(Please excuse duplicate postings, and please feel free to re-post.)
IN THIS MESSAGE
(1) Presentation by OWC Co-Coordinators
(2) Binational Appeal For Amnesty for Undocumented Immigrants
(3) Endorsement Coupon
(4) Background: OWC 2000 Calls for Amnesty for Undocumented Immigrants and Labor Rights For All
(1) PRESENTATION
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
Please find below a Binational (Mexico-U.S.) Appeal that calls for amnesty for all undocumented immigrants living in the United States.
The Binational Appeal has been initiated by the coordinators of the OWC Continuations Committee in the United States and the Mexican Committee of the International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples (ILC).
We urge you to endorse this appeal and to circulate it widely among the members of your unions and organizations for support.
On March 28, a first step in defense of immigrants rights was taken with the defeat of HR 4437, the reactionary, anti-immigrant bill that would have criminalized all undocumented immigrants and their supporters. But, as you will see in the Appeal below, some very serious anti-immigrant provisions are still contained in the "bipartisan compromise bill" adopted by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In the same way the pressure of millions in the streets defeated HR 4437, so too must a sustained mobilization of immigrant workers and their supporters -- led by the trade unions and immigrant rights organizations -- defeat all the anti-immigrant provisions contained in the various bills under consideration by the Congress. There is still a lot of work to be done.
As you may know, rallies and marches are planned throughout the month leading up to a National Day of Action on Immigrant Rights on April 10, when hundreds of thousands more will march and rally in at least 10 cities to demand justice for immigrants.
We urge you to call upon your unions and organizations to mobilize against any and all attacks on immigrant workers -- and in support of amnesty for all undocumented immigrants.
Si Se Puede!
In Solidarity,
Alan Benjamin and Ed Rosario,
Co-Coordinators
Open World Conference Continuations Committee
San Francisco, Calif.
********************
(2) BINATIONAL APPEAL
[Please Endorse This Appeal; See Coupon Below!]
- No Human Being is Illegal!
- Amnesty for All Undocumented Immigrants!
Over the past few weeks, millions of people across the United States have taken to the streets to protest HR 4437, the bill adopted by the House of Representatives last December that would (1) criminalize immigrants and those who assist them, (2) build a wall along 700 miles of the U.S./Mexico border, and (3) require the immediate detention and deportation of all undocumented persons, thereby driving them even further underground.
Opposition to HR 4437 has exploded into mass protests that many are calling "a new civil rights movement." These demonstrations -- led by trade unions, religious and human rights organizations -- have been the largest ever in many of our nation's cities. On March 10, for example, half a million people marched through the streets of Chicago to express their outrage over HR 4437. On March 25, more than 1 million people took to the streets in Los Angeles in a similar protest action.
In Mexico, likewise, leading political, community, and trade union leaders have characterized HR 4437 as "a police state" bill, and have urged the American people and their elected officials to oppose it.
On March 28, the Senate Judiciary Committee adopted a "bipartisan compromise bill" that got rid of all the draconian aspects of HR 4437 and opened the door for up to 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States to qualify for legalization. We can only applaud this defeat of the reactionary, anti-immigrant HR 4437. This was the result of the pressure of millions of people in the streets.
The new "compromise bill," however, retains many anti-immigrant provisions that also must be defeated -- such as doubling the Border Patrol agents (from 11,300 agents to 25,300), toughening the sanctions against employers hiring undocumented immigrants, and establishing a "virtual wall" (with increased electronic surveillance and sensors) along the U.S./Mexican border. One press outlet reported that the "compromise bill" would even keep the physical wall along the Arizona border, as a concession to the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
But the millions who took to the streets in defense of immigrant rights did not march for tighter border security, or tougher employer sanctions, or a "virtual" border wall. They marched to demand justice and dignity for all undocumented immigrants. They marched to demand an end to all restrictions on the rights of undocumented workers. They marched for legalization -- or amnesty -- not, "for 11 years of waiting in line and otherwise having to pass through hoops before obtaining permanent residence," as Senate Judiciary Committee member Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., described the legalization provisions in the "compromise bill" -- which he backed.
We -- the Undersigned, Trade Unionists, Activists, Defenders of Human and Democratic Rights -- Affirm:
All anti-immigrant laws -- all laws that contain border walls (whether physical or "virtual"), or employer sanctions, or programs that relegate immigrants to a second-class legal status -- will not stop people from continuing to come to the United States.
The plunder and destruction of the national economies south of the border by the U.S. multinationals and the U.S. government -- which have only been heightened with the adoption in 1994 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) -- have forced millions of impoverished workers, peasants, and youth to migrate north to the United States in search of a job to feed their families. Over the past five years, 2 million working-age youth from Mexico migrated to the United States, where they perform the most hazardous and lowest-paying jobs, most often without benefits or protections.
In 1994, when NAFTA was passed, the U.S./Mexico border was militarized under Operation Gatekeeper, forcing immigrants to seek new routes through deserts and mountains to reach their destination. The result: More than 4,000 immigrants -- mostly young people -- have died attempting to cross the border over the past 12 years. In 2005 alone, more than 500 people died.
Indeed, the border has become a war zone, where paramilitary militia (such as the Minutemen) join up with the Border Patrol to shoot, detain, and even kill immigrants searching for nothing other than a way to help their families survive.
So long as the U.S.-imposed "free trade" policies continue to devastate the economies south of the border, increasing the gross economic inequalities in the hemisphere, all laws aimed at sealing the U.S. border will only lead to more exploitation and death.
For generations, employers have profited by dividing working people on the basis of race and national origin. Immigrant workers have been blamed for the problems inherent in the economic system: the loss of jobs, the decline in the quality of life.
When immigrants are scapegoated and denied full labor and civil rights, all working people are scapegoated and denied their rights. Fighting for unconditional amnesty unifies the working class, creating a situation where the fighting capacity of all working people is improved.
Immigrant workers -- in the building trades, services, agriculture, and beyond -- are part and parcel of the U.S. working class and should have the same rights, including full labor rights, as permanent residents.
This Is Why We Demand:
- Amnesty for all undocumented immigrants! Papers for all!
- Stop HR 4437 and all the anti-immigrant provisions contained in the other bills currently before the U.S. Congress!
- Repeal NAFTA and all the "free trade" agreements that are devastating the economies of the continent!
-----
Sign-On Appeal initiated by OWC Continuations Committee and Mexican Committee of the International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples (ILC)
********************
(3) AMNESTY APPEAL ENDORSEMENT COUPON
[ ] Please add my name as an endorser of this Appeal for Amnesty For All Undocumented Immigrants
NAME
UNION/ORG & TITLE (list if for id. only)
ADDRESS
CITY
STATE
ZIP
EMAIL
(please fill out and return toand to <.)
********************
(4) BACKGROUND: OPEN WORLD CONFERENCE 2000 CALLS FOR AMNESTY FOR UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS AND LABOR RIGHTS FOR ALL
In February 2000, the Open World Conference in Defense of Trade Union Independence and Democratic Rights (OWC) took place in San Francisco, with close to 600 delegates representing major trade union federations and national unions in 56 countries.
One of the main conference decisions was to promote widely a National Petition that called on President George W. Bush to grant unconditional amnesty for all undocumented immigrants. The petition also called on the U.S. government to ratify ILO Conventions 11, 87, 98, and 143, which address the fundamental rights of all workers: the right to freedom of association, the right to organize and bargain collectively, and the human rights of all migrant workers.
The National Petition was initiated by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (AFL-CIO), the National Coalition for Dignity and Amnesty for Undocumented Immigrants, Black Workers for Justice, and the North Carolina Public Service Workers Union UE Local 150.
This petition gathered hundreds of thousands of endorsers.
The OWC resolution promoting this petition noted that there are more than 8 million undocumented immigrants in the United States [note: the number since that time has risen to more than 12 million] who are subjected to conditions of horrendous servitude, laboring here without the most elementary human rights while they help the economy flourish.
The resolution also noted that the growing economic inequality resulting from the policies imposed by the U.S. government and international financial institutions such as the IMF, World Bank and WTO are forcing more and more people to leave their countries of origin in search of work and a way to sustain their families. Keeping workers undocumented subjects them to discrimination and shameless exploitation, including meager wages, long hours, and no benefits. It also gives them limited opportunity for economic mobility.
As noted above, the national petition called on the U.S. government to ratify basic ILO Conventions that address the fundamental rights of all workers. These ILO Conventions have registered the gains won through struggle by the workers' movement over the past century. The Conventions have set the standard for labor rights worldwide.
The United States, however, has one of the worst records in the world regarding workers' rights and ratification of these ILO Conventions.
The OWC resolution concluded: "Any country that pretends to be a democracy and to uphold workers' rights must begin by ratifying and implementing these core ILO Conventions. This message must be sent loud and clear to the U.S. Congress -- backed by hundreds of thousands of signatures on the national petition initiated by the four above-mentioned U.S. labor organizations!"
OWC CAMPAIGN NEWS - distributed by the Open World Conference in Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights, c/o S.F. Labor
Council, 1188 Franklin St., #203, San Francisco, CA 94109.
To SUB/ UNSUBSCRIBE, contact the OWC at.
Phone: (415) 641-8616 Fax: (415) 440-9297.
Visit our website at www.owcinfo.org - Notify if any change in email address.
IN THIS MESSAGE
(1) Presentation by OWC Co-Coordinators
(2) Binational Appeal For Amnesty for Undocumented Immigrants
(3) Endorsement Coupon
(4) Background: OWC 2000 Calls for Amnesty for Undocumented Immigrants and Labor Rights For All
(1) PRESENTATION
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
Please find below a Binational (Mexico-U.S.) Appeal that calls for amnesty for all undocumented immigrants living in the United States.
The Binational Appeal has been initiated by the coordinators of the OWC Continuations Committee in the United States and the Mexican Committee of the International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples (ILC).
We urge you to endorse this appeal and to circulate it widely among the members of your unions and organizations for support.
On March 28, a first step in defense of immigrants rights was taken with the defeat of HR 4437, the reactionary, anti-immigrant bill that would have criminalized all undocumented immigrants and their supporters. But, as you will see in the Appeal below, some very serious anti-immigrant provisions are still contained in the "bipartisan compromise bill" adopted by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In the same way the pressure of millions in the streets defeated HR 4437, so too must a sustained mobilization of immigrant workers and their supporters -- led by the trade unions and immigrant rights organizations -- defeat all the anti-immigrant provisions contained in the various bills under consideration by the Congress. There is still a lot of work to be done.
As you may know, rallies and marches are planned throughout the month leading up to a National Day of Action on Immigrant Rights on April 10, when hundreds of thousands more will march and rally in at least 10 cities to demand justice for immigrants.
We urge you to call upon your unions and organizations to mobilize against any and all attacks on immigrant workers -- and in support of amnesty for all undocumented immigrants.
Si Se Puede!
In Solidarity,
Alan Benjamin and Ed Rosario,
Co-Coordinators
Open World Conference Continuations Committee
San Francisco, Calif.
********************
(2) BINATIONAL APPEAL
[Please Endorse This Appeal; See Coupon Below!]
- No Human Being is Illegal!
- Amnesty for All Undocumented Immigrants!
Over the past few weeks, millions of people across the United States have taken to the streets to protest HR 4437, the bill adopted by the House of Representatives last December that would (1) criminalize immigrants and those who assist them, (2) build a wall along 700 miles of the U.S./Mexico border, and (3) require the immediate detention and deportation of all undocumented persons, thereby driving them even further underground.
Opposition to HR 4437 has exploded into mass protests that many are calling "a new civil rights movement." These demonstrations -- led by trade unions, religious and human rights organizations -- have been the largest ever in many of our nation's cities. On March 10, for example, half a million people marched through the streets of Chicago to express their outrage over HR 4437. On March 25, more than 1 million people took to the streets in Los Angeles in a similar protest action.
In Mexico, likewise, leading political, community, and trade union leaders have characterized HR 4437 as "a police state" bill, and have urged the American people and their elected officials to oppose it.
On March 28, the Senate Judiciary Committee adopted a "bipartisan compromise bill" that got rid of all the draconian aspects of HR 4437 and opened the door for up to 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States to qualify for legalization. We can only applaud this defeat of the reactionary, anti-immigrant HR 4437. This was the result of the pressure of millions of people in the streets.
The new "compromise bill," however, retains many anti-immigrant provisions that also must be defeated -- such as doubling the Border Patrol agents (from 11,300 agents to 25,300), toughening the sanctions against employers hiring undocumented immigrants, and establishing a "virtual wall" (with increased electronic surveillance and sensors) along the U.S./Mexican border. One press outlet reported that the "compromise bill" would even keep the physical wall along the Arizona border, as a concession to the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
But the millions who took to the streets in defense of immigrant rights did not march for tighter border security, or tougher employer sanctions, or a "virtual" border wall. They marched to demand justice and dignity for all undocumented immigrants. They marched to demand an end to all restrictions on the rights of undocumented workers. They marched for legalization -- or amnesty -- not, "for 11 years of waiting in line and otherwise having to pass through hoops before obtaining permanent residence," as Senate Judiciary Committee member Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., described the legalization provisions in the "compromise bill" -- which he backed.
We -- the Undersigned, Trade Unionists, Activists, Defenders of Human and Democratic Rights -- Affirm:
All anti-immigrant laws -- all laws that contain border walls (whether physical or "virtual"), or employer sanctions, or programs that relegate immigrants to a second-class legal status -- will not stop people from continuing to come to the United States.
The plunder and destruction of the national economies south of the border by the U.S. multinationals and the U.S. government -- which have only been heightened with the adoption in 1994 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) -- have forced millions of impoverished workers, peasants, and youth to migrate north to the United States in search of a job to feed their families. Over the past five years, 2 million working-age youth from Mexico migrated to the United States, where they perform the most hazardous and lowest-paying jobs, most often without benefits or protections.
In 1994, when NAFTA was passed, the U.S./Mexico border was militarized under Operation Gatekeeper, forcing immigrants to seek new routes through deserts and mountains to reach their destination. The result: More than 4,000 immigrants -- mostly young people -- have died attempting to cross the border over the past 12 years. In 2005 alone, more than 500 people died.
Indeed, the border has become a war zone, where paramilitary militia (such as the Minutemen) join up with the Border Patrol to shoot, detain, and even kill immigrants searching for nothing other than a way to help their families survive.
So long as the U.S.-imposed "free trade" policies continue to devastate the economies south of the border, increasing the gross economic inequalities in the hemisphere, all laws aimed at sealing the U.S. border will only lead to more exploitation and death.
For generations, employers have profited by dividing working people on the basis of race and national origin. Immigrant workers have been blamed for the problems inherent in the economic system: the loss of jobs, the decline in the quality of life.
When immigrants are scapegoated and denied full labor and civil rights, all working people are scapegoated and denied their rights. Fighting for unconditional amnesty unifies the working class, creating a situation where the fighting capacity of all working people is improved.
Immigrant workers -- in the building trades, services, agriculture, and beyond -- are part and parcel of the U.S. working class and should have the same rights, including full labor rights, as permanent residents.
This Is Why We Demand:
- Amnesty for all undocumented immigrants! Papers for all!
- Stop HR 4437 and all the anti-immigrant provisions contained in the other bills currently before the U.S. Congress!
- Repeal NAFTA and all the "free trade" agreements that are devastating the economies of the continent!
-----
Sign-On Appeal initiated by OWC Continuations Committee and Mexican Committee of the International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples (ILC)
********************
(3) AMNESTY APPEAL ENDORSEMENT COUPON
[ ] Please add my name as an endorser of this Appeal for Amnesty For All Undocumented Immigrants
NAME
UNION/ORG & TITLE (list if for id. only)
ADDRESS
CITY
STATE
ZIP
(please fill out and return to
********************
(4) BACKGROUND: OPEN WORLD CONFERENCE 2000 CALLS FOR AMNESTY FOR UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS AND LABOR RIGHTS FOR ALL
In February 2000, the Open World Conference in Defense of Trade Union Independence and Democratic Rights (OWC) took place in San Francisco, with close to 600 delegates representing major trade union federations and national unions in 56 countries.
One of the main conference decisions was to promote widely a National Petition that called on President George W. Bush to grant unconditional amnesty for all undocumented immigrants. The petition also called on the U.S. government to ratify ILO Conventions 11, 87, 98, and 143, which address the fundamental rights of all workers: the right to freedom of association, the right to organize and bargain collectively, and the human rights of all migrant workers.
The National Petition was initiated by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (AFL-CIO), the National Coalition for Dignity and Amnesty for Undocumented Immigrants, Black Workers for Justice, and the North Carolina Public Service Workers Union UE Local 150.
This petition gathered hundreds of thousands of endorsers.
The OWC resolution promoting this petition noted that there are more than 8 million undocumented immigrants in the United States [note: the number since that time has risen to more than 12 million] who are subjected to conditions of horrendous servitude, laboring here without the most elementary human rights while they help the economy flourish.
The resolution also noted that the growing economic inequality resulting from the policies imposed by the U.S. government and international financial institutions such as the IMF, World Bank and WTO are forcing more and more people to leave their countries of origin in search of work and a way to sustain their families. Keeping workers undocumented subjects them to discrimination and shameless exploitation, including meager wages, long hours, and no benefits. It also gives them limited opportunity for economic mobility.
As noted above, the national petition called on the U.S. government to ratify basic ILO Conventions that address the fundamental rights of all workers. These ILO Conventions have registered the gains won through struggle by the workers' movement over the past century. The Conventions have set the standard for labor rights worldwide.
The United States, however, has one of the worst records in the world regarding workers' rights and ratification of these ILO Conventions.
The OWC resolution concluded: "Any country that pretends to be a democracy and to uphold workers' rights must begin by ratifying and implementing these core ILO Conventions. This message must be sent loud and clear to the U.S. Congress -- backed by hundreds of thousands of signatures on the national petition initiated by the four above-mentioned U.S. labor organizations!"
OWC CAMPAIGN NEWS - distributed by the Open World Conference in Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights, c/o S.F. Labor
Council, 1188 Franklin St., #203, San Francisco, CA 94109.
To SUB/ UNSUBSCRIBE, contact the OWC at
Phone: (415) 641-8616 Fax: (415) 440-9297.
Visit our website at www.owcinfo.org
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