Open
World Conference of Workers
In Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights
Amnesty for All Undocumented Immigrants and Full Labor Rights for All Workers!
Dear Supporters of Labor and Democratic Rights:
The appeal that follows was launched by four organizations -- the Farm
Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC/AFL-CIO), the National Coalition for
Dignity and Amnesty for Undocumented Immigrants, the Black Workers For
Justice (BWFJ), and the North Carolina Public Service Workers Union UE
Local 150. It is being supported actively by the Continuations Committee
of the Open World Conference.
The national petition, addressed to George Bush and the U.S. Congress,
begins by calling on the U.S. government to grant an unconditional amnesty
for all undocumented workers.
There are more than 8 million undocumented immigrants in the United States
who are subjected to conditions of horrendous servitude, laboring here
without the most elementary human rights while they help the economy
flourish.
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.
For generations, bosses 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.
The national petition also calls 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 time has arrived to bring all workers' rights in the United States to
the modern standards codified in the Conventions of the International
Labor Organization (ILO). 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.
On July 14, 1999, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)
issued a 15-page report that fully documents the "massive, ongoing,
and appalling violations in the United States of the right to freedom of
association and the right to organize." The ICFTU is the
international trade union federation to which the AFL-CIO is affiliated.
"The United States," the report continues, "has ratified
only one of the seven core labor standards. This is one of the worst
ratification records in the world."
Among the multiple violations of workers' rights highlighted by the ICFTU
report is "the threat of permanent replacement, which is used to
scare workers during organizing campaigns, to intimidate them at the
bargaining table, to break strikes and as a tool to eliminate union
representation altogether." ILO Conventions 87 and 98 upholding the
right to organize and strike are incompatible with "permanent
replacements." Ratification of these two core ILO Conventions would
require the immediate ban on "permanent replacements" - as all
U.S. laws must be brought into compliance with the ratified ILO
Conventions.
The ICFTU report also points out that "union solidarity is restricted
by the law which makes secondary boycotts and sympathy strikes illegal."
This is a direct reference to the Taft-Hartley Act, probably the most
nefarious anti-labor law on the books. ILO Conventions 87 and 98 are,
likewise, incompatible with Taft-Hartley. Ratification of these two core
ILO conventions would require the immediate repeal of Taft Hartley.
The ICFTU report concludes by calling on the United States "to take a
series of far-reaching measures to establish genuine respect for core
labor standards in the United States. ... The core ILO Conventions should
be ratified and the United States' laws brought into conformity with these
Conventions."
The conclusions of the ICFTU report are right on the mark. 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!
Organize the South!
Speaking at the Open World Conference in February 2000, FLOC President
Baldemar Velasquez and UE Local 150 President Barbara Prear highlighted
the importance of this national petition drive for workers in the U.S.
South.
The South, Velasquez explained, is a region that serves as a domestic
"free trade" zone similar to the "free trade" zones in
Southeast Asia. "If the multinationals can't move their factories to
Mexico, Asia, or Africa," Velasquez stated, "they move them to
the Southern United States because this is an entire trade union-free
trade zone. It is the region with the lowest per-capita income in the
entire United States."
Taft-Hartley has been largely responsible for the low degree of
unionization in the South. Section 14(b) of the Taft-Hartley Act allowed
states to legislate the notorious anti-union "right-to-work"
laws. All of the Southern states passed these laws. The "open shop"
provision of the right-to-work laws both encouraged and allowed workers to
refuse union membership, even after participating in a vote where the
majority had decided in favor of unionization. This has guaranteed the
sweatshop conditions that have drawn the multinational corporations to the
South in increasing numbers.
The union-free Southern region, moreover, has held all U.S. workers
hostage. Corporations have threatened to relocate their plants from the
Midwest and Northeast to the South unless concessions are granted by the
workers. Hundreds of billions of dollars in concessions have, in fact,
been turned over to the bosses, and still the factories have closed and
relocated elsewhere.
And if the corporations cannot get the labor cheaply enough in the South,
they import workers from Mexico and Central America, utilizing the H2A
provision of the immigration law. Currently there are more than 3 million
Mexicans and Central Americans working throughout the deep South in
agriculture, poultry and fish processing, landscaping and construction.
This increased migration of workers from south of the border has
intensified the competition among low-wage workers for jobs and social
services. The differences in language and cultures are being exploited by
the corporations and the political system to "divide and conquer."
Every day, Black workers are pitted against Latino workers.
But as Barbara Prear told the delegates at the OWC, "We cannot allow
the bosses and the government to sow divisions between Black and Latino
workers. More than ever we must unite on a class basis to defend our
common interests. We need to forge a strong united movement to organize
the South."
Hence the historic significance of the petition issued jointly by Black
and Latino organizations calling for amnesty for all undocumented
immigrants and full labor rights for all workers in the United States.
We Need Your Support!
We call on all supporters of labor and democratic rights across the United
States to support this effort by helping to gather the hundreds of
thousands of signatures targeted by the initiators of the petition. Please
fill out the coupon following the appeal below and return it to OWC at
<ilcinfo@earthlink.net>.
Make sure to ask us to send you hard-copy bundles of the petition so that
you can circulate them among your friends and co-workers. You should send
your filled-out appeals to the OWC, c/o San Francisco Labor Council, 1188
Franklin St. #203, San Francisco, CA 94109. We in turn will make copies
and send them to all four organizations listed on the petition.
Hasta la Victoria,
OWC Continuations Committee
National Petition for "Amnesty for All Undocumented
Immigrants and Full Labor Rights for All Workers!"
Petition presented by:
The Mt. Olive Pickle Co. farmworkers and the Farm Labor Organizing
Committee, 1221 Broadway, Toledo, OH 43609; ph 419-243-3456; fax
419-243-5655; bmaya@floc.com;
The National Coalition for Dignity and Amnesty for Undocumented
Immigrants, c/o 191 E. Third St., New York. NY 10009; ph 2l2-473-3936; fax
2l2-473-6103;
Black Workers for Justice, P.O. Box 1863, Rocky Mount, NC 27802; ph
9l9-829-0957; ardillahunt@igc.org;
The North Carolina Public Service Workers Union UE Local 150, P.O. Box
61233, Durham, NC 27715; ph 252-977-1419; fax 252-977-0531; naeema@gateway.net
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TO PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH AND THE U.S. CONGRESS
The conditions of indentured servitude and lack of collective-bargaining
rights suffered by migrant, undocumented immigrant, and many public sector
workers in the United States are a shame to America's claim to being a
democracy. It requires the immediate and humanitarian action of the U.S.
government. We the undersigned call on the U.S. government to:
l) grant an unconditional amnesty for all undocumented workers, and
2) ratify the following ILO conventions that address the fundamental
rights of all workers:
- Convention 87 (1948) and Convention 11 (1921) that recognize our rights
to freedom of association;
- Convention 98 (1949) that recognizes workers' rights to organize and
bargain collectively;
- Convention 143 (1975) that defends human rights of all migrant workers.
The time has arrived to bring all workers' rights to modern standards, and
we beseech people of good will to join us in this effort.
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[ ] Please add my name to this petition: (Note: You must be a U.S.
resident to fill out this petition. Residents of other countries are
invited to contribute to this effort by sending a financial contribution.)
NAME
ADDRESS
CITY
STATE
ZIP
PHONE
EMAIL
[ ] I will enclose a check for $ ___ to help defray the cost
of this petition effort. I will send my check, payable to "OWC"
to OWC. c/o San Francisco Labor Council, 1188 Franklin St. #203, San
Francisco, CA 94109.
[ ] Please send me a bundle of ___ hard-copy petitions for
distribution to friends and co-workers. Enclosed is a check for $ ___ to
help cover copying and mailing expenses.
(Return this filled out coupon to OWC at <ilcinfo@earthlink.net>.
We, in turn, will forward the filled-out petitions to all four initiating
organizations.)
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ABOUT THE ORGANIZATIONS PRESENTING THIS PETITION
The organizations presenting this petition are leading the way to a new
immigrant and low-wage workers' rights movement that will place these
workers' issues in the forefront of public debate and consciousness.
The Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), AFL-CIO, and 5,000 farmworkers
in North Carolina are fighting to gain a labor agreement and initiated a
boycott of Mt. Olive Pickle Company, one of the largest agricultural
corporations in the southern United States, in March 1999. Also that year,
the newly formed Coalition For Dignity and Amnesty for Undocumented
Immigrants, with over 100 organization members, organized a march in
Washington D.C. to protest conditions suffered by undocumented immigrants
and calling for a general unconditional amnesty, and thousands responded.
UE150 and the Black Workers for Justice are leaders in the fight to
organize public and private sector workers in the U.S. South.
ILO CONVENTIONS (extracts)
C87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize
Convention, 1948
Article 2: Workers and employers, without distinction whatsoever, shall
have the right to establish and, subject only to the rules of the
organization concerned, to join organizations of their own choosing
without previous authorization.
Article 11: Each Member of the International Labor Organization for which
this Convention is in force undertakes to take all necessary and
appropriate measure to ensure that workers and employers may exercise
freely the right to organize.
C11 Right of Association (Agriculture) Convention, 1921
Article 1: Each Member of the International Labor Organization which
ratifies this Convention undertakes to secure to all those engaged in
agriculture the same rights of association and combination as to
industrial workers, and to repeal any statutory or other provisions
restricting such rights in the case of those engaged in agriculture.
C98 Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949
Article 1: Workers shall enjoy adequate protection against acts of
anti-union discrimination in respect of their employment
Article 2: Workers' and employers' organizations shall enjoy adequate
protection against any acts of interference by each other or each other's
agents or members in their establishment, functioning or administration.
C143 Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention, 1975
Article 1: Each Member for which this Convention is in force undertakes to
respect the basic human rights of all migrant workers.