Vol. 72/No. 16      April 21, 2008

In the last week, activists called demonstrations in San Diego, Atlanta, and Dover, New Jersey.

In Minneapolis, a delegation of workers from D’Amico and Sons restaurant have joined the coalition building a May Day rally and march in neighboring St. Paul. The restaurant fired 15 workers after telling them that they had received social security “no-match” letters—an increasingly common tool of intimidation used by employers and the government against immigrant workers.

“It is important that all Latinos and others from different countries participate in the march because this is the only way we can pressure the government to pass an immigration reform,” Porfirio Onofre told the Militant. Onofre was fired at the restaurant after working there 10 years.

“There is a lot of discrimination,” said fired D’Amico and Sons worker Victor Taday. “Many don’t know of this situation. I believe it is important that this message reach everyone and that it be known that all workers have rights in this country.”

Last year a half million people rallied May Day in more than 100 cities. The movement to retake the day as an international workers’ day began in 2006. That year Congress was considering a bill that would have criminalized 12 million foreign-born workers. In response, 2 million people took to the streets in 140 U.S. cities to demand legalization for all immigrants.

In Atlanta 16 people gathered at the offices of the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR) April 7 to begin organizing an Atlanta May Day rally. In addition to GLAHR, representatives of Cajola United in Solidarity for Guatemala, International Action Center, and the Socialist Workers Party attended.

They decided to meet again the following week to build the action, which the coalition set for 4 p.m. on May 1.

Holding a long banner that read “Stop War/Legalization Now” in Spanish, organizers of the May Day action in San Diego held an April 5 press conference at Chuey’s restaurant in a working-class district of the city. Among the organizers were representatives of the immigrant rights group Sí Se Puede, Raza Rights Coalition, Activist San Diego, Border Angels, and activists involved in struggles by workers in Tijuana and Oaxaca, Mexico.

The San Diego action is the fifth called in a California city. Rallies are already being built in San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, and Los Angeles.

Rollande Girard in Minneapolis, Rick Trujillo in San Diego, and Jacob Perasso in Doraville, Georgia, contributed to this article.
 
 
Related articles:
Support builds for Chicago May 1 action
Noon rally to demand ‘Legalization for all!’
May Day Actions for Immigrant Rights  
 
 
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