Open
World Conference of Workers
In Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights
Immigrant Workers Deliver Their Proposal for Legalization to AFL-CIO
President John Sweeney
For more information contact BEATRIZ MAYA at FLOC (419) 243-3456
or bmaya@floc.com
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney arrived to give a speech today at the
University of Toledo law school to the sound of Mexican rancheras and
cheers of "Amnistia!" Over 50 FLOC immigrant workers from
Toledo as well as farms in Wood and Ottawa Counties were on hand to greet
Sweeney and present him with their own proposal for immigration reform,
the FREEDOM Act. Representatives of the Toledo Metropolitan Mission and
the Methodist Church, the Catholic Diocese, and Jobs with Justice
accompanied the workers' delegation, along with several dozen
students and community supporters.
FLOC members Luis Ibarra and Marlen Rojas officially welcomed Sweeney and
presented him with the FREEDOM Act. Developed by the National
Coalition for Dignity and Amnesty, of which FLOC is a member, the FREEDOM
Act would legalize undocumented immigrants currently living in the United
States and create an immigration status of temporary residency for future
migration flows, with the option of applying for permanent residency after
3 years. A temporary residency would represent a just alternative to
the existent "guestworker" visa programs, which ties workers to
particular employers and opens the door to innumerous abuses by denying
them labor rights.
"The FREEDOM Act is the only concrete proposal for immigration reform
developed entirely by immigrants and for immigrants. We are telling
the politicians what we want to see happen rather than falling in line
with whatever compromised measures they come up with," said Beatriz
Maya, FLOC's lead organizer for its immigrant rights campaign and
representative to the National Coalition. "We started by sharing our
own stories", Maya explains about the making of the proposal,
"stories of immigrants who lived here for years, who have built
families and plan to stay in the US; stories of others who come here
seasonally to work hard but want to go back home to their families when
the season ends; stories of new immigrants who continue arriving every day
directly recruited by employers who can not find domestic workers for the
back-breaking, low paying jobs. A new amnesty with a cut-off date will not
be an adequate solution to this reality, we need to reform immigration
laws to assure immigrant workers required by the economy are identified
and documented but enjoying full labor and human rights like anybody
else."
This September 11, the Ohio AFL-CIO endorsed the FREEDOM Act.
Sweeney promised to consider the proposal and offer support to the
initiative. "President Sweeney has been a friend to immigrant workers
since he took office," said FLOC president Baldemar Velasquez.
"We trust he will continue to support initiatives that come from the
ranks and files of immigrant workers."