May Day: Political strikes, immigrant rights
Saturday, April 30th, 2011MAY DAY RALLIES CELEBRATE UNITY; LABOR UNIONS AND IMMIGRANTS PLAN TO MARCH SIDE BY SIDE
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/4/29/may_day_rallies_celebrate_unity_labor
Excellent program on Democracy Now!, April 29, 2011. Read (or listen to) the whole thing. Juan Gonzalez and Amy Goodman interview Clarence Thomas, member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10 in San Francisco–”The local has a history of shutting down the ports of Oakland and San Francisco in protest, most recently on April 4th in solidarity with workers in Wisconsin;” and Christine Neumann-Ortiz, director of Voces de la Frontera, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin–”On May 1, 2006, she was key organizer behind the 70,000-strong march in Milwaukee.”
HERE ARE A FEW HIGHLIGHTS:
Juan Gonzalez: “The immigrant rights movement has in essence resuscitated May Day and now is building closer ties with the organized labor movement. . . . immigrants have continually renewed the radicalism and the fighting capacity of the American labor movement.”
Clarence Thomas: “So many of our younger members in the trade union movement have very little knowledge about May Day. They associate it with countries overseas celebrating International Workers’ Day, [but] it started here in the United States with the fight to establish the eight-hour workday and to eliminate child labor exploitation. . . . we believe that solidarity is not an empty slogan. Solidarity means making a sacrifice. And on April 4th [anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.] our members did not go to work. We did not get paid. And for 24 hours, international commerce was shut down. And we believe that more unions need to do the same. . . . [Immigrants] are the most exploited sector of the trade union movement. And as such, the issues that they face have to do with the fundamental rights of workers. . . . The labor movement is very small, when you talk about the percentage of workers that are represented by a union. The overwhelming majority of workers don’t belong to a union, so that the labor movement has the responsibility for charting a course for all workers. That’s why it’s so important that this year that we’re going to have a united May Day action.”
Christine Neumann-Ortiz: “[The May Day mobilization] has always been supported by labor and has had a greater diversity each and every year. But this year, because of the attacks on public employees, like teachers, we know that, you know, there’s a level of support and mutual support. And that’s really what is historic about this march, is these movements coming together at a scale that hasn’t been seen before. . . . [Governor Walker's] budget is also an attack on immigrant rights and poor people. In terms of immigrant rights, one of the biggest threats that’s pending, you know, in the budget is the repeal of in-state tuition rights for immigrant youth that was won in 2009, as well as the institutionalization of discrimination against legal immigrants, low-income families that would be denied access to food stamps or healthcare because they’re non-U.S. citizens, as part of this broader attack on poor people’s access and privatization of the public sector, like public education and so forth. But one of the biggest things that’s motivating the Latino and immigrant community as part of this broader platform that we have is that there’s a pending Arizona copycat bill that’s being circulated in the state legislature . . . we’ve had a number of unions, maybe now close to 10, including the South Central Federation of Labor, that have passed resolutions rejecting this bill and also asking for—or building for May 1st.”
TxLAW note: Sunday, May 1, San Antonio holds its Gran Marcha por los Derechos del Migrante on May Day–El Dia del Trabajo. See http://txlaboragainstwar.org/2011/04/20/san-antonio-march-on-may-day/
And in Houston, also: http://txlaboragainstwar.org/2011/04/30/houston-may-day-march-for-immigrants-and-working-families/
