Saturday, February 24, 2018

Unions in the Resistance Against ICE

San Francisco workers demonstrate. Photo: David Bacon
How Unions Help Immigrants Resist Deportations
No one knows better than union activists that there's zero chance for this kind of basic immigration policy reform in the present Congress, especially with Trump as president. But many caution that fighting the immediate audits and raids has to be connected to a longer-range direction and goal.

By David Bacon, American Prospect
February 13, 2018
Labor historian Fred Glass, looking at the impact of immigration on California's labor movement, notes that many immigrants have arrived in the state with a long history of labor and left-wing activism. Unions have then called on that history and consciousness to aid in organizing drives among janitors, farm workers, hotel housekeepers, and others. "Because the labor movement has understood this fact and designed its efforts around it," he argues, "California's unionization rate remains at 16 percent while the national average is 11 percent." The state has 2.55 million union members, far more than any other.[…]

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N.Y. Teamsters form ‘sanctuary union’ to fight ICE agents

Ginger Adams Otis, New York Daily News
February 10, 2018
Worried about federal immigration policies, a New York labor organization is taking steps to protect its own.

Across Long Island and throughout the city, some 120,000 Teamsters are getting prepped to become a “sanctuary union.”

In 27 shops, business agents, supervisors and front-line workers are getting schooled on their rights under U.S. law — and when and how to challenge federal immigration agents who show up to search their work sites.[…]

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