The event, to be followed by similar meetings April 29 in Atlanta, May 6 in Chicago, and June 10 in Los Angeles, was aimed at explaining the new AFL-CIO policy in favor of amnesty for the estimated 6 million undocumented workers in this country who would benefit from permanent resident status. The title of the conference was "Building Understanding, Creating Change: AFL-CIO Forum on Immigrant Worker Rights."

The meeting was attended by 250 people, mostly union officials and organizers, as well as staff and volunteers for advocacy groups for immigrant rights and immigration issues.

Workers who spoke of their struggles to build the unions addressed the deteriorating working conditions workers across United States face today, such as long hours, low pay, lack of health care, firings, and use of the Immigration and Naturalization Service cops to arrest and deport some of those involved in union struggles. The gathering attracted a group of Chinese workers organized by Local 23-25 of UNITE whose plant had shut down recently in Chinatown.

AFL-CIO executive vice president Linda Chavez-Thompson, chaired the event. She said reports on this and the next gatherings will be presented to the executive council of the AFL-CIO in August for consideration on the situation facing immigrants. In her opening remarks Chavez-Thompson spoke against the strict anti-immigrant laws supported for the last 14 years by the AFL-CIO, and their backing of sanctions for employers who hired undocumented workers. This stand by top union officials gave a hand to employers, who pointed to the risks of potential penalties to justify lower wages and poorer working conditions for undocumented workers. Chavez-Thompson called for "criminal penalties for employers who violate workers' rights."

Presiding over the forum with Chavez-Thompson were Clayola Brown, vice president of the Union of Needletrades, Textile and Industrial Employees (UNITE), Leon Lynch, vice president of the United Steelwokers of America; Dennis Rivera, president of Local 1199 of the Health and Human Service Employees/SEIU; Brian McLaughlin, president of the New York City Central Labor Council; and other top officials of the labor federation in New York.  
 

Workers speak out

Workers in asbestos removal companies, bakeries, laundries, nursing homes, janitorial operations, and other jobs were given the microphone to briefly described the organizing drives and union struggles they have been involved in.

Arben Gjoka, a janitor with Local 32B-32J of the Service Employees International Union, spoke in Albanian about the 70 hours a week he was forced to worked before he joined the union.

Siaka Diakite, from the Ivory Coast, explained that he worked 60 hours a week delivering loads of up to 100 pounds of groceries, earning $60 to $75 a week. He was involved in a drive to organize the workers into the United Food and Commercial Workers union. Most were fired when they went out on strike.

Zonia Villanueva, a house cleaner in Hempstead, New York, explained how co-workers established a cooperative to protect their jobs and fight against the fees domestic workers have to pay to the agencies through which they get hired.

Nadia Marín-Molina, director of the Workplace Project, from Long Island, said Mexican workers have been fighting to get a safe location where employers can pick them up for work every day without harassment by the police, and spoke about their fight for decent housing. Local legislation starting this month will penalize workers who are caught living in groups of more than five per household.

Marín-Molina demanded that the local police not be allowed to cooperate with the INS cops to deport workers. AFL-CIO officials present did not address the issue of deportations, nor was there criticism either of the central role played by the Clinton administration in expanding the ranks of the immigration police. Some called for the repeal of the welfare laws Clinton signed in 1996 that especially targeted immigrant workers.

A presentation at lunch time was made by a member of Local 32B-32J on their fight for a contract with Golden Mark, a building maintenance company in Brooklyn. Eighteen co-workers stood next to him in front of the room while he spoke.

"We have been out for six months," he explained, demanding higher wages and health benefits. The 150, mostly immigrant workers that clean 15 buildings in Brooklyn make around $6 an hour, below the $13 an hour average for the unionized workers in the industry. They also lack benefits.

His words spoke for the millions who daily assert their right to work and live in this country. "We came for a better life in this country, we work hard for Golden Mark," he said, "and our fight is to the end."  
 

Marches for dignity and amnesty

The shift in policy by the AFL-CIO has given more openings for workers and activists to organized protests in support of immigrant rights. This was evident at the meeting by the flyers and posters circulated by participants or placed near the front door of the forum hall.

Big stacks of posters in Spanish and English were available to help build the 1:00 p.m. demonstration on May 1 in Union Square in Manhattan called by the National Coalition for Dignity and Amnesty for Undocumented Immigrants. Helping to build the May 1 march among garment workers, the UNITE Garment Workers Justice Center in the garment district in midtown Manhattan issued its own flyer calling "for a general amnesty and full rights for all."

Another "Marcha por la Amnistía" called by the Asociación México-Americana de Trabajadores will be held April 19 at noon at 38th Street and 5th Avenue in Brooklyn.

A young latino organizer for the Laborer's International Union made sure that everybody left with a flyer for a "Forum for Dignity and Amnesty." The event is called by the union and will be held at CRRNJ Terminal, Liberty State Park, Jersey City, New Jersey, April 27 at 5:00 p.m. Members and supporters of this union had a large presence at the last demonstration for immigrant rights in Washington.

Paco Sánchez is a member of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees.  
 
 
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