Photo by: Chuck Slay
ILWU Northern California Locals 10, 34 and 6 and the Local 10 Drill Team joined the 50,000 strong march in San Francisco May 1 in support of immigrants’ rights. The parade took the historic route up Market Street from the Harry Bridges Plaza up to Civic Center.
Similar marches were held throughout Northern California, in San Jose, San Rafael, Santa Rosa and Sacramento. A million immigrant rights supporters marched in Los Angeles and hundreds of thousands more marched in other mass demonstrations were held in New York, Chicago and many other cities throughout the country.
Billed as a “Day without Immigrants,” a general strike of immigrant workers to highlight the important role they play in the U.S. economy, the demonstrations were in response to the anti-immigration bill passed by the House of Representatives, the Border and Immigration Enforcement Act of 2005. That proposed law would further criminalize undocumented immigrants looking for work, driving them further underground into the black market for labor where they could be more easily exploited by employers. Fear of deportation would keep them from union organizing and speaking out against unsafe working conditions and wage and hour law violations.
The ILWU, whose founding president was an Australian immigrant, has always supported the rights immigrant workers no matter their national origin or race. ILWU International President James Spinosa recently wrote a letter to U.S. Senators considering a version of the Border and Immigration Enforcement Act outlining what he called “a comprehensive and realistic” approach to immigration reform. He called for the current population of undocumented workers—who, he noted, pay taxes and make positive contributions to their communities—to have a path to legalization and documentation. A guest worker program like that proposed only creates second-class residents, likely to face marginalization and workplace harassment. Spinosa added that workplace standards must be enforced so unscrupulous employers don’t have an incentive to exploit immigrant workers.
—SS
