and CAFTA. The resolution was submitted by the fighting LCLAA chapter in Sacramento, California.
Hence, given all these reasons, we think it is not only appropriate but very necessary that we add this language to our Action Proposal to the Labor Movement.
In solidarity
Alan Benjamin and Rodrigo Ibarra
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RESOLUTION TO SUPPORT AN IMMIGRATION POLICY BASED ON LABOR AND HUMAN RIGHTS
San Francisco Labor Council
(Adopted Unanimously)
WHEREAS: Thousands of U.S. union members have been fired as a result of the enforcement of employer sanctions against workers in the workplace, including 1200 janitors in Minneapolis, 300 janitors in Seattle, 475 janitors in San Francisco, as well as workers who have stood up to lead organizing drives into our unions, including 2000 sewing machine operators at American Apparel in Los Angeles, and
WHEREAS: Immigration reform bills in Washington, including the Schumer-Graham proposal, the REPAIR proposal by Senator Schumer and several other senators, and the CIR-ASAP proposal by Congressman Luis Gutierrez, all strengthen employer sanctions, which will cause more of our members to be fired through programs like E-Verify, the national ID card and employment verification, and will make it more difficult for unions to organize non-union workplaces by making immigrant workers even more vulnerable to firings, deportations and the denial of their rights through workplace enforcement, and
WHEREAS: AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has said that that "we need to make sure every worker in America - documented or undocumented - is protected by our labor laws." and that we need immigration reform that "allows immigrants to be securely part of our country from day one-able to assert their legal rights, including the right to organize, without fear of retaliation," and
WHEREAS: the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Central America Free Trade Agreement, and other similar agreements, and structural adjustment policies and other so-called economic reforms continue to boost corporate profits while creating massive poverty in countries like Mexico, El Salvador and others, and that as a result, millions of workers and farmers are displaced and have no alternative but to migrate in search of work, and therefore will continue to come to the United States to work, join our unions and participate in our organizing drives, and
WHEREAS: President Trumka has said that "the failures of our relationship with Mexico ... cannot be solved with guns and soldiers and fences. They must be addressed through an economic strategy for shared prosperity based on rising wages in both countries," and
WHEREAS: the Mexican government fired 44,000 electrical workers and has tried to smash their union, the Mexican Electrical Workers (SME), and brought thousands of heavily armed police into Cananea to try to smash the 3-year strike of the Mineros, in both cases to create better conditions for giant corporations by breaking unions, privatizing workplaces and throwing workers out of their jobs, and that as a result many of those workers will be forced to come to the United States in order to find work and help their families survive, and
WHEREAS: the largest corporations and employer groups in the United States, including WalMart, Marriott, Smithfield, the Associated Building Contractors and others have sought to expand guest worker programs, forcing people to come to the United States only through those schemes that treat them as low wage workers with no rights, in conditions described as "Close to Slavery" by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and
WHEREAS: our labor movement has called for basic reform of our immigration laws, and adopted a position at the AFL-CIO convention in Los Angeles in 1999 that demands the repeal of employer sanctions, immediate amnesty for all undocumented workers, protection of the right to organize for all workers, the strengthening of family reunification as the basis of immigration policy, and opposition to guest worker programs, and
WHEREAS: our labor movement believes that solidarity with workers fighting for their rights in Mexico and around the world is an important part of immigration reform,
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the San Francisco Labor Council reiterates its support for the immigration position adopted by the AFL-CIO Convention in 1999, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the San Francisco Labor Council rejects all the proposals in Congress that promote the firing of immigrant workers, open the doors to new guest worker programs, and do not contain a program for the quick and inclusive legalization of undocumented workers, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the San Francisco Labor Council supports only those proposals for immigration reform that would force the renegotiation of NAFTA, CAFTA and all other trade agreements, in order to stop the enforced poverty that displaces communities abroad and to protect jobs in the United States, and will oppose any new trade agreements that cause such displacement and do not protect jobs, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the San Francisco Labor Council, supports the proposal for an alternative immigration reform bill made by the Dignity Campaign, because it is based on protecting the labor and human rights for all people, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the San Francisco Labor Council supports the SME and the Mineros, and calls on union members and working people to defend their rights by picketing the Mexican consulate and taking other supportive actions, and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the San Francisco Labor Council forwards this resolution for adoption to the California Labor Federation, the AFL-CIO, and to other local unions and central labor bodies.
7/7/10 9:19 P.M.
submitted by
Alan Benjamin, OPEIU 3*
David Welsh, NALC, Branch 214*
Francesca Rosa, SEIU 1021*
Frank Martín del Campo, SF/LCLAA
Tom Edminster, UESF/AFT 61*
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Resolution: Bi-National Workers Solidarity Resolution
Submitted by the
Sacramento LCLAA Chapter
to the LCLAA 18th National Membership Convention
THE NATIONAL LCLAA CONVENTION
August 3, 2010, Las Vegas, Nevada
(Adopted)
WHEREAS: The U.S. Government and its Latin American and Caribbean puppets do nothing to seek solutions to the economic conditions in their countries, which continue to worsen and dismantle the society and spread violence, continuing to drive constant flow of millions of immigrants to the United States; and,
WHEREAS: Most immigrants come from countries where the international development model has failed and many are from countries where the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and free trade policies have weakened the economy and labor protections, causing a devastating impact on all workers. In all developing countries, IMF policies have caused public-sector workers to lose their jobs specifically in the electric, mining, and education sectors in Mexico, and their union protections forcing them into competition in the private sector where few if any jobs are available, driving down wages and working conditions even further. Trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) undermine the agricultural economies of developing countries, leading workers to leave the land migrating north. The pressure to immigrate "illegally" will continue to increase; and,
WHEREAS: Migration policies of Latin American and Caribbean governments take the migration of their own workers as a solution to the crisis they are facing, at the same time, workers are denied the option and or the right not to migrate, while the immigration policy of the United States government is to construct walls at its borders to thwart immigration and internally conducts raids and deportations of undocumented workers, through policies like 287 (g), E-Verify, Secure Communities, the Guest Worker Program H2A Visa, and more recently with the SB1070 law in Arizona; and,
WHEREAS: Immigrant workers are not criminals, they are part of the working- class of the United States and their work helps in the production of goods and wealth; and,
RESOLVED: The National Convention of LCLAA 2010 will encourage and promote, through all possible channels, a change in United States' policy toward the Western hemisphere by promoting policies based on the national sovereignty of States and the development of Latin American and Caribbean economies respecting State ownership of companies that exploit natural resources (gas, oil, and minerals), increase production and employment, agrarian reform policies that root farmers to their homeland; in short, helping to increase living standards for workers and the poor; and,
RESOLVED: The National Convention of LCLAA calls for the repeal of NAFTA & CAFTA as repressive measures against workers and undocumented communities in the United States, in addition, such programs as: 287(g), E-Verify, Secure Communities, and the SB1070 law in Arizona, etc; and,
RESOLVED: That National LCLAA opposes all Temporary Worker, Guest Worker Programs, and any indentured servitude slave system; and,
LET IT BE FINALLY RESOLVED: LCLAA will fight so that undocumented workers have legalization and full rights, like the rest of the American working class.
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Labor-Community Fightback Conference
Sponsored by the Emergency Labor Network (ELN)
Friday- Sunday
June 24-26, 2011
Kent State University
Kent, Ohio
Tentative Program and Agenda
5 p.m. Friday evening, June 24: Registration
Friday night, June 24
7 p.m. Call to Order and Opening Remarks - Rosemary Trump, President, SEIU Local 585 from 1973-2000.; President, Pennsylvania Labor History Society; Member, Conference Planning Committee
7:05 p.m. Welcoming Remarks - Mark Horton, Secretary-Treasurer, Ohio Association of Professional Fire Fighters, AFL-CIO; Kent State University graduate; Chic Canfora, Ph.D., Active Ohio Education Association (OEA) member and union leader throughout her 30 years of service as a public school teacher, Instructor of journalism at Kent State, Survivor of Kent State shootings in 1970, where her brother was wounded, President of the Kent May 4 Center
7:20 p.m. Address - Dr. Jack Rasmus, Economist, Santa Clara University and University of California, Berkeley; Member AFT Local 1474; former national vice president, National Writers Union, UAW 1981, and former vice president, CWA Local 9415; Subject: "The Economic Crisis - Why We Must Say NO to 'Shared Sacrifices' as the Way Out -- What Are the Alternatives?"
7:40 p.m. Questions and Answers
8:00 p.m. Reports from attendees on fightback activies in your communities
8:30 p.m. Overview of the Conference and the Agenda - Jerry Gordon, Secretary, Emergency Labor Network
Saturday, June 25, 2011
7:00 a.m. -- 8:15 a.m. Breakfast
8:30 a.m Call to Order and Opening Remarks - Dennis Serrette, former Education Director, Communications Workers of America (CWA); Member, Conference Planning Committee
8:35 a.m. Keynote Address - J. Eric Cobb, Executive Director, Building and Construction Trades Council of South Central Wisconsin
8:55 a.m. Questions and Answers
9:10 a.m. Keynote Address - Donna Dewitt, President, South Carolina AFL-CIO
9:30 a.m Questions and Answers
9:45 a.n. Break
10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Workshops I
Noon Lunch
1 p.m. - 2:30 p.n. Workshops II
2:45 p.m. - 5 p.m. Plenary Session - Reports of Workshops
6 p.m. -- Dinner
7 p.m. Public Meeting -- Co-Chairs Ashaki Binta, UE Field Representative; Mary-Nichols Rhodes, Executive Board, Single-Payer Action Ohio; Progressive Democrats of America, State Coordinator, Ohio
Speakers: Ken Riley, President, International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) Local 1422; International Vice President, ILA*; Sandy Eaton, RN, Legislative Chair, National Nurses United; Caneisha Mills, Member, AFSCME Local 2921, District Council 20*; Clarence Thomas, Executive Board, International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 10; Rodrigo Ibarra, Co-Convener, Alliance for a Just Immigration Policy; Margaret Flowers, M.D., Physicians for a National Health Program; Carol Gay, Chairperson, New Jersey U.S. Labor Against the War; President, New Jersey Industrial Union Council; Larry Holmes, Bail Out the People Movement; Adam Schesch, Historian: "True Story of What's Happening on the Ground in Afghanistan"; Alan Benjamin, Executive Committee, San Francisco Labor Council
* for ID only
Entertainment: Solidarity Singers
Sunday, June 26, 2011
7:00 a.m. -- 8:15 a.m. Breakfast
8:30 a.m. -- Call to Order - Jerry Gordon, Secretary, Emergency Labor Network
Adoption of Action Program
Updating Perspectives
Building and broadening the ELN Coordinating Committee
Brief statements on four documentaries
Singing Solidarity Forever
Noon -- Adjournment and Lunch