Vol. 76/No. 35      October 1, 2012

DeLuca spoke at a “meet the candidate” community meeting in Yakima’s Miller Park, the site of the annual May Day action for immigrant rights.

DeLuca was interviewed for the 6 p.m. news on KDNA Radio, which calls itself the “voice of the farm worker.”

“We call for legalizing all immigrants and ending E-verify and deportations. They should have the right to work,” DeLuca said, responding to a question about Obama’s recent decision to allow certain immigrant youth to apply for a two-year waiver of deportation.

“We have to see ourselves as part of an international class. When we are united we are strong as a class and they can’t divide us so easily,” she added.

“We don’t have the money they have,” DeLuca said when asked about her chances of winning the election. “What we do have is the Militant newspaper, which comes out every week, and speaks about world politics and workers’ struggles, and Pathfinder books that speak about the lessons of the revolutionary struggles of the working class.”

Edgar Baeza, a high school student, said he had worked in a packinghouse where a union organizing drive had been defeated. “Many of the workers were afraid to vote for the union because of the pressure put on us to vote no.”

The following day DeLuca met workers at the shift change at Davis Wire Company in Kent. Many were glad to see her again. Both she and James Harris, SWP presidential candidate, visited the picket lines earlier. Members of Teamsters Local 117 won important gains after three months on strike.

The next day, DeLuca spoke at a citywide campaign meeting in Seattle, joined by Robert Bruner, a shop steward for Teamsters Local 117 at Davis Wire.

On Sept. 8, DeLuca spoke to 24 people at a campaign meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia. She was joined by Joe Young from the Communist League in Canada and Mary Martin, SWP candidate for governor of Washington.

Young described how the League has been active in building solidarity with hotel workers on strike in Quebec and the ongoing fight by tens of thousands of students against tuition increases.

“No matter which major party gets elected in November in the United States,” DeLuca said, “working people will go to the wall.

“Unlike the Democrats and Republicans, I am not trying to urge individuals to look out for number one and pull themselves up by their bootstraps. The entire working class will pull itself up as it fights for its class interests.”

Earlier DeLuca met members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union at their hiring hall in Vancouver. They asked her why she was talking to workers who can’t vote for her.

“There are a lot of workers in the U.S. who can’t vote either,” she said. “The millions who are undocumented or have felony records are denied the right to vote. But they are all part of the working class and our campaign seeks to unify workers regardless of status or borders.”
 
 
Related articles:
‘Imperialist moves against China not in our interests’
SWP candidate talks with New Zealand workers
‘SWP important ally in fights by workers in Yakima Valley’  
 
 
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