The four UFCW activists arrested yesterday.

Washington, DC—Four UFCW activists were among those arrested yesterday outside the U.S. Capitol while protesting the failure of House Republican leaders to pass comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship. The march, which included tens of thousands of people from across the country, followed over 180 similar actions in 40 states this weekend.

“Today we sent a message to House Republicans loud and clear,” UFCW President Joe Hansen said. “First and foremost, open this government. Secondly, once it is open, give us a vote on comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship.”

In an op-ed in the Huffington Post last week, Hansen laid out the case for reform. “We want to give aspiring citizens an opportunity to achieve the American Dream,” he said. “We want full rights and protections for immigrant workers. We want fairness and justice. We want an immigration policy that reflects our values. Speaker Boehner, we want a vote.”

The UFCW activists who were arrested spoke about the power of civil disobedience and the importance of standing together for comprehensive immigration reform.

Efrain Aguilera of UFCW Local 5 in San Jose, CA said: “I’m a Hispanic born in Michoacán, Mexico who came to this country legally but without knowing a word of English. The immigrant community has to struggle to find work and when it does, they face humiliation because of being undocumented and live in fear of being deported and separated from their families. Getting arrested for civil disobedience is the least I can do to support this great cause. We need comprehensive immigration reform now so that more than 11 million undocumented immigrants can get out of the shadows, work legally, pay taxes and stop being treated like second class citizens.”

Rigo Valdez of UFCW Local 770 in Los Angeles, CA said: “I was arrested today to stand up for the workers who cannot stand up for themselves. In twenty years of organizing, I have witnessed exploitation of workers because of their immigration status. We can no longer allow the abuse of any workers in our country, and must fight and demand that all of us are treated with dignity and according to our rights. Comprehensive immigration reform is not only morally right, but necessary to guarantee the long term economic and social health of our nation. If our lawmakers will not act, then we will.”

Celestino Rivera of UFCW Local 540 in Dallas, TX said: “I was arrested today because I stand with America’s meatpacking and food processing workers to demand that Congress fix our broken immigration system. I have witnessed the price of keeping working families in the shadows.  All workers should be able to exercise their fundamental rights on the job, regardless of immigration status. Now is the time for reform that preserves and protects these rights.”

Idalid Guerrero of UFCW Local 540 in Dallas, TX said: “I came to Washington today as both a worker and a mother. I know firsthand that women bear a huge burden because of our broken immigration system. We deserve reform that is humane and just and keeps families together. I was arrested in solidarity with all immigrant women who are calling on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform now.”

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The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) represents more than 1.3 million workers, primarily in the retail and meatpacking, food processing and poultry industries. The UFCW protects the rights of workers and strengthens America’s middle class by fighting for health care reform, living wages, retirement security, safe working conditions and the right to unionize so that working men and women and their families can realize the American Dream. For more information about the UFCW’s effort to protect workers’ rights and strengthen America’s middle class, visit www.ufcw.org, or join our online community at www.facebook.com/UFCWinternational and www.twitter.com/ufcw.

President Hansen says its time for Speaker Boenher to stop letting extremists dictate the actions of the House.  Calling out an “increasingly radical caucus”, President Hansen urges that the outcome of a vote for comprehensive immigration reform should differ from the House’s recent poor decisions on our nation’s budget and social safety net.

The UFCW has been very active in the fight for reform, and has worked hard to help secure votes in the Senate and House. Our members have seen to much destruction from the current, failing immigration system, time and time again.

So, as Joe notes in his op-ed, “they went to town hall meetings, participated in marches and rallies, and visited Congressional offices to create the momentum for comprehensive immigration reform.” All of this hard work paid off in June, when the Senate passed legislation on a strong bipartisan vote, but the House refuses to follow suit. Together with our allies, we must keep up the pressure.

Thanks to this pressure, 26 House Republicans have now announced their support for legislation that will protect the rights of immigrants, keep families together, and gives aspiring Americans the opportunity to become citizens.

“Now it is time for John Boehner to show the guts,” says President Hansen.

UFCW members will be taking part in the rallies happening nationwide on October 5th, to demand a vote for comprehensive immigration reform now.

Read all of what President Hansen has to say in his op-ed here.

The protest comes at a critical time in the fight for reform. Months have passed since the Senate approved its own bill and pressure is mounting for the House to follow suit.  Throughout August, UFCW members went to town hall-style meetings, participated in marches and rallies, and visited Congressional offices to create the momentum for comprehensive immigration reform. During that time, 26 House Republicans announced their support for reform with a road map to citizenship.

UFCW members will continue to ramp up pressure on the House throughout the fall until they allow a vote on common sense reform that protects the rights of immigrants, keeps families together, and creates a path to citizenship for aspiring Americans. Members can pledge their support for immigration reform by signing the petition at http://bit.ly/ZzZRW5.

As delegates to the UFCW’s 7th Regular Convention in Chicago chanted last month, the “time is now.” A video about the impact pro-reform advocates had during the Congressional summer recess can be viewed here.

UFCW members from across the country will continue to reach out to their Representatives about passing comprehensive immigration reform.

As Congress begins their August recess, UFCW International and local unions across the country are focused on keeping the legislative push for comprehensive immigration reform alive and strong. This is a key moment in the immigration debate. UFCW local unions and members across the country have plans to do everything they can this August to ensure their members of Congress return to the Capitol building in September ready and willing to act on a comprehensive immigration reform bill that reflects UFCW values.

Earlier in the summer, UFCW members successfully lobbied their Senators to pass a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill that includes a road-map to citizenship. This summer, they intend to convince the House to do the same. While House members spend the month of August at home in their districts, they will hear from UFCW members at town-hall meetings and other events about the importance of passing an immigration bill that makes sense for workers. The UFCW is pushing to create a common sense immigration process that recognizes the hardships and contributions of people moving here, keeps families together, and creates a road-map to citizenship for new Americans who aspire to be citizens.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

“I commend the Senate for taking a major bipartisan step toward making comprehensive immigration reform the law of the land. This bill includes many of the UFCW’s principles including a roadmap to citizenship for those already here, strong labor protections for immigrant workers, and a modernized system for allocating employment-based visas based on hard data, not politics.

“For decades, the UFCW has been a staunch advocate for fixing a flawed immigration system that punishes working men and women, tears families apart, and fails workers, families, communities and businesses alike.  We have been proud to be part of a national movement that has led the way in changing the narrative–so that at this point in time a majority of Americans support comprehensive immigration reform.

“Let me be clear. This is a compromise bill. The ‘border surge’ provision added earlier this week is bad public policy at a high price and the UFCW will do everything in its power to mitigate its impact while making clear no further concessions are acceptable. But we cannot allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good. Senate passage of comprehensive immigration reform with a road map to citizenship sends a clear message that America will no longer penalize aspiring citizens just for trying to make a better life for themselves and their families. It is now time for the House to finish the job.”

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The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) represents more than 1.3 million workers, primarily in the retail and meatpacking, food processing and poultry industries. The UFCW protects the rights of workers and strengthens America’s middle class by fighting for health care reform, living wages, retirement security, safe working conditions and the right to unionize so that working men and women and their families can realize the American Dream. For more information about the UFCW’s effort to protect workers’ rights and strengthen America’s middle class, visit www.ufcw.org, or join our online community at www.facebook.com/UFCWinternational and www.twitter.com/ufcw.

On June 18th and 19th over 150 UFCW members and staff came to Washington D.C. to talk face to face with their Members of Congress about the important issues facing working men and women.

NJ 464ALourdes Castellano, a member of Local 1776 who works at Cargill in Hazelton, Pennsylvania, was proud to add her voice to the debate on immigration reform.

“I’ve worked at Cargill for 11 years and I would say 95% of my coworkers are Latino. We all want comprehensive immigration reform so that we can feel like we have a welcoming home. It’s especially difficult to see coworkers with family members who are separated because not all of them are able to come to America. We want a fair path to citizenship so that families can be reunified.”

With the Senate currently debating S. 744, a comprehensive immigration reform bill, Local 5 member Lachele Thomas, who works at Safeway in Salinas, California, found the very real prospect of helping to pass this landmark legislation exciting.

“This is historical. It’s almost overwhelming. I’ll be so proud if I can look back and know that we helped pass immigration reform.”
California Local 5It was also an excellent time to talk with Members of Congress about properly shaping bills that have already been passed. With the Affordable Care Act (ACA) slated to take full effect in 2014, Local 1262 member Delores Jackson, a Shop Rite employee in Rochelle Park, New Jersey, was happy to be sharing her concerns about fairly implementing the law.

“I’m very excited to be here. I want them to hear my point of view. I’ve been with the union for years. We fought hard for our current benefits and we deserve to keep them. I’m hoping I can convince some of these politicians to help us with this ACA problem. I want to keep my good health care. I don’t want it to change. I can’t afford to pay more for less health care coverage – that’s just not right. Usually politicians just talk to us – it’s time we came up here and talked with them. They need to hear our voice. They need to know how it is for us.”

One of the big takeaways, especially for members who had never lobbied before, was how effective their participation can be. For Humberto Munoz, a member of Local 5 who works at Safeway in Salinas, California, the experience was rewarding.

“I met my Congressman – visiting him in his office was a great experience. I realized being here that they do listen and that talking with them really can make a difference.”

With members and staff from California, Michigan, Missouri, Texas, Kentucky, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Arizona, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Virginia, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Tennessee, Nevada, Florida, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Maryland showing up, it truly was a national lobby day.

If anyone reading this is thinking about getting more involved politically – stop thinking about it and start doing it. Shante Vinalon, a Local 1996 member who works at Kroger in Decatur, Georgia, was happy she did.

“I’ve worked at Kroger for 8 years. This is my first time lobbying in DC. Meeting and sitting down with Representatives one on one is empowering. I get an understanding of where they’re coming from and they get an understanding of where we’re coming from. I’m able to see who is for us and who is against us. I like it. It’s a great experience. Everyone should do it. I plan on encouraging all my friends back home to do it.”

Georgia 1996UFCW’s national lobby day proved to everyone that politicians are a lot more approachable than they sometimes seem. If we want our concerns to be heard, we have to be willing to speak up.

If anyone reading this is thinking about getting more involved politically – stop thinking about it and start doing it. Shante Vinalon, a Local 1996 member who works at Kroger in Decatur, Georgia, was happy she did.

“I’ve worked at Kroger for 8 years. This is my first time lobbying in DC. Meeting and sitting down with Representatives one on one is empowering. I get an understanding of where they’re coming from and they get an understanding of where we’re coming from. I’m able to see who is for us and who is against us. I like it. It’s a great experience. Everyone should do it. I plan on encouraging all my friends back home to do it.”

UFCW’s National Lobby Day proved to everyone that politicians are a lot more approachable than they sometimes seem. If we want our concerns to be heard, we have to be willing to speak up.

WASHINGTON, DC

“We write in support of the comprehensive immigration reform process and thank you for your critical and constructive efforts in support of this legislation,” says the letter signed by UFCW International President Joe Hansen and Barry Carpenter of FMIC.

The labor-business coalition said they support the Senate bill’s provisions to establish a roadmap to citizenship, protect family based immigration, promote smart, effective border enforcement, implement a workable, transparent employment verification system, and create an occupational visa for non-seasonal, permanent positions. However, Hansen and Carpenter are also calling for commonsense improvements to S. 744 in the areas of visa allocation and employment verification.

The labor-business coalition asked for more flexibility when it comes to employment verification. “Allowing employers to use Self-Check in a uniform, nondiscriminatory fashion will create greater transparency for new employees, and will enable employers to ensure that their new hires are not circumventing E-Verify,” the letter reads.

Moreover, the letter outlined: “If an employer takes the extra step of deterring identity theft through the uniform use of Self-Check, then the employer should be presumed to have acted in ‘good faith’ with respect to the E-Verify confirmations it receives.”

Finally, the labor-business coalition requested that Senators direct the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security and Justice to create regulations that would provide specific rules of the road “describing a course of conduct…that satisfies employment verification requirements and concurrently avoids anti-discrimination liability.” “If an employer follows these regulations, then the employer is presumed to have complied with both the verification and anti-discrimination rules,” the letter reads.

The labor-business coalition said they look forward to working with the Senate to improve S.744 and seeing comprehensive immigration reform become the law of the land.

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Members from UFCW Local 348-S rally to support the livelihoods of immigrant workers in New York.

On April 8, members of UFCW Local 348-S and allies rallied at the Homeland Security Office of Investigation in New York City. Members are fighting the Department of Homeland Security audits of work authorization records that could threaten the livelihood of immigrant workers in New York.

New York’s office of Homeland Security Investigations has announced an audit of work authorization records at 3 Guys from Brooklyn, a family-owned produce stand and grocery. The move comes on the eve of long-awaited national immigration reform legislation. UFCW Local 348-S members are calling on DHS to halt the audit until the specifics of comprehensive immigration reform are known.

The I-9 audit that DHS is pursuing examines the personnel records offered by employees when hired. If DHS agents discover workers they say are undocumented, they can fine the employer—or order him to fire workers. Thousands of these “silent raids” in recent years have led to untold numbers of workers losing their jobs and their foothold in local communities.

Thanks to union member activism during the November elections, California’s legislature is occupied by a worker-friendly majority.  Having allies in leadership positions is key for workers who want to stand up for their rights.

Another trend that has led to increased union membership in the state–  immigrant workers have organized in other industries that simply cannot be “shifted overseas”.  As noted in a recent Guardian article, jobs in arenas such “as healthcare, food service, retail, and transportation” are in need of workers here at home. Indeed, “some work – flipping burgers, administering flu shots, or driving the city bus – just can’t be shipped to China.”

Also, retail is the fastest growing industry in America, with new jobs emerging every day. The large number of retail and service positions opening up in states like California are great for the middle class. However, there is also the potential for workers in these sectors to be exploited by their employers.

As America’s retail union, the UFCW wants to make sure these new jobs are good jobs. Workers who join a union have more access to better benefits, wages, and hours than non-union members, and can stand together to ensure their voice is heard.

Currently, some members of the senate are writing an immigration bill that would severely limit access to green cards for extended family members of current American citizens. Senator Lindsay Graham, R-SC, who is part of a bipartisan senate committee for immigration reform, “indicated that he would prefer to eliminate” the current immigration clauses that allow citizens to petition for their married children and siblings to be brought to the U.S.

The UFCW, along with countless other organizations, believes that “families belong together”, no matter what their immigration status. Also, we believe that family relationships cannot be summed up by name – aunts and uncles can be just as close to someone as mothers and fathers, and cousins can be like brothers and sisters.  It is unfair that someone be denied a green card simply because their title isn’t included in the traditional nuclear family unit.

Written in the letter to Congress and President Obama, is the fact that “as of November 2012, nearly 4.3 million loved ones are waiting in the family visa backlogs.” Thousands of people from Mexico, China and other Asian countries, and elsewhere around the world have been waiting for years to be reunited with loved ones in the U.S.  Also noted, was the fact that “strengthening the current family-based immigration system is good for our economy and is commonsense policy for the United States.”  Turning away from a family-based system to focus on the economy doesn’t make sense, because, as said in the letter:

“A robust family-based immigration has significant economic benefits, especially for long-term economic growth of the United States. Family-based immigrants foster innovation and development of new businesses, particularly small and medium-sized businesses that would not otherwise exist, creating jobs for American workers and raising revenues for our recovering economy. Families also provide support and care for young children and the elderly, allowing others to focus on building the businesses and contributing to American society.”

UFCW and our allies hope that the President and Congress will uphold the family-based values that America was built on, and do what is right for working America.

CHICAGO, ILL.

President Hansen’s statement follows:

“Now is the time to pass comprehensive immigration reform – not next year or the year after but right now.  We can no longer accept an immigration system that breaks up families, harasses workers, and deports people who are simply trying to achieve the American Dream.  We can no longer be a nation that turns away aspiring citizens.

“For centuries, immigrants have come to America’s shores with the dream of making a better life for themselves and their families — from Ellis Island to the Florida Keys to the Rio Grande.  But for today’s immigrants, this dream has become a nightmare. Young adults who were brought here as children and have grown up in America—the Dreamers—still do not have a clear path to citizenship.  Workers face discrimination, abuse, retaliation, and sometimes worse.  Families are unable to reunite.

“Our immigration system is obviously broken. But worse than that, it flies in the face of our values as a nation.  So we must reform it.    No one is better to lead that reform than the labor movement.  It is the workers we represent who are most victimized by our current immigration system.

“For the UFCW, this issue hits close to home.  We remember the ICE raids in 2006 where our members were treated like criminals.  We remember hearing the stories of workers terrorized just for doing their jobs.

“Other unions have suffered similar experiences, as Wild West immigration enforcement has become the rule instead of the exception.  So as a movement, we are as united as ever to make comprehensive immigration reform the law of the land.

“The UFCW is joining our allies in the labor movement and in our communities to mobilize our members in support immigration reform that includes:

• A road map to citizenship for those already here
• An effective mechanism for determining employment eligibility
• Smart and humane border enforcement
• Streamlined family reunification
• A fair process for allocating employment based visas

“But most of all, we want an immigration system that gives immigrants hope, not fear.  We want to be a nation that builds dreams, not border fences.  We want the families of immigrants to be united, not divided.  We want immigrant workers to have rights, not wrongs.

“America has always prided itself on being a country where anyone who is willing to work hard and pursue their dreams can find success.   We must live up to that ideal. We must pass comprehensive immigration reform.”

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 The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) represents more than 1.3 million workers, primarily in the retail and meatpacking, food processing and poultry industries. The UFCW protects the rights of workers and strengthens America’s middle class by fighting for health care reform, living wages, retirement security, safe working conditions and the right to unionize so that working men and women and their families can realize the American Dream. For more information about the UFCW’s effort to protect workers’ rights and strengthen America’s middle class, http://www.ufcw.org/, or join our online community at http://www.facebook.com/ufcwinternational and  www.twitter.com/UFCW

In addition, over 80 UFCW leaders have signed a letter to President Obama in support of comprehensive immigration reform.

“The time to create a principled, legal immigration system that treats all immigrants with respect and dignity is right now,” the letter read.

Immigration reform rallies are being planned across the country. If you live near any of these major cities, be sure to support the cause! And if you don’t, gather a group of coworkers and friends and let political leaders in your area know that the time for immigration reform is now.

The scheduled rallies are as follows:

l  February 25: San Francisco
l February 28: Houston
l  March 6, 12, or 13: Minneapolis/St. Paul
l  March 7: Chicago
l  March 11: Phoenix
l  TBD: New York City

“I agree with President Obama—the time to reform our broken immigration system is now. The plan unveiled yesterday by a bipartisan group of Senators is a good start and they should get to work right away drafting legislation. The UFCW strongly supports comprehensive immigration reform that treats all immigrants with respect and dignity and creates a modern, 21st century system that reflects our values. Reform should include a roadmap to citizenship for those already here, an effective mechanism for determining employment eligibility, smart and humane border enforcement, and a fair process for allocating employment based visas. This issue is personal for UFCW members. Many watched in horror during the 2006 ICE raids as hundreds of documented and undocumented workers were detained and harassed just for doing their jobs. Our nation is better than that. We must be a land of opportunity for all those who work hard in pursuit of the American Dream. Passing comprehensive immigration reform will allow us to do that.”

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The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) represents more than 1.3 million workers, primarily in the retail and meatpacking, food processing and poultry industries. The UFCW protects the rights of workers and strengthens America’s middle class by fighting for health care reform, living wages, retirement security, safe working conditions and the right to unionize so that working men and women and their families can realize the American Dream. For more information about the UFCW’s effort to protect workers’ rights and strengthen America’s middle class, visit www.ufcw.org, or join our online community at www.facebook.com/UFCWinternational and www.twitter.com/ufcw.

“The Supreme Court has rightly struck down the majority of Arizona’s controversial immigration law. This decision is a repudiation of those advocating a patchwork of extreme state laws and reaffirms the federal government’s constitutional role in setting immigration policy. We are disappointed the law’s provision encouraging racial profiling survived and hope it will be overturned in the near future. It is time to move forward on this critical issue. President Obama started that process by issuing a common sense order to prevent the deportation of young immigrants who serve our nation. It is now time for Congress to get to work on comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for those who work hard and play by the rules. Only then can we truly fix our broken immigration system.”

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The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) represents more than 1.3 million workers, primarily in the retail and meatpacking, food processing and poultry industries. The UFCW protects the rights of workers and strengthens America’s middle class by fighting for health care reform, living wages, retirement security, safe working conditions and the right to unionize so that working men and women and their families can realize the American Dream. For more information about the UFCW’s effort to protect workers’ rights and strengthen America’s middle class, visit www.ufcw.org, or join our online community at www.facebook.com/UFCWinternational and www.twitter.com/ufcw.

“During the Republican presidential primaries, there was no one more radical on the issue of immigration than Mitt Romney. He promised to veto the DREAM Act and encouraged undocumented immigrants to self-deport. Last week, he criticized President Obama’s historic immigration order as temporary, even though it would prevent the deportation of nearly a million young, patriotic immigrants who work hard and play by the rules. Today, in front of the nation’s Latino leaders, Romney offered more of the same, pledging to replace the President’s order with something more permanent. That something is likely to be in the mold of Arizona’s restrictive and inhumane immigration law, an approach Romney strongly supported. Mitt Romney may be a flip-flopper, but when it comes to immigration, his extreme position is crystal clear.”

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The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) represents more than 1.3 million workers, primarily in the retail and meatpacking, food processing and poultry industries. The UFCW protects the rights of workers and strengthens America’s middle class by fighting for health care reform, living wages, retirement security, safe working conditions and the right to unionize so that working men and women and their families can realize the American Dream. For more information about the UFCW’s effort to protect workers’ rights and strengthen America’s middle class, visit www.ufcw.org, or join our online community at www.facebook.com/UFCWinternational and www.twitter.com/ufcw.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – United Food and Commercial Workers Union International President (UFCW) Joseph T. Hansen released the following statement today in response to President Obama’s announcement of relief for undocumented youth:

“President Obama today made an important investment in the American dream for thousands of hard-working immigrant students and veterans by removing the threat of deportation and creating a clear path to full civic and economic participation for promising young people.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of high performing children of immigrants who were raised in the United States—including honor roll students, star athletes, and aspiring teachers, doctors, lawyers and U.S. soldiers—graduate from high school. Despite their academic achievements, they have been effectively barred from contributing fully to our communities. Today, thanks to President Obama’s bold leadership, the threat of deportation has been lifted for those aspiring American dreamers.

President Obama is embracing these promising students and soldiers who have demonstrated a commitment to hard work and a strong desire to be upstanding members of our society.

The UFCW, the voice for workers in the food and retail industries, is proud of the thousands of young immigrant activists who have organized into one strong, clear voice for fairness. They are weaving the unique fabric of American society – hard work, entrepreneurship, loyalty to country, ingenuity and invention. We are proud to stand with them, and with President Obama, as we work together to bring hope and a brighter future for every worker in our country.”

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The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) represents more than 1.3 million workers, primarily in the retail and meatpacking, food processing and poultry industries. The UFCW protects the rights of workers and strengthens America’s middle class by fighting for health care reform, living wages, retirement security, safe working conditions and the right to unionize so that working men and women and their families can realize the American Dream. For more information about the UFCW’s effort to protect workers’ rights and strengthen America’s middle class, visit www.ufcw.org, or join our online community at www.facebook.com/UFCWinternational and www.twitter.com/ufcw.

The unique fabric of American society – hard work, entrepreneurship, loyalty to country, ingenuity and invention – stitched together by generations of immigrants will continue to endure regardless of this disheartening vote. The dreams of young people will not be checked, and the UFCW will continue to fight for a broad and bipartisan coalition to restore the American Dream and pass the Dream Act.

“The legislation introduced today by Senators Menendez and Leahy is an important step toward real, meaningful comprehensive immigration reform.

“As we have said, for too long, our nation’s badly broken immigration system has allowed unscrupulous employers to drive down wages and working conditions in industries across the nation, while creating an underground economy where labor laws are shredded and workers are afraid to report safety violations.

“The legislation announced today would chart a new course for our country: A course that protects workers, respects families and reflects our nation’s rich immigrant tradition.

“We applaud these Senators for offering real leadership and sensible solutions to our nation’s challenges, and we stand ready to work with them to ensure that pragmatic immigration reform becomes a reality. The labor movement has already released historic joint principles on immigration. The House has introduced a CIR bill, and now Senate Democrats have acted. It is time to roll up our sleeves and make this happen.

”It is unfortunate that Republicans across the country continue to use the issue of immigration as a tool to divide and to scapegoat. The American people want and deserve more. So rather than fabricating stories about beheadings in Arizona, let’s use this opportunity, and this legislation, to begin a level-headed debate about revamping our immigration system and revitalizing our economy.”

At a near universal level of agreement, voters strongly believe our economy needs to be defined by jobs with benefits and wages that can support a family. It is exactly this message that families from across the country are coming to Washington on Oct. 2^nd to deliver to Congress.

“American voters want our nation’s lawmakers to focus on creating economic policies that support and sustain good, quality jobs,” said Joe Hansen, UFCW International President. “They want politicians who will stand up to the fringe elements of our society and to stand for pragmatic solutions to our economic challenges.”

“One Nation is about turning our attention to the needs of people,” said Ben Jealous, President of the NAACP. “A strong economy is only strong if it provides good jobs that support families and bring opportunity. We need to get our country moving; we need to get on common ground, we are coming together this Saturday to start this process; we are going to turn out in force this election cycle, and elect leaders who put people first.”

“The UFCW poll shows that a huge majority of Americans agree we must improve job quality, even as we focus on creating new jobs,” said Janet Murguia, President and CEO of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR). “That’s just one of the reasons why on October 2 we’ll be joining thousands of our friends on the National Mall calling for jobs, justice, and, yes, comprehensive immigration reform.”

Over the last 30 years, workers’ wages have remained essentially stagnant, while worker productivity skyrocketed by 75 percent. For three decades, American workers have been producing more, but taking home paychecks that don’t reflect their hard work. Consequently, we see the biggest pay gap in nearly a century.

“The only way to achieve lasting economic recovery and to ensure future prosperity is to address the wage inequity crises that is plaguing our nation’s workers,” added Hansen. “If our elected officials fail to address this issue, our nation can never fully regain its financial footing.”

With so much of the cable television debate focused on the noisy fringes of our society, it seems that the aspirations and needs of the vast majority of hard-working Americans are getting drowned out by the noise and the nonsense of the extreme elements of the political debate.

The reality, as this poll shows, is that the American people want pragmatic government solutions and sensible legislative actions that address job creation and that ensure a foundation for secure and stable communities.

Voters have a clear vision of what kind of economy they want, and while they understand the current economic situation is difficult, they still believe that all jobs should pay a living wage, come with affordable, quality health care, and offer real retirement security.

The poll, taken among 700 randomly selected registered voters nationwide, shows: 

1. Concern about the economy goes beyond the present; voters are deeply questioning the types of jobs America will have in the future. Eighty-seven percent of voters are very or somewhat concerned that America’s future jobs will be low-wage and low-benefit – including 65 percent who are very concerned.
2. Eighty-nine percent of voters agree that economic development should result in jobs with good wages and benefits that can support a family.
3. Eighty-four percent of voters agree that economic recovery means creating jobs with good benefits so people can afford to take care of their families, not low- wage jobs with no benefits.
4. Eighty-four percent of voters favor requiring that government contracts go to companies that provide good paying jobs and benefits so that their employees don’t end up on welfare programs like Medicaid and food stamps.

According to the Lake poll, a majority of voters believe job growth must be good job growth. In a number of polls, Lake Research has found that a key economic frame for Americans is to have good-paying jobs—no matter what the sector.

To make that happen our elected officials must actively engage in the policy decisions that guide economic growth and job creation, and they must correct the current wage gap so that as worker productivity increases, paychecks also increase.

In addition to pushing for economic policies that address income inequality and quality job growth, the UFCW, NCLR and other civil rights organizations will be using the One Nation Working Together rally to push for comprehensive immigration reform as a key component of economic recovery and prosperity.

Study after study has shown that meaningful, comprehensive immigration reform would help bolster the economy and ensure that there is fairness and justice in America’s workplaces.

“Failure to enact immigration reform impedes our economic recovery efforts because under the current system, unscrupulous employers exploit undocumented immigrants to lower wages and working conditions for all workers,” added Murguia. “Reform that requires undocumented immigrants to come forward, pay taxes, and learn English to obtain legal status would strengthen labor standards for all, by eliminating the ability of bottom-feeding employers to rip off workers.”

The UFCW will continue working with leaders like NCLR and NAACP, as well as other labor organizations, to organize and mobilize our members and their families around key issues facing our communities—from job creation to labor law reform to immigration reform.

“Today’s decision is an important first step toward protecting Arizona families, taking a stand against racial profiling, and upholding our Constitution, which clearly states that immigration is a federal responsibility.

“Our broken immigration system cannot be fixed through a patchwork of piecemeal proposals. We need a comprehensive overhaul at the federal level, not short-sighted, politically motivated laws enacted on a state-by-state basis. Today’s decision further validates this point.

“We applaud the Justice Department and the Obama Administration for its vigorous defense of our Constitution and for protecting and advocating on behalf of working people across the country.”

“It is clear that Arizona’s immigration bill is a recipe for racial profiling that runs counter to the values and ideals that make our nation strong.

“The decision by the Justice Department to challenge this law is a clear sign that enforcing immigration law is the role of the federal government.

“We applaud the Justice Department and the Obama Administration for its vigorous defense of our Constitution and for protecting and advocating on behalf of working people across the country.

“”Our broken immigration system cannot be fixed through a patchwork of piecemeal proposals. We need a comprehensive overhaul at the federal level, not short-sighted, politically motivated laws enacted on a state-by-state basis.

“America needs a 21^st century immigration system that works for the American worker—a system where undocumented workers can come out of the shadows and get right with the law, a system where all workers can see their job and earnings prospects strengthened because bottom feeding employers are no longer given free reign to hire and abuse undocumented immigrants, and a system where all workers can speak up without fear of retaliation.

“It is unfortunate that many Republicans seem more focused on political expediency and personal job security than on our national and economic security, our liberty and the defense of our Constitution.

“In recent years, there have been politicians—on both sides of the aisle—who have shown real leadership, courage and commitment on this issue. For the sake of our nation, it is time for them to once again come together and lead our country forward.

“All across the country, UFCW locals and our members are organizing and mobilizing our communities around the importance of comprehensive immigration reform and protecting workers’ constitutional rights.

“Together, we can bring stability and security to our economy, to our borders and to our families.  Together, we can refocus this debate on real, meaningful comprehensive immigration reform that restores the rule of law, respects the constitutional rights of all workers, and recognizes the incredible role that our nation’s diversity has played—and will continue to play—in making our communities strong and vibrant.”

“President Obama today laid out a clear and compelling case why the passage of comprehensive immigration reform legislation remains one of the most pressing issues facing our nation.

“For too long, our nation’s immigration system has fueled exploitation, discrimination and abuse. It has allowed unscrupulous employers to drive down wages and working conditions in industries across the nation, while creating an underground economy where labor laws are shredded and workers are afraid to report serious safety concerns.

“Our current immigration system is badly broken, and Congress’ failure to address the issue is leading to a patchwork of state and local laws that are only exacerbating the problem.

“The President today charted a new course for our country—a course that protects workers, respects families and reflects our nation’s interests and our better instincts. It is a course built on security, prosperity, family unity and opportunity. It is a course that holds true to our values as a nation of immigrants, upholds the rule of law and embraces the vitality and the diversity that are the fabric of a forward-looking and strong society.

“Passing comprehensive immigration reform is about addressing the needs of our nation’s workers, its families and its communities. It is about moving America forward toward a brighter tomorrow. We are a nation that has always respected hard work, family and the pursuit of the American Dream. And we believe our immigration system must hold true to these principles.

“The UFCW applauds the President and his Administration for addressing this important challenge. Today’s speech was an important step in rallying working families around this critical issue.

“It is now time for Congress to step up and act. Democrats have offered a tough, practical and responsible plan for fixing our immigration system. It is now time for Republicans, who for too long have used this issue to divide and demean, to do more than just offer heated rhetoric, legislative roadblocks and vitriolic sound bytes. It is time for real leadership. It is time for those who are bent on blocking progress to get out of the way.

“Immigration reform is about rebuilding our economy and ensuring our national security. If our elected officials refuse to address these core issues, if they abdicate their fundamental obligation to their constituents, they have no business being in the halls of Congress.

“The UFCW looks forward to working with the Administration and Congress to make the dream of comprehensive immigration reform a reality for millions of working families across the country. Together, we can bring stability and security to our economy, to our borders and to our families.”

WASHINGTON, DC – The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) today joined in a lawsuit filed in federal court challenging the constitutionality of Arizona’s recently passed immigration law, S.B. 1070. Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the Service Employees International Union and various civil rights organizations.

In addition, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) will join in providing legal counsel for the suit.

UFCW International President Joe Hansen released the following statement regarding the lawsuit:

“We believe S.B. 1070 is unconstitutional, un-American and that it undermines our nation’s rich immigrant history. The law effectively legalizes racial profiling and sanctions harassment and discrimination. We are filing this suit to protect the rights of our members and all workers in the state of Arizona—and to uphold the values and ideals that make our nation strong.

“The UFCW has been at the forefront of the fight for immigration reform because we have seen firsthand the devastation caused by enforcement-only strategies – we’ve seen families torn apart, we’ve seen communities destroyed and we’ve seen workers rights’ shredded. We need a comprehensive overhaul of our broken immigration system at the federal level, not regressive, racially motivated laws enacted on a state-by-state basis.”

The Complaint will advance five major allegations:

First: Under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, federal law fully preempts state and local law in immigration matters because:

• Immigration is an inherently federal concern;
• The comprehensiveness of federal law fully occupies the field; and,
• There is grave risk of conflict between federal and state law in this field.

Second: S.B. 1070 impermissibly encroaches upon the Right to Travel of the U.S. Constitution by subjecting racial and ethnic minorities traveling to Arizona to the risk of being stopped, interrogated, and detained as elements of its enforcement.

Third: S.B. 1070 violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution in chilling freedom of speech and assembly because it prohibits individuals from soliciting work in a public place. The law requires law enforcement to engage in content discrimination in determining whether the speech related to obtaining work is proscribed by the law, and even if the applicable provision is content neutral, it is overbroad and vague.

Fourth: S.B. 1070 violates the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, requiring law enforcement to conduct investigatory stops of individuals without reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, as well as providing for warrantless seizures in the absence of probable cause that crimes have been committed.

Fifth: S.B. 1070 violates the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, impermissibly singling out non-citizens on the basis of alienage and national origin as a primary means of enforcement.

The complaint seeks declaratory and injunctive relief.

Under the banner, “Boycott Intolerance,” the groups held a press conference this morning to denounce SB 1070 and pledged not to hold major conventions, conferences or other special events involving significant travel to Arizona from out-of-state.

The UFCW released the following statement about the boycott:

“Arizona’s legislation is unworkable, it is unconstitutional and it undermines our nation’s rich immigrant history and heritage. It is a recipe for racial profiling and a marked retreat from the values and ideals that make America strong.

“For our members, this issue is personal. UFCW members have seen first-hand how enforcement-only tactics fuel racial profiling—and lead to the trampling of our constitution.

“We saw it during the Bush Administration raids on our Swift plants—how Latino workers were treated, how they were profiled because of the color of their skin, how law enforcement separated workers based simply on who they believed were undocumented.

“We saw how these heavy handed tactics unfairly – and incorrectly – targeted U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents. That is why we are committed to fighting this legislation – and why we are abstaining from doing business in the state of Arizona until this issue is resolved.

“But let’s be clear, the UFCW is not turning its backs on the workers of Arizona that are going to be targeted by this unjust law—we will work hard to defend their constitutional rights. We will be providing legal assistance and resources to ensure that all workers can vigorously defend their rights.

“Our country – and our communities – cannot stand by while these draconian measures are allowed to spread across our country.

“In recent years, the debate over immigration has grown increasingly polarizing. The Arizona bill is the result of that divisive debate—and the product of political expediency at its worst.

“America needs an immigration system that works for the American worker. We need to refocus this debate on real, meaningful, comprehensive immigration reform that restores the rule of law, respects the constitutional rights of all workers and recognizes the incredible role that our nation’s diversity has played—and will continue to play—in making our communities strong and vibrant.”

Full text of the joint letter follows.

Dear Senators Graham and Schumer:

We praise your continued leadership to reach across the aisle to craft a comprehensive fix to the broken immigration system that is prolonging the economic crisis and hurting working families.  We collectively represent over 15 million American workers, some born here and others who have migrated from elsewhere to work for this great country.  Although there are aspects of your plan that cause us concern, we view it as a work in progress, and we are confident that the details can be worked out as your framework is turned into legislation and works its way towards enactment.

Both U.S. born and immigrant  workers are badly served by our current broken immigration laws which allow employers to divide and exploit workers, are a drag on our nation’s economy, and cause unnecessary suffering.  We need to replace them with a system that levels the playing field as we fight for better wages and working conditions for all workers.

The labor movement came together about a year ago to urge passage of an immigration system that works better for America’s workers and we remain absolutely united in that goal. At that time, we explained that immigration reform must be a component of a shared prosperity agenda that raises the standard of living and quality of life of all workers.  Since then, we have rolled up our sleeves and worked hard to enact this sorely needed reform, including good faith efforts to find common ground with business and other diverse stakeholders around an immigration reform proposal that works for America.

That said, we feel strongly that it would be a mistake to enact any new employment-based visa program that does not adequately protect workers—both US and foreign-born—and that is not justified by filling established labor shortages.  We have proposed the establishment of an independent research-based commission that can accurately assess the need for foreign workers on an ongoing basis as our economy fluctuates and develops, which will satisfy the legitimate needs of employers and at the same time protect the interests of American workers   We look forward to discussing this proposal with you in the days to come.

We are a nation that respects hard work, family and the pursuit of the American Dream. Our immigration system must hold true to these principles.  This is an instance where upholding our principles is also good for the bottom line.  It is estimated that comprehensive immigration reform would grow the economy by as much as $1.5 trillion.

We believe that a just, fair and practical compromise is very much within reach if there is political leadership and if all sides are willing to agree on a framework that:

• Preserves the rights of all workers,
• Accurately matches the numbers and conditions of entry of newcomers to labor shortages in our economy with the flexibility necessary to meet the legitimate needs of employers, and
• Is consistent with American values.

On behalf of America’s workers, we request immediate congressional action and look forward to working with you as you perfect your framework and translate it into legislation.  We stand ready to meet with business to discuss future flow and unified support for a comprehensive immigration bill and we ask business leaders to join us in this call. We urge Senators and Representatives of both parties to stand up to the divisive anti-immigrant bullies who seek to shout down sensible immigration solutions that are supported by the majority of the American people.  Let’s get this done right, and let’s do it this year.

Sincerely,

Joe Hansen, International President of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW)

Andy Stern, President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 

Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO

Background:

AFL-CIO/Change To Win Framework for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Immigration reform is a component of a shared prosperity agenda that focuses on improving productivity and quality; limiting wage competition; strengthening labor standards, especially the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively; and providing social safety nets and high quality lifelong education and training for workers and their families. To achieve this goal, immigration reform must fully protect U. S. workers, reduce the exploitation of immigrant workers, and reduce the employers’ incentive to hire undocumented workers rather than U.S. workers. The most effective way to do that is for all workers–immigrant and native-born–to have full and complete access to the protection of labor, health and safety and other laws. Comprehensive immigration reform must complement a strong, well-resourced and effective labor standards enforcement initiative that prioritizes workers’ rights and workplace protections. This approach will ensure that immigration does not depress wages and working conditions or encourage marginal low-wage industries that depend heavily on substandard wages, benefits, and working conditions.

This approach to immigration reform has five major interconnected pieces: (1) an independent commission to assess and manage future flows, based on labor market shortages that are determined on the basis of actual need; (2) a secure and effective worker authorization mechanism; (3) rational operational control of the border; (4) adjustment of status for the current undocumented population; and (5) improvement, not expansion, of temporary worker programs, limited to temporary or seasonal, not permanent, jobs.

Read full framework:

“”The Virtual March on Washington: A Million Voices for Change”" campaign is bringing together some of the largest progressive organizations in the nation including, MoveOn.org Political Action, Progressive Congress Action Fund, Health Care for America Now (HCAN), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Campaign for America’s Future, Democracy for America (DFA), TrueMajority, USAction, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), EQUAL, MomsRising.org and FixItandPassIt.com.

The virtual march will happen a day before the White House health care summit and on the same day Melanie’s March will be arriving in DC from Philadelphia and holding a rally on Capitol Hill.

The organizations released the following joint statement:

“”As Washington plays politics as usual instead of fixing our broken system, people are dying. Americans simply cannot wait for comprehensive health care reform – it’s time for Congress to stand up to Big Insurance and their conservative allies, and get reform done right. During the Virtual March for Real Health Care Reform, we’ll send a million messages to Congress to make sure they know that voters want them to get to work and get health care done. Our message is simple: It’s time for Washington to stop stalling. Pass real health care reform now.”"

Congress will receive messages today via phone, fax, email, Facebook, Twitter and petition.

For more information, please visit: http://pol.moveon.org/virtualmarch10/action.html ###

“For too long, our nation’s immigration system has fueled exploitation, discrimination and abuse. It has allowed unscrupulous employers to drive down wages and working conditions in industries across the nation, while creating an underground economy where labor laws are shredded and workers are forced to toil in fear.

“This legislation charts a new course for our country. A course that protects workers, respects families and reflects our nation’s interests and our better instincts. It upholds our values as a nation of immigrants and embraces the vitality and diversity that are the fabric of a vibrant and strong society.

“The UFCW applauds Congressman Gutierrez and his colleagues for offering real solutions to address this important issue, and we look forward to working with him to make comprehensive immigration reform a reality.”

(Chicago, Ill.) – The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is proud to partner with the Embassy of Mexico, the U.S. Department of Labor and allied organizations to promote the first “Semana de Derechos Laborales”, or Labor Rights Week.  UFCW International President Joe Hansen joined the Mexican Consul General of Chicago, Manuel Rodríguez Arriaga, to launch the national outreach and education program that is taking place in thirteen cities across the country.

As Labor Day 2009 approaches, Semana de Derechos Laborales, which continues through September 4, will focus on the inclusion of Mexican nationals in American workplaces and communities. Programming includes workshops and informational sessions on labor, immigration, and human rights.

“Our communities and neighborhoods are better, safer places to work and live when all workers know and exercise their rights,” said Hansen.  “Semana de Derechos Laborales is a perfect way to empower Mexican national workers with information and promote full participation in the civic fabric of our nation.  The UFCW has been a union of immigrants for more than 100 years and this weeks’ program helps ensure that a new generation of workers has the resources to have their voice heard on the job.”

Educating immigrant workforces about rights in the workplace helps raise the standard of treatment for all workers in industries where new immigrants often work, including meatpacking, food processing, and grocery.

“In the past few years, a growing number of immigrant workers were subject to abuse under a mantle of fear that was created by policy approaches which allowed unscrupulous employers to use immigration status to threaten deportation if workers reported discrimination, wage and hour or health and safety violations. We recognize the leadership of Secretary Solis in this issue and believe that joint efforts like the Labor Rights Week will strengthen our ability to protect the rights of our nationals abroad”, said Mexican Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan.

The UFCW is a proud partner in this week’s activities and has worked with local consulate offices to prepare activities uniquely suited to the communities in which they are offered.  The program in Fresno, California, conducted by the local consulate and UFCW Local 5 will focus outreach to workers in the agricultural and dairy industries.  UFCW Local 540 and local partners in Dallas, Texas, are taking questions about labor rights on a three-hour long news broadcast program on the local Univision network.  The kick-off event in Chicago, Illinois will feature President Hansen and Consul General Rodríguez Arriaga, who will be joined by a number of community leaders.

More details about local events are available at www.ufcw.org

The UFCW has been a national leader in the fight to develop a fairer, more humane immigration system. President Hansen recently served as founding chairman of a national commission which studied federal raids on workplaces and made recommendations for comprehensive immigration reform.

Earlier this year, UFCW Canada and the Mexican state of Michoacán signed a landmark co-operation agreement to ensure that the human and labor rights of agricultural workers from Michoacán, Mexico are recognized and enforced while they work in Canadian fields and greenhouses.

With 1.3 million members, the UFCW is the nation’s largest private-sector union with members in the supermarket, meatpacking, food processing, and other industries.

-30-

Programming open to the media will continue until September 4. Inquiries and interview requests should be directed to Jill Cashen, UFCW, 202-728-4797 or press@ufcw.org.

“This settlement just confirms what so many of us have known for a long time,” said Carlos Barraza, a ten-year Plumrose worker. “It’s long past time for change at Plumrose. The only way we’ll get a real voice on the job here is by exercising our rights and standing together.”

The settlement requires Plumrose to post a notice in its Council Bluffs facility informing employees that federal law protects their right to form a union for their “benefit and protection” and that it would be unlawful for Plumrose to interfere with the exercise of that right. The full text of the notice can be found at http://www.fairnessforfoodworkers.org/plumrose.pdf

“Plumrose is a textbook case on why workers need a free and fair process to form a union,”" said Mark Lauritsen, Director of the UFCW Manufacturing, Packing, and Food Processing Division. “Standing up for yourself and your coworkers shouldn’t carry the risk of the boss’s wrath or losing your job. The employees who are forced to work in such a hostile environment hope that this settlement represents a new attitude at Plumrose toward the free exercise of the right to form a union.”

More than 1.3 million food processing, grocery, and retail workers in the United States and Canada have joined together in the UFCW to protect their workplace rights and to improve working conditions.

“We have seen federal agents routinely violate the 4th Amendment rights of workers during massive workplace raids across the country,” said Mark Lauritsen, UFCW International Vice President.  “Until national leaders fix our country’s immigration system, our local communities will be torn apart, and the constitutional rights of citizens and legal residents will be routinely violated. Our country desperately requires a framework for moving forward, humanely and comprehensively, to fix our immigration system. Broken enforcement is exacerbating a broken immigration system.  We stand with the Phoenix community to question whether local police officers will be able to enforce immigration laws without exposing the city residents to racial profiling, discrimination and violating civil rights.”

Among those who spoke at the meeting were UFCW workers who—one year ago, on December 12, 2006 (the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a Mexican religious celebration)—were illegally detained at meatpacking plants in five states in workplace raids carried out by federal agents at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). More than 12,000 meatpacking workers—including citizens, legal residents and immigrants in the process of legalization—were swept up in ICE raids at six meat packing plants. The UFCW represents workers at five of the plants, including Worthington, Minn.; Greeley, Colo.; Cactus, Tex.; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Grand Island, Neb.

“It is disgraceful how law enforcement officials violate basic human rights just because our government cannot fix the immigration system,” said Maria Acosta of Phoenix, who works at Food City grocery store.

“I was interrogated and detained for hours just because federal agents thought I was breaking immigration laws,” said Pasqual Talamantes, a UFCW meatpacking worker from Grand Island, Neb. “They were handcuffing us and holding guns. I told them I was a citizen, born here in the United States, and they did not believe me.”

# # #

For more information: www.ufcw.org/icemisconduct.cfm

WASHINGTON

The report, Raids on Workers: Destroying Our Rights, offers a critical analysis of one of the central components of the Bush Administration’s immigration strategy and provides a detailed account of how heavy handed enforcement tactics led to systemic abuse of workers’ rights and a willful disregard for the rule of law.

“This commission was formed to examine allegations of abuse and misconduct by ICE agents during the course of immigration raids,” said Joseph T. Hansen, founding chairman of the commission and president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW). “What we have uncovered is that during the Bush Administration ICE agents repeatedly trampled on innocent workers’ constitutional rights. These were not isolated incidents, but systemic problems that occurred in almost every region of the country. No government agency is above the law, and no worker should have to face the mistreatment and misconduct that these hardworking men and women were subjected to under the Bush Administration.”

The Commission, which is made up of former elected officials, labor leaders, academics, civil rights leaders and immigration and legal experts, spent more than a year holding regional hearings, interviewing witnesses and soliciting input from a wide range of workers, elected officials, policy experts, psychologists, and religious and community leaders.

The result is the most expansive analysis of the Bush Administration’s use of workplace raids and its total failure to address the wider problems of our nation’s broken immigration system.

Upon its creation, the commissioners set out to achieve the following objectives:

• Conduct hearings on allegations of ICE abuse and misconduct in locations across the country;
• Hear from workers and their families on the impact of ICE raids;
• Hear testimony from community leaders, academics, constitutional experts and the business community;
• Inform the public and elected officials;
• Issue a report on the findings with a plan of action to protect workers’ constitutional rights from any future abuse;

At each hearing, clear patterns began to emerge regarding the tactics used by ICE agents and how the procedures used by these officials were compromising the rights of workers.

The testimony the Commission received revealed several disturbing patterns:

• U.S. Citizens and Legal Permanent Residents detained for hours unable to leave even after establishing their status
• A lack of coordination by ICE with state and local labor and child welfare agencies
• Violations of the Fourth Amendment, which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures
• The use of massive amounts of taxpayer resources and personnel to administer civil warrants
• Repeated incidents of racial profiling and harassment
• The human toll of immigration enforcement, including family separation and children left without proper care
• Lasting economic and psychological devastation of communities and families in the aftermath of workplace and community raids

In addition to examining the impact of the raids, the Commission’s report lays out a clear path to a sensible, legal, and effective immigration enforcement policy that is consistent with the following objectives:

• Target enforcement at criminal employers who abuse the immigration system and exploit an undocumented workforce;
• Coordinate enforcement with the Department of Labor to protect workers and preserve their rights before any possible detention or processing;
• Treat workers and their families with respect so they will be more inclined to assist in the prosecution of criminal employers, and to build trust between law enforcement and the community;
• Vigorous oversight over ICE’s activities;
• Stronger enforcement of existing federal labor laws;
• Coordinated humanitarian efforts in the wake of workplace enforcement actions;
• Enhancement of legal protections against abuse.

The Commission report also emphasized the need for passage of meaningful comprehensive immigration reform legislation – and concluded that piecemeal immigration proposals would never solve the underlying issues. The report lays out a series of elements that should be included in immigration reform legislation, including a path to earned legalization, family unification and stronger sanctions of employers that break the law.

“This report was written to ensure that there is an historical account of the Bush administration’s actions, so that former government officials cannot whitewash history,” added Hansen. “It also represents an opportunity to start a national discussion about immigration, worker rights and our core values as a nation. We hope to use this report – and its recommendations – to jumpstart a new dialogue with Congress and with the American public—about an immigration system that works for America’s workers.”

>>> Click here to download a copy of the report

>>> Click here to listen to the release

The Bush administration’s enforcement-only policy was a disaster for workers. Administration officials became masters of misdirection, as Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) agents conducted terrorizing worksite raids under the guise of meaningful immigration reform.

On December 12, 2006, the Bush administration conducted massive worksite raids at six Swift and Company meatpacking plants, rounding up, detaining and criminalizing thousands of workers at each plant for doing no more than reporting to work, no more than trying to earn a living.

The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), the union that today represents the workers in those plants, established a National Commission on ICE Misconduct soon after. The Commission held five hearings on those and other raids, in cities across the nation. Now it has released a report telling the story of the human toll exacted by the Bush administration’s enforcement-only policy, in the hope it will trigger a dialogue on immigration reform with our new administration.

It’s the story of workers’ terrifying ordeal, when ICE agents handcuffed them, denied their right to counsel or to meet with union representation, and didn’t even have the decency to let workers use the bathroom or call their families. It’s the story of workers held against their will, native born and immigrant citizens alike—all because the Bush administration had identified, out of the 12,000 people working at those Swift plants, 133 who were suspected of identity theft. It’s the story of misplaced priorities on national security. As Senator John Kerry, who spoke at Commission hearing in Massachusetts, said of a raid there:

On March 6^th of 2007, of all the dangers that were lurking in America…of all the threats being assessed by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, apparently, on that day, none were more insidious or challenging to us, or more menacing, than several hundred people, mostly women, in New Bedford who were making backpacks for the U.S. Army.

The consequences were grave; towns were devastated, families were torn apart. Children and parents suffered lasting mental effects. A high school student, Maria, described her mother’s arrest at a Swift plant and how she broke the news to her younger siblings:

At night, I had to do the hardest thing in the world, explain to a three-year-old and a five-year-old what was happening and why their mother wasn’t coming home. They looked at me with their eyes filled with tears. I felt the same way, so helpless and alone…Many kids are scared of the boogieman, but [my siblings] are afraid of ICE.

And the consequences for workers’ civil liberties were just as horrifying. In the report’s introduction, UFCW International President Joe Hansen describes the Bush administration’s flagrant disregard for the rule of law. “Racial profiling. Due process ignored… the Constitution tossed aside.”

The Commission offers this report as a record of an administration utterly abdicating its responsibility to provide a workable immigration policy. But it’s also offered as an opening for a new dialogue on immigration with the Obama administration, with a president committed to the idea that our ideals and security need not be mutually exclusive.

And central to that discussion, that dialogue, is the idea that at its core immigration is about workers. We need a productive immigration discussion about all workers, native born and immigrant, and their rights, protections, and opportunities to achieve the American Dream.

crossposted at DailyKos

It’s not a new refrain. It’s been heard throughout our history during periods of immigration of various groups, like the Chinese, to the United States. It’s a dangerous phrase that implies a delicate balance between “us” and the “other,” the immigrant, which “they” are tipping by coming into our country and taking all the jobs. It’s a phrase that cuts off all debate and has even some reasonable, otherwise compassionate people nodding in agreement.

And now we find out it’s not even true. From the Des Moines Register today:

With the Obama administration and Congress expected to push ahead with immigration reform, it’s important that lawmakers and the public shape policy changes based on fact rather than fears.

It has perhaps seemed logical to assume that the willingness of many foreigners – particularly those here illegally – to work for low pay takes jobs away from Americans. But it turns out that having a large number of recent immigrants in a location doesn’t necessarily correlate with a lot of native-born workers being unemployed, based on an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.

That analysis, done by the Immigration Policy Center, shows that “there is little apparent relationship between recent immigration and unemployment rates at the regional, state, or county level.”

The report shows, for example, that:

Recent immigrants make up 8.4 percent of the population in the Pacific region (California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii), but just 2.8 percent of the population in the East North Central region (Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin). Yet, the regions had similar unemployment rates of 10.8 percent in the Pacific region and 10 percent in the East North Central region as of March 2009.

Another example: In New Jersey, recent immigrants account for 7.3 percent of the population, but in Maine they are just 0.8 percent. Nonetheless, the states’ March unemployment rates respectively were 8.3 and 8.l percent.

The report found the highest unemployment rates are in counties in manufacturing centers and rural areas, which generally draw fewer recent immigrants.

The tradition of blaming job loss on immigrants is one we ought to lose in a hurry. Unemployment is very real problem, but it’s not the fault of immigrants. We need problem-solving, not scapegoating, to fix our economy and implement meaningful immigration reform in this country.

“This announcement marks an important shift in policy that will end the heavy handed, headline-grabbing tactics that were the hallmark of the Bush administration.

“It is clear that the Bush administration used workplace raids as an attempt to cover up its failure to address the broader challenge of addressing the root causes of our broken immigration system. The result was workplace raids that led to clear Constitutional violations, including the detention of U.S. citizens, as well as the devastation and destruction of innocent families and communities.

“The announcement today is an important step in the right direction. It creates a system that will punish bad employers. It will help ensure that businesses that try to game the system, exploit vulnerable workers or attempt to drive down wages and working conditions are held accountable.

“But, as President Obama has said, we cannot address immigration reform in a piecemeal fashion, we must do it comprehensively. Enforcement is only one part of this issue.

“Change to Win and the AFL-CIO recently unveiled an immigration framework that will address all of the interconnecting parts of this complicated issue. We look forward to working closely with Congress and the Obama administration to pass an immigration system that works for America’s workers, and that upholds the values of our nation.

“We are a nation that respects hard work, family and the pursuit of the American Dream. Our immigration system must hold true to these principles.”

 WASHINGTON – Joseph T. Hansen, International President of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) and chair of the Change to Win Immigration Task Force, and John Sweeney, International President of the AFL-CIO, today unveiled a unified framework for comprehensive immigration reform legislation.

The joint announcement and proposal is a critical sign of support for the Administration and Congress to address immigration reform – and to ensure that it remains a priority on the legislative calendar. It is also an important sign that immigration reform is an important part of economic recovery.

“We need an immigration system that works for America’s workers,” said President Hansen. “For too long, our nation’s immigration system has fueled discrimination and exploitation of workers. It has driven down wages and working conditions. And it has failed to live up to our nation’s values. We now have an opportunity to change course. This framework is a roadmap toward real reform—reform that addresses the needs of our nation’s workers, families and communities. This framework is about moving America forward. We are a nation that respects hard work, family and the pursuit of the American Dream. Our immigration system must hold true to these principles.”

“”Our nation’s broken immigration system isn’t working for anybody –not immigrant workers who are routinely exploited by companies and not U.S. born workers whose living standards are being undermined by the creation of a new “”underclass.”"  As a part of broad-based economic recovery, we need a comprehensive solution — and soon.  The development of a unified labor position, a position centered on workers’ rights, puts us on the path to a legislative solution,”" said President Sweeney.  “The labor movement will speak in one voice to address this pressing issue with Congress and the White House to create a system that protects all workers — those who work in our shadow economy and those who have full rights.”

Sweeney and Hansen also were joined by Eliseo Medina, Executive Vice President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and Arturo Rodriquez, President of the United Farm Workers (UFW), in making the announcement. Both Medina and Rodriguez have been national leaders on immigration reform and played a key role in the formation of the immigration framework.

“As we face the most serious recession since the Great Depression—as healthcare costs skyrocket, income disparity grows, and the middle class continues to shrink—the American public wants fundamental reform of economic and social policies that have benefited the few at the expense of the working majority,” said Medina “Immigration reform is no exception. Today’s unified agreement is a major step forward that will, combined with the continued leadership of President Obama, Vice President Biden and bipartisan leadership in Congress, profoundly improve the future of all workers and build a stronger American economy for our children and grandchildren.”

“Today’s unity statement is a recognition of the dire need to have immigration laws that work and work for all workers,” said President Rodriguez.  “Too many workers – both U.S. and immigrant are exploited by the current system and that needs to change.  The United Farm Workers, Change to Win and the AFL-CIO came together because we can no longer be delayed.”

President Obama recently reiterated his support for immigration reform and stated that real reform cannot be completed in a piecemeal fashion

The Unity Framework, which was developed in consultation with Former Secretary of Labor Ray Marshall and the Economic Policy Institute, provides a comprehensive plan for addressing immigration reform.

“”Immigration reform is a core issue for the labor movement,”" said Ray Marshall, former Secretary of Labor.  ”"I am pleased to have assisted the unions in coming together to support an approach framed around protecting workers rights.”"

The labor proposal adheres to the Administration’s goals by creating a framework that deals with the critical components of reform and does it through interconnected initiatives. The proposal calls for:  (1) an independent commission to assess and manage future flows, based on labor market shortages that are determined on the basis of actual need; (2) a secure and effective worker authorization mechanism; (3) rational operational control of the border; (4) adjustment of status for the current undocumented population; and (5) improvement, not expansion, of temporary worker programs, limited to temporary or seasonal, not permanent, jobs.

In the coming weeks, representatives from labor will be meeting with key Congressional and Administration staff to discuss the framework and how best to move the issue forward. The groups have also briefed key activists and advocates about the framework and will be working closely with these vital allies in the coming months.

Framework for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Immigration reform is a component of a shared prosperity agenda that focuses on improving productivity and quality; limiting wage competition; strengthening labor standards, especially the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively; and providing social safety nets and high quality lifelong education and training for workers and their families.  To achieve this goal, immigration reform must fully protect U. S. workers, reduce the exploitation of immigrant workers, and reduce the employers’ incentive to hire undocumented workers rather than U.S. workers.  The most effective way to do that is for all workers—immigrant and native-born—to have full and complete access to the protection of labor, health and safety and other laws.  Comprehensive immigration reform must complement a strong, well-resourced and effective labor standards enforcement initiative that prioritizes workers’ rights and workplace protections. This approach will ensure that immigration does not depress wages and working conditions or encourage marginal low-wage industries that depend heavily on substandard wages, benefits, and working conditions.

This approach to immigration reform has five major interconnected pieces:  (1) an independent commission to assess and manage future flows, based on labor market shortages that are determined on the basis of actual need; (2) a secure and effective worker authorization mechanism; (3) rational operational control of the border; (4) adjustment of status for the current undocumented population; and (5) improvement, not expansion, of temporary worker programs, limited to temporary or seasonal, not permanent, jobs.

Family reunification is an important goal of immigration policy and it is the national interest for it to remain that way.  First, families strongly influence individual and national welfare.  Families have historically facilitated the assimilation of immigrants into American life.  Second, the failure to allow family reunification creates strong pressures for unauthorized immigration, as happened with IRCA’s amnesty provisions.  Third, families are the most basic learning institutions, teaching children values as well as skills to succeed in school, society, and at work.  Finally, families are important economic units that provide valuable sources of entrepreneurship, job training, support for members who are unemployed and information and networking for better labor market information.

The long-term solution to uncontrolled immigration is to stop promoting failed globalization policies and encourage just and humane economic integration, which will eliminate the enormous social and economic inequalities at both national and international levels.  U.S. immigration policy should consider the effects of immigration reforms on immigrant source countries, especially Mexico.  It is in our national interest for Mexico to be a prosperous and democratic country able to provide good jobs for most of its adult population, thereby ameliorating strong pressures for emigration.   Much of the emigration from Mexico in recent years resulted from the disruption caused by NAFTA, which displaced millions of Mexicans from subsistence agriculture and enterprises that could not compete in a global market.  Thus, an essential component of the long term solution is a fair trade and globalization model that uplifts all workers, promotes the creation of free trade unions around the world, ensures the enforcement of labor rights, and guarantees all workers core labor protections.

1.  Future Flow

One of the great failures of our current employment-based immigration system is that the level of legal work-based immigration is set arbitrarily by Congress as a product of political compromise —without regard to real labor market needs—and it is rarely updated to reflect changing circumstances or conditions.  This failure has allowed unscrupulous employers to manipulate the system to the detriment of workers and reputable employers alike.  The system for allocating employment visas—both temporary and permanent—should be depoliticized and placed in the hands of an independent commission that can assess labor market needs on an ongoing basis and—based on a methodology approved by Congress–determine the number of foreign workers to be admitted for employment purposes, based on labor market needs.  In designing the new system, and establishing the methodology to be used for assessing labor shortages, the Commission will be required to examine the impact of immigration on the economy, wages, the workforce and business.

2. Worker authorization mechanism

The current system of regulating the employment of unauthorized workers is defunct, ineffective and has failed to curtail illegal immigration.  A secure and effective worker authorization mechanism is one that determines employment authorization accurately while providing maximum protection for workers, contains sufficient due process and privacy protections, and prevents discrimination.  The verification process must be taken out of the hands of employers, and the mechanism must rely on secure identification methodology.  Employers who fail to properly use the system properly must face strict liability including significant fines and penalties regardless of the immigration status of their workers.

3. Rational Operational Control of the Border

A new immigration system must include rational control of our borders.  Border security is clearly very important, but not sufficient, since 40 to 45 percent of unauthorized immigrants did not cross the border unlawfully, but overstayed visas.  Border controls therefore must be supplemented by effective work authorization and other components of this framework.  An “enforcement-only” policy will not work.  Practical border controls balance border enforcement with the other components of this framework and with the reality that over 30 million valid visitors cross our borders each year.  Enforcement therefore should respect the dignity and rights of our visitors, as well as residents in border communities.  In addition, enforcement authorities must understand that they need cooperation from communities along the border. Border enforcement is likely to be most effective when it focuses on criminal elements and engages immigrants and border community residents in the enforcement effort.  Similarly, border enforcement is most effective when it is left to trained professional border patrol agents and not vigilantes or local law enforcement officials—who require cooperation from immigrants to enforce state and local laws.

4. Adjustment of Status for the Current Undocumented Population

Immigration reform must include adjustment of status for the current undocumented population.  Rounding up and deporting the 12 million or more immigrants who are unlawfully present in the U.S. may make for a good sound bite, but it is not a realistic solution.  And if these immigrants are not given adequate incentive to “come out of the shadows” to adjust their status, we will continue to have a large pool of unauthorized workers whom employers will continue to exploit in order to drive down wages and other standards, to the detriment of all workers.   Having access to a large undocumented workforce has allowed employers to create an underground economy, without the basic protections afforded to U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, and where employers often misclassify workers as independent contractors, thus evading payroll taxes, which deprives federal, state, and local governments of additional revenue.  An inclusive, practical and swift adjustment of status program will raise labor standards for all workers.  The adjustment process must be rational, reasonable and accessible and it must be designed to ensure that it will not encourage future illegal immigration.

5. Improvement, not Expansion, of Temporary Worker Programs

The United States must improve the administration of existing temporary worker programs, but should not adopt a new “indentured” or “guest worker” initiative.  Our country has long recognized that it is not good policy for a democracy to admit large numbers of workers with limited civil and employment rights.

The UFCW is the largest private sector union in North America—and, one of the largest unions of new immigrant workers in the U.S. with more than 200,000 new immigrants as members.

We are the primary worker representative in industries that are major employers of immigrant workers, meatpacking, food processing and poultry and have a hundred-year history of fighting for safe working conditions and good wages on behalf of packing and processing workers.

Last Tuesday morning, 13,000 workers clocked in to work as they do every day. They didn’t know that government agents would soon storm their worksites dressed in riot gear, brandishing military weapons and locking the doors to prevent anyone from coming in or out. Their mission involved a warrant ICE had obtained to apprehend 170 individuals suspected of identity theft.

The ICE action clearly reached far beyond those 170 suspects. Workers were herded into cafeterias and segregated. In Utah, the ICE agents used skin color to identify the “”suspects.”" In other locations naturalized citizens were separated from the native born.

In effect, people were subjected to a criminal process simply for going to work. In some plants, workers with proper authorization had their identification stripped from them. Many were detained and then transported far from home before being given an opportunity to present their case.

Walter Molina was pulled into the group of detained suspects. His girlfriend wasn’t allowed to bring his valid green card to him at the Grand Island, Nebraska, plant.

Lacking ID, he was transported six hours away to Camp Dodge, Iowa, where, after confirming his status, ICE released him. He was left to fend for himself and had to spend $140 of his own money on a bus ticket home.

Walter’s story was repeated over and over again as workers were held captive by ICE agents and denied both representation by their union and due process to clear themselves before being hauled away to distant cities and other states.

Perhaps the most inhumane result of the ICE action last Tuesday is how it ripped parents away from hundreds of children at schools and with babysitters. In one small school district in Texas, 25 children were left in their care the evening of the raid. In Marshalltown, Iowa, a Hispanic ministry was caring for a breastfeeding infant whose single mother was detained. The baby refused a bottle and was struggling to eat. ICE transported her mother to a Georgia detention facility two days later. To this day, one week later, there a small child still with a non-relative babysitter. We still cannot locate its only parent presumed to be caught up in this raid.

There are still hundreds, if not thousands, of children – U.S.-born citizens – left under the care of neighbors, friends, relatives or local charities. The loss of breadwinners has left families unable to pay for food, shelter, or heat.

The real tragedy here is that none of this had to happen. Just last month, four workers from the Louisville, Kentucky, Swift meat packing plant were arrested by ICE agents as part of this same investigation. ICE officials calmly went into the plant and extracted the four individuals who they were looking for. The Louisville plant was not raided on Tuesday.

Government agents could have approached all of the plants the same way they approached the Louisville facility. They could have but they choose not to do so. To date, only 65 people have been charged with identity theft.

Let me be clear, the UFCW does not condone identity theft or any illegal activity. Our union supports law enforcement doing its job. In fact, we represent many law enforcement officers across the country. But we have a real problem when law enforcement goes too far—and in the Swift raids law enforcement was more about politics and making a splash than about apprehending individuals suspected of identity theft.

There are those who say that family disruption is the price parents pay for breaking the law. But indiscriminate military-style raids that sweep up people like Walter Molina are aimed more at visiting trauma and fear on entire workforces and communities than apprehending individuals who may have broken the law. Worksite raids, family disruption, criminalizing work – this is not an effective immigration system.

The core issue here is a failed immigration system that compounds its failure by victimizing workers. The Basic Pilot Program has been laden with problems since its inception. In the case of the Swift raids, you have a company that was, by and large, in compliance with Basic Pilot. That didn’t stop ICE from storming the plants, refusing to allow workers to meet with their union representatives, denying attorney access to workers, and casting whole communities into turmoil.

The recent IMAGE program allows companies to opt into a procedure that can provide cover for firing workers who speak up for workplace safety and other protections.

Immigration policy must face reality. We have to face the reality that corporations export jobs in search of cheap wages and weak labor laws. And other companies that can’t export jobs import workers to create a domestic pool of exploitable labor.

These companies lure undocumented immigrants to the U.S. to create a low-wage, disposable workforce in this country. They advertise for workers outside U.S. borders. They utilize labor contractors. They use current workers to recruit more workers. They pay immigrants less, offer fewer benefits, and threaten them with deportation if they stand up for better wages, working conditions, or try to organize a union.

The failure of trade policy to include strong, enforceable labor standards has created a vast international labor pool that lives and works without rights or hope for the future. This is the reality we face.

Raiding workplaces, breaking up families, and devastating communities offer no genuine or sensible answer to this situation. Temporary worker programs are not the solution.

It is put forward by advocates as a realistic and humane way to deal with the issue of immigration—after all, companies require a labor force and immigrant workers seek employment.

But the true reality of temporary worker would institutionalize our current system, where immigrant workers are preyed upon and used as a wedge to lower wages and working conditions for all workers, especially in the many industries that require hard physical labor—and it wouldn’t be difficult to speculate that the Swift ICE raids were intended to build political will for temporary worker.

Temporary worker would officially relegate immigrants to second class status and give companies another excuse to turn permanent jobs that pay well into low-wage, no-benefit, and no-future jobs.

Guestworker, or Temporary worker as it is now called, has historically led to the mistreatment of workers.

Temporary worker, particularly in industries that do not require college or even high school degrees, inherently provide employers with the opportunity to abuse and exploit workers.

We have laws that say workers must have a safe workplace, but the laws are useless if workers can take no action under the law without fear of deportation.

We have laws that say workers can take collective action to improve working conditions, but employers will and do end workers’ guestworker status and, therefore, employment for any number of reasons when, coincidentally, those workers happen to be speaking out on behalf of safer workplaces or forming a union.

I have witnessed just this kind of action on the part of employers. American democracy works because it’s inclusive. If you live and work in America, you ought to be able to participate in the decision-making that governs your life. But temporary worker would permanently exclude individuals who contribute to our economic wellbeing from participating in our democratic process.

If America is about anything, it is about hope—especially hope to achieve the American dream.

We must have an immigration system that helps turn that hope into reality for all workers, new immigrant and native-born. We must have comprehensive reform—and that reform should rest on four basic principles:

1) A system that authentically regulates legal entry into this country.

2) One that criminalizes employer recruitment and importation of undocumented labor.

3) It must provide a path to legalization for immigrants who have worked here for years, paying taxes and contributing to their communities.

4) And it must ensure that our immigration processes do not provide employers an incentive to undermine workplace standards that lower wages and benefits for all workers.

We have seen thousands of immigrant workers killed, injured and maimed on the job. We have seen immigrant workers crammed into substandard housing. We have seen millions of immigrant workers underpaid and overworked, used up and then dumped, without rights or regard for their well-being.

The Swift raids are simply the latest in a long chain of abuse resulting from the failure of our immigration system.

It must stop. This is America and that should still mean something to all of us. We must challenge our country to be the America that has been the hope of immigrants, and all workers, for more than two centuries.

Thank you.

Immigrant Workers Put Food on the Table for America’s Families

> En Español

> UFCW Statement on Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride

The nation’s largest private sector union and the largest workers’ organization in the food industry, the 1.4 million member United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), is mobilizing to protect the rights of immigrant workers who now comprise the majority of the workforce in much of America’s meat and food processing industry.

UFCW members and leaders are “”getting on the bus”" for the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Seattle, Miami, Minneapolis, Houston, and Chicago.

“”We are bringing a message of hope to immigrant workers. The workers who are doing America’s work— the hard work— the dangerous work— the work that puts food on the dinner table for America’s families. We believe, that if you do the work, you’ve earned the opportunity for legal status, a living wage and respect for your rights. We are calling on America to recognize the contribution of some its most valuable workers,”" said UFCW President Doug Dority.

The UFCW has been aggressively organizing immigrant workers in the meatpacking industry for more than three decades. From Southeast Asian refugees during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s to Latin American and African immigrants of today, the UFCW has been fighting to open the door to the American dream for a new generation of immigrants. A century ago, immigrants from Central and Southern Europe sweated and struggled in the meatpacking industry as chronicled in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. Today, in non-union plants, conditions rival those of a century ago with high injury rates, high turnover and low wages.

“”Employers ruthlessly exploit immigrant workers, who often have no understanding of workplace rights and who live in constant fear of deportation. While the government cannot effectively stop employers from recruiting and importing immigrant workers solely for the purpose of economic exploitation, the government does effectively suppress these workers in the struggle against exploitation through allowing employers’ to threaten INS enforcement action against them. To protect American workplace standards, we must legalize and organize immigrant workers to stop the widespread abuse of worker rights,”" according to Dority.

The Immigrant Worker Freedom Ride draws on the experience of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Building bridges to the broader community and drawing strength from the struggles of the past connects today’s immigrants to a support network that can mobilize the social and political power to open the eyes, move the heart and change the laws of America to recognize the rights of immigrant workers.

UFCW activities are featured at stops in Omaha, Nebraska, and Fayetteville. North Carolina.

A rally in Omaha will focus on a community-wide, industry-wide organizing effort in the area’s meatpacking industry. From organizing soccer leagues to organizing unions, community and UFCW activists are building a model for empowering immigrant workers and winning community support. Nebraska’s Republican Governor responded to the effort with a proclamation of a “”Bill of Rights”" for meatpacking workers. The effort has led to organization and a union contract for immigrant workers at three Omaha area plants.

UFCW contracts for immigrant workers have produced tangible improvements in workers’ lives including wage increases and affordable, family health insurance. Union contracts also:

> protect immigrant workers from unfair firings;

> protect workers from discrimination based immigration status; and,

> provide workers with representation and impartial arbitration to protect their rights.

The contracts also establish multi-cultural funds that provide resources for programs such as safety training in Spanish and English as a second language classes.

According to Dority, “”Every worker has an interest in stopping the exploitation of immigrant workers. If employers can get away violating the rights of any worker, they will soon be able to exploit all workers. Immigrant workers are the victims in a system that wants their labor, but would at the same time deny them the rights and rewards of their work. That’s not the American way. When the buses stop in New York, the work begins to re-ignite the flame on the Statue of Liberty to light the way to human rights for this generation of immigrants.”"

The UFCW has been fighting back against workplace discrimination against immigrant workers. With a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, the UFCW produced an award- winning Spanish-language video, “”Acuérdense Siempre de Sus Derechos”" (Always Know Your Rights), to help workers protect themselves against employer abuse. Copies of the video are available by emailing press@ufcw.org

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Legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives—H.R. 4437—would criminalize and scapegoat immigrant workers for failed U.S. policies.

The combination of America’s broken immigration system and a trade policy devoid of worker standards has allowed corporations to create an international labor pool of exploitable workers.   In fact, the U.S.immigration system has been hijacked and privatized by American employers that lure immigrants to this country both to exploit them and drive down wages and working conditions for all workers–especially in low-wage jobs.

We are an immigrant movement. The UFCW has been fighting to organize, represent, and improve wages and working conditions for immigrant workers for decades. Meatpacking and food processing were among the first industries to utilize immigrant labor. A hundred years ago, Polish, Italian, and Southern European immigrants poured into the nation’s packing plants. Today, immigrants from Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Africa  work the processing lines of the packing industry.

Immigration reform must be comprehensive. A constructive immigration policy would respect and provide a legalization process for the millions of immigrant workers already contributing to our economy and society, while protecting wages and workplace protections for all workers—anything less hurts all workers.

Washington DC—Immigrant rights are worker rights.

Hundreds of thousands of people are in the streets today demanding rational and comprehensive reform of U.S. immigration policy.

The UFCW has been fighting to organize, represent, and improve wages and working conditions for immigrant workers for decades. Meatpacking and food processing were among the first to utilize immigrant labor. In fact, the UFCW has been fighting this battle for more than a hundred years.

We are an immigrant movement. A hundred years ago, Polish, Italian, and Southern European immigrants poured into the nation’s packing plants. Today, immigrants from Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Africa work the processing lines of the packing industry.

The U.S. has no national immigration policy. In reality, immigration policy has been privatized. Private employers import and exploit immigrant workers at will with little or no regard for federal law or federal enforcement agencies.

Immigration issues in the U.S. are part of a larger, global trend‑‑‑the systematic exploitation of labor. Corporations export jobs in search of the most exploitable labor pool‑‑‑and they import workers to create a domestic pool of exploitable labor.

Because U.S. trade policy fails to include strong, enforceable labor standards, it has created a vast international labor pool that lives and works without rights or hope for the future. It is a pool of workers that can be recruited, imported, exploited, and disposed of.

To criminalize immigrants in the U.S.—as H.R. 4437 would do—for the failure of U.S. policy is hypocritical and immoral.

Immigration reform must be comprehensive. A constructive immigration policy would respect and provide a legalization process for the millions of immigrant workers already contributing to our economy and society, while protecting wages and workplace protections for all workers.  Anything less hurts all of us.

On May 12, 2008, an on-going investigation into child labor violations at the Agriprocessors processing plant in Postville, Iowa, was derailed by a conflicting raid conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Among those rounded up in the raid were numerous children, some as young as thirteen years old.

Mark Lauritsen, International Vice President of the UFCW, says Agriprocessors has gotten away with the labor violations for too long. He states: “There is not one other meatpacker operator in this country that has the same sustained long record of law violations as Agriprocessors, not one. They’re acting like a renegade in an already tough industry. It’s not good for the industry, it’s not good for the workers who work in it.”

Despite evidence of the use of child labor, Agriprocessors has yet to be held legally accountable for its actions.

While children across the country caught the bus for school and headed off for classes, the children at Agriprocessors went off to work in one of the most dangerous industries in the country.

Child labor anywhere is a disaster, but the discovery of child labor in an American packing plant is an outrage. To ignore the violations that happened there would not only be neglectful of our laws, but a disgrace to our core American values and what we stand for as a country.

The UFCW has never tolerated the use of child labor and never will. Together, we must expose the misdeeds of companies driven by corporate greed and help build stronger workplaces where respect for workers, and those children who will be the next generation of workers, is top priority. Learn More here.

“The goal of today’s hearing is to shine a spotlight on the government’s activities,” said commission member and former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack. “Our Constitution is at stake, and if our government can’t following the Constitution, that is a serious problem that must be addressed.”

The hearing focused on the impact of workplace immigration raids in Marshalltown, Iowa, Grand Island, Neb., and Greeley, Colo., and examined how the execution of these raids is part of a wider pattern of ICE misconduct occurring across the country.

“”This is our third regional hearing and the fact that at each one we are hearing similar testimony of heavy handed tactics by immigration agents, as well as examples of clear violations of workers’ constitutional rights, is deeply troubling and points to the systemic and recurring nature of these injustices,” said Joseph T. Hansen, founding chairman of the National Commission and United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) International Union president.

The hearing in Des Moines was part of a series of regional public meetings that the commission is holding to explore the execution, implications and ramifications of workplace immigration enforcement. The commission will also look into claims that ICE has engaged in violations of the 4^th amendment.  After a thorough investigation, the commission will produce a public report that highlights its findings and makes recommendations about how the system should be reformed.

“Many of the misdeeds that we have heard from occurred to workers who are in this country legally; U.S. citizens who have lived in the United States their whole lives, people who were born here or who immigrated properly to this country,” added Vilsack. “That is what concerns me, and why it is critical that these activities are exposed and adequately addressed.”

To date, ICE has refused to address the concerns raised by the witnesses who have testified.

“This commission has heard from workers, from religious leaders, from elected officials at every level of government and from psychological and legal experts,” added Hansen. “For ICE to try to ignore the pain these workers have gone through, as well as the testimony of respected leaders and elected officials about the devastation and destruction these raids cause families and communities, is simply unacceptable. We will continue to draw public attention to their actions until the system is appropriately reformed.”

The national commission was created in response to a series of raids that took place at meatpacking plants in America’s heartland.  On December 12, 2006, thousands of innocent workers were detained at meatpacking plants in six states during workplace raids carried out by federal ICE agents. The UFCW represents workers at five of the plants, including Worthington, Minn.; Greeley, Colo.; Cactus, Tex.; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Grand Island, Neb.

On September 12, 2007, the UFCW filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to protect the 4^th amendment rights of all Americans and enjoin the government from illegally arresting and detaining workers, including U.S. citizens and legal residents, while at their workplace.

In addition to Vilsack and Hansen, a broad group of leading policy experts serves on the commission. The commission held its first hearing in Washington, D.C., on February 25, 2008, and the second hearing in Boston on April 7, 2008. Future hearings are scheduled in Atlanta, Ga., for May 29, 2008.

Civilian-driven commissions have played an important role in U.S. history. When African-Americans were arrested, beaten and killed during the civil rights movement, the tragedies fueled the McCone Commission in 1965 and the National Advisory Commission in 1968.

When Japanese-Americans were sent to internment camps during World War II, the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians was established to investigate these unacceptable civil rights violations.

Citizen review panels are often created to help renew a commitment to rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, especially when those rights are violated by local police brutality.

“”The testimony today provided compelling and often heartbreaking evidence of the widespread devastation that immigration raids have inflicted on workers, their families, communities and local economies,”" said Joseph T. Hansen, founding chairman of the National Commission and United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) International Union president. “”The fact that so many of the emotional and economic wounds inflicted by ICE agents remain so raw, and the fact that so many questions remain unanswered long after the raids, makes ensuring accountability for these questionable actions by a government agency that much more important.”"

The head of ICE, Julie L. Myers, was invited to testify, but declined to appear before the commission.

The hearing in Boston is part of a series of regional public meetings that the commission is holding to explore the execution, implications and ramifications of workplace immigration enforcement on local communities. The commission will also look into claims that ICE has engaged in violations of the 4th amendment. After a thorough investigation, the commission will produce a public report that highlights its findings and makes recommendations about how the system should be reformed.

“”As our commission travels the country and talks to more and more workers and experts, we are seeing troubling and repeated patterns of misconduct emerging,”" Hansen added. “”This commission will continue to aggressively pursue the facts and will ensure that they get a full and complete public airing. “”

The commission was created in response to a raid that took place at meatpacking plants in America’s heartland two years ago. On December 12, 2006, thousands of innocent workers were detained at meatpacking plants in six states during workplace raids carried out by federal ICE agents. The UFCW represents workers at five of the plants, including Worthington, Minn.; Greeley, Colo.; Cactus, Tex.; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Grand Island, Neb.

On September 12, 2007, the UFCW filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to protect the 4th amendment rights of all Americans and enjoin the government from illegally arresting and detaining workers, including U.S. citizens and legal residents, while at their workplace.

A broad group of leading policy experts serves on the commission, including former Governor of Iowa Tom Vilsack. The commission held its first hearing in Washington, D.C. on February 25, 2008. Future hearings are scheduled in Des Moines, Iowa, on April 29, 2008 and in Atlanta, Ga., on May 29, 2008.

Civilian-driven commissions have played an important role in U.S. history. When African-Americans were arrested, beaten and killed during the civil rights movement, the tragedies fueled the McCone Commission in 1965 and the National Advisory Commission in 1968.

When Japanese-Americans were sent to internment camps during World War II, the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians was established to investigate these unacceptable civil rights violations.

Citizen review panels are often created to help renew a commitment to rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, especially when those rights are violated by local police brutality.

Visit www.icemisconduct.org for more information.

“”I’m a U.S. Citizen, born in Iowa,”" Graves said. “”Yet, ICE agents treated me as a criminal. They detained me for eight hours. There was no legitimate reason. There was no probable cause. Our plant – our workplace – was transformed into a prison. We were turned into prisoners because we went to work that day.”"

On December 12, 2006, thousands of meatpacking workers-including citizens, legal residents and immigrants in the process of legalization-were swept up in ICE raids at six meat packing plants across the country. The UFCW represents workers at five of the plants including Worthington, Minn.; Greeley, Colo.; Cactus, Tex.; Marshalltown, Ia.; and Grand Island, Neb.

“”What happened to me – and to thousands of other U.S. citizens and legal residents on that December day – was a complete violation of our rights,”" Graves testified. “”It can happen at any workplace – at any time – in this country if we do not do something now to change the way these immigration raids are conducted.”"

Unfortunately, Graves’ story was not an isolated incident. Many innocent workers at the plant were detained in handcuffs during the raids. Others were shipped out on buses. Families, schools and daycare centers could not be contacted to make arrangements for the children of detained workers. Families were left divided and scared-not knowing where or when they might see a missing family member again.

In September 2007, the UFCW filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas naming Michael Chertoff of U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Julie Myers of ICE as defendants. The suit calls for an injunction against the excessive, illegal and unnecessary worksite raids conducted by ICE agents.

In addition to the lawsuit, the UFCW recently announced the formation of a national commission to examine the policies and practices of enforcement actions by ICE. The commission will gather independent information and analysis through a series of regional public hearings that will explore the execution, implications and ramifications of workplace raids. It will also look into claims that ICE, in the conduct of raids, has engaged in violations of law. The commission is made up of a broad group of leading experts from across the country, including former elected officials, academics and public policy specialists. The first hearing will be held on February, 25, 2008.

“”We have seen federal agents routinely violate the 4th Amendment rights of workers during massive workplace raids across the country,”" said Mark Lauritsen, UFCW International Vice President. “”Until national leaders fix our country’s immigration system, our local communities will be torn apart, and the constitutional rights of citizens and legal residents will be routinely violated. Our country desperately requires a framework for moving forward, humanely and comprehensively, to fix our immigration system.”"

Each year, tens of thousands of high performing children of immigrants who were raised in the United States—including honor role students, star athletes, and aspiring teachers, doctors, lawyers and U.S. soldiers—graduate from high school.  Despite their academic achievements, they are effectively barred from contributing fully to our communities.

America cannot afford to turn its back on an educated class of promising students who have demonstrated a commitment to hard work and a strong desire to be upstanding members of our society.  Our current immigration policy has real human costs, and the UFCW will continue to fight for immigration reform that ensures that America’s workers and their children are able to improve their lives and realize the American Dream.

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UFCW suit challenges punitive immigration raids and
claims violation of 4th Amendment rights

Washington, D.C., —The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), today, sought court intervention to protect the 4th Amendment rights of all Americans and enjoin the government from illegally arresting and detaining workers including U.S. citizens and legal residents while at their workplace.

The lawsuit—filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas—names the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency as defendants. The suit calls for an injunction against the excessive, illegal and unnecessary worksite raids conducted by ICE agents.

“”This lawsuit is about ensuring that workers are protected and that their constitutional rights are respected,” said UFCW International President Joe Hansen at a press conference announcing the lawsuit. “”It is unconscionable that our government would round up hundreds, sometimes thousands, of innocent workers in an effort to target a few select individuals.”"

More than 12,000 meatpacking workers—including citizens, legal residents and immigrants in the process of legalization—were swept up in ICE raids on December 12, 2006, at six meat packing plants across the country. The UFCW represents workers at five of the plants including Worthington, Minn.; Greeley, Colo.; Cactus, Tex.; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Grand Island, Neb.  Despite this unprecedented, unwarranted and excessive use of force, only 65 workers were indicted for identity theft.

The legal complaint contends that during the December 12th raids workers were denied access to telephones, bathrooms and legal counsel. Citizens and legal residents also were deprived of the opportunity to retrieve documents to establish their legal status. Some workers were handcuffed. Others were shipped out on buses. Families, schools and daycare centers could not be contacted to make arrangements for the children of detained workers. Families were left divided and scared—not knowing where or when they might see a missing family member again.

“”When I tried to report to the cafeteria during the raid, ICE agents accused me of trying to run away. They held me in handcuffs. I’m a U.S. Citizen, born in Iowa. My parents live in Mississippi. My government treated me like a criminal, and I didn’t do anything wrong. I knew our rights were being violated. What they’re doing in these raids is illegal,”" said Mike Graves, who has lived in the United States his entire life, works at the Marshalltown, Iowa, Swift and Company plant, and is a member of  UFCW Local 1149.

Peter Schey, President of the Los Angeles-based Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law and the lead counsel in the UFCW litigation said, “The Department of Homeland Security routinely violates the Constitution and federal law when it conducts work place raids to detect undocumented workers by engaging in mass detentions of all workers without any basis for believing that they have violated any laws.  Such mass detentions have long been considered unlawful by the U.S. courts. While the Department of Homeland Security has a legitimate function to perform enforcing the nation’s immigration laws, it cannot do so by running roughshod over the well-established constitutional rights of U.S. citizens and lawful resident workers. If DHS Secretary Chertoff is unwilling or unable to stop the unconstitutional conduct of his agents, then we are sure the federal courts will step in to do so.”

The lawsuit also includes in its complaint that union lawyers and representatives were not given prompt access to UFCW members during and immediately after the raids. In many cases, union lawyers were denied access to UFCW members, a direct violation of a worker’s right to legal counsel.

“”Work is not a crime, and workers do not leave their constitutional rights at the plant gate,”" said Hansen. “”To inflict this kind of enforcement on innocent workers—to arrest and illegally detain massive numbers of people against their will, to treat them as criminals—is not just unacceptable, it is un-American.”

The UFCW expects members of the union, civil rights, religious, and immigrant rights communities to file amicus briefs on behalf of the UFCW suit.

In addition to the class-action lawsuit announced today, the UFCW will continue to hold field hearings across the country to investigate and expose these punitive actions against hardworking families. The UFCW also will press Congress to hold hearings into the issue and to renew its efforts to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

Click here for a pdf copy of Lawsuit

Click here for a pdf Immigration Raid Flyer

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December Ice Raids Subjected Thousands of UFCW Members and U.S. citizens to Mass Detention and Other Constitutional Rights Abuses

Omaha, Neb. — Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) today joined with community groups, civil rights leaders and immigrant rights activists to condemn abuse and misconduct by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Across the country, ICE enforcement teams have used unwarranted physical force to illegally detain workers in misguided attempts at enforcing failed U.S. immigration policies.

The national meeting today was held to hear workers’ testimony, many of whom were illegally held against their will, denied access to telephones, attorneys and even bathrooms.

“”The excessive show of force—the abusive conduct, the disregard for individual rights and the lack of concern for working families—it would make you think this incident occurred in a foreign country or in a distant era,”" said UFCW International President Joe Hansen in convening the meeting. “”But, unfortunately, the ICE raids happened in America’s heartland in our times. It happened to America’s workers—to our brothers and sisters. It happened to our fellow Americans, native born and immigrant.”"

Workers were denied access to telephones, bathrooms and legal counsel. Citizens and legal residents were denied the opportunity to retrieve documents to establish their legal status. Some were handcuffed and held for hours. Others were shipped out on buses.

During the raids, families, schools and day care centers could not be contacted to make arrangements for the children of detained workers. Families were left divided—not knowing where or when they might see a missing family member again.

“”Our union is standing up and speaking out about our members’ constitutional rights,”" said Hansen. “”They were illegally detained in these ICE raids. We have spent decades winning workers’ rights, and we will not sit idly by as federal agents deny them their 4th Amendment rights.”"

The UFCW today sponsored the National Meeting on ICE Misconduct and Violations of 4th Amendment Rights to bring together voices across the country; to collect the stories of workers who have suffered during ICE raids; and to plot a course of action on how best to respond.

“”When I tried to report to the cafeteria during the raid, ICE agents accused me of trying to run away. They held me in handcuffs. I’m a U.S. Citizen, born in Iowa. My parents live in Mississippi. My government treated me like a criminal and I didn’t do anything wrong. I knew our rights were being violated. What they’re doing in these raids is illegal,”" said Mike Graves, who has lived in the United States his entire life, works at the Marshalltown, Iowa, Swift and Company plant, and is a member of  UFCW Local 1149.

More than 12,000 meatpacking workers were swept up in ICE raids on December 12, 2006. Since then, many workers in other industries have been arrested, detained against their will and denied contact with their families in subsequent raids. Thousands of workers affected by these raids are U.S. citizens and legal residents.

“”The justification, in the Swift raids, for the mass disruption of work, family and community, the bullying, the intimidation, the fear, and the threats directed at the workers, was a handful of warrants involving less than a fraction of one percent of the workers swept up in the ICE action,”" said Hansen.

“”Workers were held by armed agents, herded together and systematically stripped of their rights,”" said Gabriela Flora an organizer in the central region of Project Voice of the American Friends Service Committee. “”They were denied access to bathrooms and legal counsel. Citizens and legal residents were denied the opportunity to retrieve documents to establish their legal status. Many workers were unable to look after children and elderly family members under their care, because they were not allowed to make a phone call. The breakdown of our 4th Amendment rights represents a failure of the first order on the part of our government.”"

“”Politicians cannot have it both ways. They cannot continue to say our immigration system is broken and needs fixing, then turn around and insist on excessive and illegal enforcement measures that make the problems worse for everyone—workers, business, and communities,”" said Hansen.

At the conclusion of today’s national community meeting, the UFCW organized the “”National Working Group on ICE Misconduct and Violations of 4th Amendment Rights,”" designed to help develop a national strategic response to the increased number of ICE raids and enforcement actions. The group will document what happened to union members during the raids, expose abuse and misconduct and present the evidence to Congress. The Working Group intends to show that ICE agents’ tactics during raids in December 2006 were in violation of the federal government’s own rules. The Group will collect other testimony from workplace sites where other raids occurred, and will demand that higher-up authorities in the federal government be held accountable.

“”Work is not a crime. Workers are not criminals. We do not leave our constitutional rights at the plant gate,”" said Hansen. “”The stories of workers caught up in these raids must be heard. Their experience should serve as the foundation for congressional hearings. Our political leaders must do something to secure 4th Amendment rights in the workplace.”"

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(Washington, DC) – On a hot, quiet August morning in Washington, DC – when the President is on vacation and Congress at recess – the Bush Administration announced an immigration reform package that essentially mandates federal racial discrimination.

The Administration’s guidelines would throw the doors open to racial discrimination to whole classes of people by placing an undue burden on workers who sound foreign, look foreign and particularly, on the tens of millions of Hispanic and Asian-Americans who would face greater scrutiny in the workplace.  It is irresponsible to toss out civil rights for the sake of political gamesmanship.

Considering the circumstances, today’s announcement smacks of nothing more than a publicity stunt aimed at terrifying immigrant workers.  Further, this program lacks the support and mandate of the American people who have been demanding humane, comprehensive immigration reform that addresses the root causes of illegal immigration.  This program offers no solutions, only punishments to workers.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has proven by its past behavior that it is not beyond their scope to traumatize innocent workers, including U.S. citizens, under the guise of immigration enforcement.  During its raids at Swift meatpacking plants last December, all workers, including citizens, legal residents, were held by ICE agents and subjected to unlawful search and seizure.  Law enforcement must uphold and defend the Constitution, not violate it.

Congress and the President promised the American people it would work toward solutions to these problems but both parties have failed.  It is time for our elected leaders to get back to work – not with unauthorized, sweeping gestures like this Bush enforcement program.

More than 250,000 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) work in the meatpacking and food processing industries.  Many of our workplaces include immigrant workers.  Enforcement actions aimed strictly at workplaces like these accomplish nothing in terms of stemming the flow of workers entering the U.S. seeking the American Dream.  Instead, they create huge turmoil in communities, significantly disrupt the otherwise stable production in the plant and violate the civil rights of all workers in the workplace.

The UFCW will continue to fight for reform that ensures that all working people—immigrant and native-born—are able to improve their lives and realize the American dream.

For the UFCW position on immigration go to Issues

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Innovation, career opportunities, progressive wage scales and job security along with health care and defined benefit pensions seemed to be disappearing from union contracts.  Collective bargaining, in almost every industry, frequently became a struggle to slow the downward slide of benefit reductions, two-tier wages and job elimination. In a dramatic turnaround this year, the grocery workers union—the 1.3 million member United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW)—is leading a nationwide revival of worker bargaining strength that is winning contracts with unified wage progressions with the elimination of two-tier wage systems, adequately funded health benefit plans, continued defined-benefit pension plans; and innovative programs for preventive and wellness care benefits with no co-pays, no deductibles and no out-of-pocket expenses for workers.

The recent ratification of a new contract for 60,000 UFCW members in Southern California confirmed the changing dynamic in contract negotiations for grocery workers. The Southern California supermarket industry witnessed one of the longest and most bitter strikes in 2003-04 as workers walked picket lines for four and a half months in a fight to resist employer demands to eliminate affordable health care, to impose a substandard wage and benefit structure on new workers, and to rewrite contract provisions that provided worker protections. While striking workers were able to maintain much of their wage and benefit package, the employers forced provisions to severely limit wages and benefits for new employees.

The 2007 contract, reached without a strike, represents a new bargain for workers that could shape the future for retail workers. The new contract gives all employees a new opportunity for good jobs and career opportunities in an industry that is a critical source of jobs in the new service economy, particularly young workers and women. Workers won:

the elimination of tiers for health care, pension and wages;
a wage progression giving all workers regular wage advancement;
a higher average starting pay with annual wage increases;
adequate health care funding;
shorter waiting periods for benefit coverage; and,
adequate pension funding to maintain defined retirement benefit.
In a reversal of the trend to shifting health care costs to workers, the new benefit program reduces long term costs by providing preventive benefits without cost to workers.

The advances in wages and benefits come as part of a contract that protects workers from unfair or arbitrary discipline or dismissal, and provides standards for promotion, overtime and scheduling. These contract provisions are critical to workers as an antidote to retail industry practice of firing or forcing employees from their jobs in order to lower wages.  Circuit City garnered national attention when it launched an assault on its workers by summarily dismissing higher paid long term employees without just cause or any opportunity to appeal. (Washington Post, 3/29/07)

The Southern California agreement follows similar recent UFCW contract settlements in New England, Houston and Dallas, Texas, Detroit, Michigan and Toledo, Ohio.  Those contracts secured solid wage increases, expanded access to quality health care, and secured the financial base of health care and retirement benefit funds.  UFCW grocery workers are turning supermarket jobs into career jobs through unified bargaining actions.

Other contracts impacting tens of thousands of workers are being negotiated in Northern California, the Puget Sound area of Washington State, Eugene, Oregon and St. Louis, Missouri.

The new dynamic at work shaping the 2007 round of UFCW bargaining began with a systematic program to build unity among workers, communities, consumers and local unions—the “unity bargaining” program. In every negotiation, grocery workers from across the country are enlisted to support workers in bargaining everywhere in the country. UFCW members working at Kroger in Atlanta wore stickers in their stores to show support for workers in Texas. Workers in Arizona signed up on the web site www.groceryworkersunited.org to take action to help win contracts in California.

Mobilization for contract fights is union-wide and connects with all UFCW members. Community organizations and consumers were engaged from the beginning of negotiations to provide a solid foundation of support. Every UFCW local was prepared to provide immediate financial, staff and member support for any UFCW members forced to strike.

As UFCW International President Joe Hansen said, “Any strike, any lock out involving any UFCW local union in any area becomes a national labor dispute from the first moment of the first day of the first picket line until that dispute is resolved. We are one union, one voice.”

The revival of worker bargaining strength began almost immediately following the end the 2003-04 Southern California strike/lockout. Joe Hansen, a meatcutter from Milwaukee with a lifetime of union service from organizer to International Secretary-Treasurer, was elected International President, and began a complete restructuring of the UFCW to focus on growth for worker bargaining strength. Executive Vice President Pat O’Neill was assigned as Director of Collective Bargaining and put together a strategic, “unity bargaining” program.

“We are a new union. We are a new UFCW,” declared Hansen as he directed resources toward comprehensive organizing and bargaining in the union’s core industries of retail, meatpacking and food processing.

The focus on core industry organizing was essential to the revival of collective bargaining. Worker bargaining strength in an industry depends on organizing all workers in the industry. The decades-old labor movement-wide pattern of organizing without regard to industry has sapped worker strength in negotiations even in growth industries with rising employment. Hansen pledged a different approach. “We are organizing industry-wide to build worker power. The measure of our success as a union is in the lives of our members,” Hansen told his union.

The 2007 bargaining success also reflects a change in the retail industry. Union supermarket operations maintained or expanded market share, revenue and profits. In contrast, Wal-Mart—the anti-worker scourge of the retail industry—tripped and stumbled with a barrage of bad press and bad community relations with growing consumer, worker and political resistance to the super-sized retailer’s disregard for affordable health care, living wages, sex discrimination, the exploitation of immigrant workers and community impact.

“We are moving into a post-Wal-Mart era. Low wages, high turnover and contempt for worker rights are not the way to long term growth and profits. UFCW contracts providing for an experienced, committed workforce with decent wages, benefits and treatment are the foundation for corporate success in retail,” according to Hansen.

UFCW is positioned for a major impact on the workplace and workforce of the future. The industry with the most new openings for workers over the next decade is retail. The 2007 round of negotiations in retail food give all retail workers an alternative to the instability, insecurity and inadequate wages and benefits of retail jobs. “UFCW contracts provide what retail workers want—career potential with decent wages and benefits, job security, fair treatment and a voice. UFCW contracts are the basis for organizing the retail industry,” said UFCW Collective Bargaining Director Pat O’Neill.

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It does not appear that ICE engaged in the same level of intimidation and overkill as they did in its raids last December at six Swift plants. To the extent this is the case, the UFCW supports law enforcement efforts that abide by the law and respect the rights of workers.

Worksite law enforcement around identity and immigration issues is a symptom of a failed immigration system, and is no substitute for comprehensive reform.

Last month, Congress failed to demonstrate the necessary leadership and persistence to fix our broken system. The UFCW will continue to fight for reform that ensures that all working people—immigrant and native-born—are able to improve their lives and realize the American dream.

For the UFCW position on immigration go to www.ufcw.org and click on issues.