The Immigrant Rights

1
The Immigrant Rights Movement

• Students
• Kevin Clardy, Jason Damian, Andres Guzman, Laura
  Harris, Jean Lefor, Nicole Narong, Alex Nielsen,
  Pam Oliver, Kristopher Perry, Amy Taber, Daniel
  Tratz, Sean Walter, and Jovan Woodfox
• Mentor
• Johanna Brenner

2
Introduction

• Challenges and What Causes Them
• Poor working conditions
• Lack of living wages
• Government harassment / Fear
• Action and Change
• Campaigns and coalitions
• Different kinds of organizations and advocacy
  groups
• Avenues for achieving social change
• Education and empowerment for workers
• Educating the public/raising awareness

3
Unions

• Alex Nielsen
• Pamela Oliver
• Daniel Tratz

4
History of the Meatpacking Industry

• Industry closes urban unionized plants
• Relocation to South largely non-unionized and
  rural
• Jobs considered last resort
• Wages steadily declined

5
Practices at Smithfield Meatpacking Plant

• Poor working conditions
• Low wages
• Lack of benefits
• Chronic injuries
• Employees are fired
• Segregated workplace
• Racial divide between Black and Latino workers

6
Video Smithfield

• NOW A Day at the Plant
• PBS special Dec 16, 2006
• NOW's Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa takes
  us inside the world's largest pork processing
  plant, located in Tar Heel, North Carolina. As
  the first TV journalist ever allowed to film
  inside
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vPdyCFsS9rwM

7
Smithfield Tactics

• Raids of the plant by ICE agents
• Firings union organizers and sympathizers
• Economic dependence of community on the
  Smithfield plant
• Filing legal suits against workers

8
Union Tactics

• Organizing
• Walkouts
• Marches
• Rallies
• Local stores to boycott
• Worker Centers

9
Union Success

• After 15 years, Smithfield unionized
• Court ruling of Smithfield
• Committed egregious and pervasive labor law
  violations
• Workers fired unjustly
• Reinstated workers and given back pay
• Workers felt better about speaking up and
  supporting a union

10
Resources

• Bacon, David The Story of the Smithfield Raid
• Fears, Darryl Union Tries to Unite Blacks,
  Latinos
• Greenhouse, Steven After 15 Years, North
  Carolina Plant Unionizes
• Kutalik, Chris Immigrant Workers Buck Long
  Slide in Meatpacking Raids Follow as Backlash
• Sack, Kevin Judge Finds Labor Law Broken at
  Meat-Packing Plant
• Slaughter, Jane Blood, Cold, Heat,
  GoreOrganizing Meatpacking Hell, Is Fighting
  for Justice at Smithfield Racketeering?

11
Worker Centers

• This category can be broken into
• Domestic Workers
• Day Laborers

12
Introduction to Worker Centers

• Worker centers are organizations that provide
  information and training in
• Workers rights
• Legal services
• The English language
• Typically for people whom it would be difficult
  to organize
• Worker centers are located in specific geographic
  areas
• They are community-based unlike unions
• Worker centers are also connected with workers in
  other countries to maintain solidarity

13
Domestic Workers

• Laura Harris
• Nicole Narong
• Amy Taber
• Sean Walter

14
Why Are They Organizing?

• Social recognition
• Improved pay
• Respect from employers
• Equality
• Job terms
• Benefits similar to those found in other lines of
  work
• To get domestic labor viewed as real work with
  the same legal requirements and protection as
  other forms of paid labor

15
How Are They Organizing?

• The U.S. Social Forum was held June 27- July 1,
  2007 

• June 30, 2007 The U.S. Social Forum, the
  National Domestic Workers Alliance was formed.
• This is an alliance of 13 groups. The two major
  groups are
• DWU New York
• CHIRLA L.A.
• Most of these organizations fight for the same
  cause, and all have a main goal in common. They
  also help the same demographic of people.

16
What Types of Services Do They Provide?

• The Nanny training program
• English as a second language
• Basic computer literacy
• Leadership training program
• Advanced leadership training program

• DWU also provides resources for workers and
  potential employers so that there is a clear
  understanding of what is truly fair and equal

17
What Gains Have They Made?

• Raising awareness
• Novellas called You know What?
• Super Doméstica
• Getting their message in the media

18
What Gains Have They Made, Cont.

• Legal work
• Back pay in missing wages amongst immigrant
  workers
• The case of Yuni Muliyono
• Working towards a New York State Domestic Workers
  Bill of Rights

19
Conclusion

• Why they have been successful in areas with large
  immigrant populations
• Similar problems and goals
• Uniting of individuals creates a stronger group
• Groups can push for changes within their state
• Groups can unite and work toward national,
  federal, and possibly even global changes

20
Resources

• CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities Committee
  Against Anti-Asian Violence
• www.caaav.org
• Domestic Workers United
• www.domesticworkersunited.org
• Cleaning up a Dirty Business Domestica
  Immigrant Workers Cleaning and Caring in the
  Shadows of Affluence By Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo

21
Day Laborers

• Kristopher Perry
• Jean Lefor
• Jason Damian

22
Day Laborers

• Who are they?
• Low Socio-Economic Class
• Often undocumented Latino workers
• In Portland
• 200-300 workers line the streets of 6th Ave /
  East Burnside Street and MLK / I-84 daily.

23
Day Labor

• What does day labor consist of?
• Difficult and dangerous work, includes
• fixing roofs, digging foundations, dry-walling,
  debris moving, construction, painting, etc.
• How do Day Laborers get paid?
• Laborers negotiate terms with employers on the
  spot and have little/no say in the conditions or
  pay.

24
Problems Day Laborers Pose

• Devalue general area
• Garbage / trash and public urination
• Increase level of visible impoverishment / poor
  public image
• Increase local crime rates
• Prostitution and drug trafficking

25
Obstacles Day Laborers Face

• Day Laborers get scammed
• Receive no or substandard pay for their work
• Vulnerable to Irregular and Strenuous Work
• As consequence of their low class day laborers
  face unsafe working conditions and illegitimate
  employers.
• Immigrant Day Laborers Face Strong Opposition
• ICE, FAIR other vigilante groups.

26
Solutions

• Hiring Centers
• Designated areas for employers and day laborers
  to connect
• Provide public facilities and management /
  oversight
• 200K recently approved from city council in 2008
  to establish hiring center
• VOZ Workers Rights Education Project
• Developed to help curb increasing incidence of
  discrimination and repression

27
Problems Hiring Centers Face

• Opposition from Immigration Reform Groups
• Hiring centers often do not perform background
  checks on laborers
• Day laborers are predominantly undocumented
  workers.
• Lack Funding (city and private investors)
• City council members are reluctant to provide
  support because of association with illegal
  immigrants is implied.

28
Students as Allies

• Andres Guzman
• Kevin Clardy
• Jovan R. Woodfox

29
United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS)

• Main Goals
• Relationship building to achieve global justice
  for working people.
• Building of a grassroots student movement that
  challenges corporate power and that fights for
  economic justice.
• Actions based on democratic principles to strive
  to empower one another as individuals and as a
  collective through trust, patience, and an open
  spirit.

30
United Students Against Sweatshops, Cont.

• Actions
• Creation and advocacy for minimum standards
  through Codes of Conduct (CoCs).
• Workers Rights Consortium partnership
• Sweat-Free Campus Campaign
• Campus Worker Solidarity Sweat-Free Collegiate
  Apparel

31
Student Farmworker Alliance (SFA) and Coalition
of Immokalee Workers (CIW)

• Main Goals
• Eliminating sweatshop conditions and modern-day
  slavery in the fields
• To work in conjunction with larger movements
  dedicate towards economic and social justice.
• Awareness-raising through education

32
Student Farmworker Alliance (SFA) and Coalition
of Immokalee Workers (CIW), Cont.

• Actions
• Similar to the USAS, the SFA advocates for CoCs
• McDonalds, Burger King, and Taco Bell campaigns
• Petitions and delivery thereof

33
CIW Worker Video Testimony

• Testimony

34
Resources

• Student Farmworker Alliance
• http//www.sfalliance.org
• Coalition of Immokalee Workers
• http//www.ciw-online.org
• United Students Against Workshops
• http//www.studentsagainstsweatshops.org