Open
World Conference of Workers
In Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights
State Labor Federation Endorses FREEDOM Act Proposal for Immigration Reform
NEWS Farm Labor Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO
1221 Broadway Toledo, Ohio 43609 419-243-3456 ext 5 www.floc.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT MORGAN GUYTON, mguyton@floc.com
, 419-243-3456 x 5, 419-392-0572 OR BEATRIZ MAYA 419-243-3456
A busload of FLOC union tomato workers from Oak Harbor, Ohio took
the floor of the AFL-CIO state convention with FLOC president Baldemar
Velasquez and won the state federation's endorsement for the FREEDOM
Act proposal for immigration reform. This show of support comes at a
critical moment in the national movement for immigrant rights.
Developed by the National Coalition for Dignity and Amnesty for
Immigrants, an immigrant-based and led Coalition of which FLOC is a
founding member, the FREEDOM Act proposal will create a process to
legalize hard-working undocumented immigrants currently living in the
United States. It will also reform immigration laws by providing a system
to manage future migration flows in a controlled and legal manner, through
a new temporary residency status for workers required by the
economy and family reunification. Under the proposal, the workers can
become eligible for permanent residency after three years if they have
been working, paying taxes and obeying by other immigration requirements.
"As immigrants we know that another amnesty with a cut-off date will
not work", says Beatriz Maya, FLOC lead organizer for this campaign
and an elected member of the National Coalition Executive Committee.
"This country will create 5 million new jobs in the next decade that
employers will not be able to fill with domestic workers. As long as the
economy continues to need new workers, immigrants will continue coming. It
is imperative to create a system that can provide the workers required by
the economy, but respecting the rights of these workers to organize,
create unions and change employers if needed". The Coalition opposes
the present "guestworker" visa program, which assigns workers to
a single employer and denies them the right to bargain collectively.
FLOC President Baldemar Velasquez was very pleased with the decision of
the OH AFL-CIO. "Bosses who want to exploit their employees are
using immigrants' tenuous position in this country to divide and conquer
their work force", says Velasquez. "With its decision today, the
Ohio AFL-CIO has recognized that campaigning for immigrants' legalized
residency and labor rights must be first on the agenda for those who seek
to build solidarity between immigrants and organized labor."
The FREEDOM Act's endorsement by the Ohio AFL-CIO will strengthen its
clout with Ohio congressional members facing the November elections. The
state federation joins the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA)
AFL-CIO, who also endorsed the proposal at its Convention this summer, and
hundreds of other organizations nationwide in supporting this proposal for
immigration reform, which supporters describe as the only substantive one
on the table, and the only one developed by immigrants themselves.
For more information on this campaign please contact Beatriz Maya at the
address above.