The labor movement needs to reach out to immigrants, who are eager to join unions, labor educator and activist Kent Wong told union members and supporters in a speech at the University of Minnesota.

Wong, director of the Center for Labor Research and Education at the University of California-Los Angeles, spoke to a packed room of Minnesota labor activists March 7 about the successes and challenges of immigrant organizing in southern California. In just the last year, union membership in Los Angeles County has grown by over 100,000, mostly among immigrant workers in service industries.

Wong said unions face a great opportunity, "If we do our work right, we will usher in a new day for immigrant workers and a new day for the American labor movement," he said.

Rights not recognized
Wong explained that immigrant workers have long been important to California's economy, but their rights have not always been recognized by either employers or unions. A century ago, farm workers, including Japanese members, organized and applied to join the American Federation of Labor, then headed by Samuel Gompers. The union was rejected because the federation opposed immigration from Asia and prohibited the membership of Asians.

The stormy relationship between immigrants and the mainstream labor movement was reversed when the AFL-CIO adopted a pro-immigrant policy in February 2000. The new policy supports and defends the rights of immigrant workers, favors amnesty for undocumented workers in the United States and advocates the repeal of employer sanctions for hiring undocumented aliens. The current immigration law has led to the intimidation and widespread exploitation of workers who fear being turned in the the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) by employers. A majority of the estimated 700,000 immigrant manufacturing workers in the Los Angeles area earn below the minimum wage.

Supporting immigrant organizing is not only a just cause for labor, it is essential for its survival, according to Wong and organizers attending the meeting . Union membership has shrunk to 9 percent of private sector employees and 13 percent of the overall American workforce. Traditional unionized industries are shrinking and those which are largely unorganized are expanding, with those jobs increasingly being filled by immigrants. Unions have to figure out how to relate to the diversity of workers in the new economy.

Shift in view
Unionists' views of immigrant organizing have shifted completely, according to Wong. Some in the labor movement thought the Service Employee International Union's plan to organize small, scattered groups of largely undocumented, Spanish-speaking janitors was impossible. However, the LA Justice for Janitors campaign nearly quadrupled union membership among building maintenance workers - from about 20 percent to more than 90 percent. Their April 2000 strike achieved an industry-wide, three-year contract with family health care and 26 percent raises. They were so successful that union victories among Latino workers are now almost taken for granted, Wong said.

Research and member education were critical to the the janitors' success. After two years of preparation, virtually every janitor knew the strike issues and could explain such details as the profit margins of building owners and the largest business occupants, Wong said. They could point out that the 50 wealthiest individuals in the county made more money annually than the poorest two million people.

Through creative actions, the janitors brought this information to the public's attention and redefined the campaign from a wage dispute between labor and management to a human rights movement.. The janitors' red shirts became a symbol of social justice, eventually worn even by Republican politicians. Support from community and religious groups, particularly a huge public Mass conducted by the local archbishop, was crucial to victory. When labor goes up alone against management on purely economic and legal grounds, it loses, stated Wong, but with broad-based community support, workers win.

More victories
A chain reaction of organizing victories followed the janitors' campaign, notably among workers in the drywall, hospitality and health care industries. Twenty thousand workers from more than 15 countries attended an AFL-CIO Town Hall rally for immigrant rights held last June in the LA Sport Arena , demonstrating the potential of an immigrant/labor alliance.

The immigrant organizing efforts have been truly grassroots campaigns, often started workers engaging in independent, "wildcat" actions. Groups who have organized themselves have then brokered memberships with existing unions. These workers do not necessarily fit traditional bargaining units or jurisdictional lines, so unions need to be creative in order to accommodate these potential members, Wong said.

Multi-union efforts are essential to reach out to foreign-born workers, he added. Unions need to share translators, lists of community organizations and contacts and the lessons they have learned from their organizing experiences.

Wong's speech was sponsored by the Minnesota Center for Labor and Working Class Studies, the Minnesota AFL-CIO and the University of Minnesota Labor Education Service.

Randy Croce is a video producer for the University of Minnesota Labor Education Service.

Resources

A book in Spanish and English documenting the LA campaigns, Voices from the Front Lines: Organizing Immigrant Workers in Los Angeles is available for $7, including handling, by calling (310) 794-5981 or e-mailing jamonroe@ucla.edu

A half-hour documentary entitled Immigrants Organizing: Changing the Workplace, Changing the Union is available for $20 from the Labor Education Service. It was produced by Randy Croce in conjunction with local organizers. Call 612-624-5020 or e-mail rcroce@csom.umn.edu

Related articles

Federation launches drive to change immigration laws

February 2000 AFL-CIO statement on immigrant rights