Los Angeles, CA – The Guatemalan community, especially the indigenous Mayan sector, has been protesting and angry over the brutal killing of their community member Manuel Jamines. Jamines was shot in the head and body on a busy street in the late afternoon in the Pico Union, a Central American community, by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) on Sept. 5.

At least two witnesses have said that Manuel was not armed and no threat to anyone. Police and one witness claim that Manuel Jamines had a knife and wielded it at police. Police claim to have shouted to Manuel in English and Spanish to yield, but the community says that Jamines only spoke a Mayan language native to Guatemala.

Policeman Who Killed Jamines has History of Violence and Lying

The cop who fired the two shots that killed Jamines is Frank Hernandez. He has two other prior shootings of civilians and has a reputation for brutality. In 2008, Officer Hernandez shot Joseph Wolf, then 18, in the back of his left thigh. Police Hernandez then fabricated a story that Wolf had a gun and shot him in defense. No gun was found at the scene, but police charged Wolf with assault with a deadly weapon. Charges against the victim were later dropped by the district attorney as baseless. Wolf’s lawyer said that the charges against Joseph were falsely brought up to cover up the unlawful use of force by policeman Hernandez. Hernandez was allowed to continue to be on patrol. Police in Los Angeles have a long history of planting weapons on dead or shot civilians to cover up their deadly, unlawful and racist use of violence against Blacks, Chicanos and Central Americans.

Central Americans Protest

The Central American community has rebelled and led several street protests confronting the police with angry shouts of “assassins.” Protests break out every day and solidarity is being shown by Chicano activists. The LAPD has responded with mass patrols, riot police and a large number of arrests. The LAPD Rampart Division in Pico Union area has a history of brutality and corruption. Recently the community has expressed anger at the mistreatment, lack of respect and harassment of street vendors by the LAPD.

Police and mayor try to whitewash killing.

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck defended the shooting, saying the police were in “immediate defense of life.” He showed a photo of the alleged knife – maybe six inches in total, with the blade maybe three inches – but he had it photographed and blown up on a large poster to push the false perception of a large knife. Compare that to the weapons carried by police: 9 millimeter pistols.

The local politicians and Chief Beck held a community meeting on Sept. 8 to justify the killing. But the large angry audience shouted and demanded answers of the chief and the Police Commission.

Carlos Montes, from the Community Service Organization and a long time Chicano activist, challenged Chief Beck, saying that the LAPD has a long history of killing and brutalizing Chicanos, Blacks and Latinos due to racism. The community did not accept the whitewash justification given by the police. Protests continue daily, including one organized by the Day Laborers Network.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a former activist, supported the claim by police of a justified shooting and killing. A full investigation has not been completed and the mayor and chief are defending the killing and stating that the police will be cleared of any wrongdoing.

Guatemalans Forced to Flee Homeland, Face Harsh Conditions in U.S.

Los Angeles, especially the Pico Union community just west of the downtown center, is home to a large Central American immigrant community, including many indigenous Mayans. Also there is a large Guatemalan community that had to flee their homeland due to military and police terror, killings and massacres because of U.S. government support and funding of the former military repressive Guatemalan regime. Many have also fled due to the extreme poverty caused by U.S. domination and exploitation of their nation’s resources. Forced to flee their homeland, they are further mistreated and exploited by businesses paying low wages. Rents are high. Living conditions are bad. They are also and harassed and arrested by Immigration Customs Enforcement and local police.

Chicano activists have expressed outrage at this police killing and point out that the Chicano, Mexican and Central American people are victims of fierce oppression, including police brutality and police repression (for example, the May 1, 2007 LAPD attack of a peaceful May Day pro-immigration rights rally). They also point to the history of police repression, like the brutal attack by police o the Chicano Moratorium Against War of Aug. 29, 1970, where Ruben Salazar was assassinated and Angel Diaz killed by police and Lyn Ward died in a fire during the Chicano rebellion.

Said Carlos Montes, “We demand that this killer cop is fired and prosecuted. We want justice for Manuel Jamines. We insist on equality for Guatemalans and Central Americans.”

#LosAngelesCA #ImmigrantRights #PoliceBrutality #ChicanoLatino #IndigenousPeoples #immigrantWorkers #LAPD #ManuelJamines

Minneapolis, MN – On Jan. 13, hundreds of janitors, the majority Latino and Somali immigrants, held a spirited meeting at the Minneapolis Labor Center and voted nearly unanimously to authorize a strike. The multinational crowd chanted, “Yes we can do it!” in Spanish (“Sí se puede!”) and in Somali (“Haa wakarna!”). When the vote was taken to authorize a strike, members held up signs reading “Yes! Sí! Haa!” (‘yes’ in English, Spanish and Somali).

The workers are members of SEIU Local 26, a union that represents 4200 janitors who work for 18 different cleaning contractors, including Marsden, ABM and MSI. They clean office buildings in downtown Minneapolis and Saint Paul, including offices for major corporations and buildings such as Target, Wells Fargo, IDS Center, US Bank and Lawson Commons. The janitors’ pay is low and their health care coverage is so expensive that few of the janitors can afford it. Of 2200 workers who are eligible for family health care coverage, only 14 workers actually take the family coverage plan.

The employer is only offering workers a 20-cent pay increase and is refusing to improve the workers’ health care coverage. According to the union, when wages are adjusted for inflation, full-time janitors earned less in 2006 than they did in 1976. Part-time janitors’ wages have declined by 22% during that time. The employer is trying to move toward more part-time workers, who receive fewer benefits. The union opposes this.

The workers’ contract expired on Dec. 31. Negotiations broke off in late December when the employer presented their ‘final offer’ to the union’s negotiating committee.

With the strike authorization vote, the workers can now strike if the union’s 10-member negotiating committee – which includes three Somalis, one Ethiopian and five Latinos – decides it’s necessary. The union has appealed numerous unfair labor practices for intimidation of workers. If the union does strike, it would be a strike against the unfair labor practices, which means that the striking workers could not be permanently replaced.

SEIU Local 26 members have never authorized a strike before. This strike vote follows on the momentum of recent janitors’ strikes and victories in other states. After the strike vote, the negotiating committee will return to the negotiating table to try to get a better contract. The union is also planning other pressure tactics to try to force the employers to budge.

If that doesn’t work they are preparing for a strike. After the Jan. 13 strike authorization meeting, a group of about 40 people met to form a solidarity committee to mobilize union and community support for the janitors in case of a strike. AFSCME Local 3800 president Phyllis Walker presented SEIU Local 26 with their first check from another union for their strike fund, and pledged to raise more support from the labor movement when a strike begins. The solidarity committee is planning various support activities.

If the janitors in SEIU Local 26 do strike, it would be a significant battle for the labor movement in the Twin Cities. Since 2000 there have been a series of big strikes here involving thousands of workers, some of which have been very sharp battles. Hotel workers struck in 2000, state workers and nurses struck in 2001, hospital workers and university clerical workers struck in 2003, metro bus drivers struck in 2004 and Northwest mechanics struck in 2005-2006.

The janitors in SEIU 26 are among the lowest paid workers in the Twin Cities working class. They are by and large oppressed nationalities and recent immigrants – ‘invisible’ workers who live on the edge of survival with everything to lose. Their willingness to fight is an inspiration to the working class as a whole.

#TwinCitiesMN #MinneapolisMN #ImmigrantRights #News #immigrantWorkers #SEIULocal26 #JanitorStrike

Solidarity with Immigrant Workers

One resolution called for AFSCME Council 5 to actively support the immigrant rights movement. While this resolution passed, it was the only one out of the 21 resolutions presented at the convention that aroused any debate and that some delegates voted against. The 20 other resolutions were all approved unanimously. About three quarters of the delegates voted in favor of the immigrant rights resolution, the Council 5 Executive Board supported it and one of the Chair Officers spoke strongly in favor of it.

But a quarter of the delegates voted against the immigrant rights resolution. This shows why it is so important to bring forward such resolutions, to bring the debate about immigrant rights out into the open in the labor movement. It is important to have the discussion openly, to try to convince those that disagree that this is about solidarity, and that immigrant workers’ fight for legalization and full equality is the fight of all workers.

The immigrant rights resolution that was passed at the Council 5 convention is one of the more progressive immigrant rights positions taken by a union in the U.S. Some unions have played a fairly bad role at the national level, such as SEIU, by supporting the ‘compromise’ Kennedy-McCain bill. This bill would create a massive second-class guest worker program, a three-tier program that would call for the immediate deportation of the millions of immigrant workers who have been here less than two years, impose a highly restrictive process that would exclude the majority of immigrant workers and a system where it would take more than ten years for the few who do qualify to get any sort of legal status.

The resolution passed at the AFSCME Council 5 convention is better than this. The resolution was modeled on the resolution passed at the AFSCME International Convention in August, but is more concise. It clearly comes out in favor of legalization, against expanded guest worker programs, and against ‘enforcement-only’ and ‘enforcement-first’ policies. It also states clearly that AFSCME is against NAFTA-style free trade agreements. The resolution calls on Council 5 and on locals within the Council to actively support and participate in the immigrant rights movement. It also commits AFSCME Council 5 to work against anti-immigrant legislation at the state level. The passage of this resolution was made possible by the generally progressive resolution that was passed at the AFSCME International Convention. It is significant that AFSCME Minnesota has taken a position against expanding guest worker programs as well as against enforcement-first or enforcement-only policies. This resolution puts AFSCME against all the main existing legislative proposals, from the Sensenbrenner bill to the ‘compromise’ proposals that Bush supports, which include vastly expanded guest worker programs and vast new walls and more troops on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Solidarity with Flight Attendants at Northwest Airlines

The other important resolution that was passed was a resolution in support of the flight attendants at Northwest Airlines, who are in the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA union. They are in a sharp battle with Northwest Airlines, who is trying to block the flight attendants’ right to strike – saying that since Northwest is in bankruptcy the workers should not be allowed to strike. Northwest has imposed a contract on the flight attendants with 40% wage cuts and other concessions. The flight attendants have voted to reject the proposed contract twice.

This resolution called on AFSCME Council 5 to support the flight attendants in their struggle, to mobilize for their rallies, as well as to take up a collection at the convention for the flight attendants’ strike fund. Over $2100 was collected from delegates on the floor of the convention and then the convention voted to have the Council 5 Executive Board match that amount, doubling the contribution to over $4200.

Camilla Wolkerstorfer, Interim President of Council 95 of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, was a guest at the convention and spoke about their struggle with Northwest Airlines. She received standing ovations, and she was brought to tears when they announced the amount of money collected at the convention.

Both of these resolutions represented a broad-minded spirit of solidarity with all workers who are struggling for their rights. This kind of solidarity – with mostly unorganized immigrant workers and with flight attendants taking on a vicious anti-union corporation here in Minnesota – is key to revitalizing the labor movement.

#BloomingtonMN #ImmigrantRights #News #AirlineIndustry #FlightAttendants #immigrantWorkers #AFSCMECouncil5

Minneapolis, MN – For 13 days, members of Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) Local 17 walked the picket lines at Twin Cities hotels. The strike for better wages, dependent healthcare and dignity on the job garnered national attention. “This was a fight for the lowest paid and the most exploited worker,” said Jaye Rykunyk, principle officer of Local 17.

At 1:30 a.m., June 28, a tentative agreement was reached. The employers originally offered a 7-cent per hour raise the first year, with the similar 1% over five years. The strike won as much as 44 cents per hour the first year and for the next four following years.

Strikers also won dependent healthcare coverage and some commitments for English as a Second Language training and translation pay. The workers won important contract language as well, including respect and dignity clauses that allow workers to file grievances on those issues.

“It's a clear victory,” said Martin Goff, an officer with the local. “We didn't win all we were fighting for, but this is an important step forward. We won every component we need for a good contract. This opens the door for Saint Paul workers to get what Minneapolis got when they negotiate in six months. Saint Paul workers took this fight up and now they are fired up.”

This strike's success sends a clear message to non-union workers: unions and organizing work can win improvements on the job.

The Strike Begins

On June 6-9, with 72% voting, 94% of the membership opted to strike. “We want dollars, not dimes, and we will go one day longer until they settle,” said Kate Shaughnessy, an organizer for the union.

Many hotel employees worked for poverty wages, some bringing home as little as $200 a week or less. “You can't raise a family on those wages, we need more,” said Karen Smith, a striking worker.

“The hotel industry in this town has been raking in the profits on the backs of these poorly paid workers. Taxes end up supporting corporate welfare for rich companies that won't pay for workers' healthcare,” said Jaye Rykunk.

Workers walked off the job at 5:30 p.m., June 16 at the Radisson South in Bloomington. In the days ahead, the strike spread to more hotels. Eight days into the strike, seven of nine hotels were out.

It was a significant strike for the Twin Cities. Local 17 represents over 5000 workers, 1450 workers at the hotels. Immigrants made up 30% of the strikers. Employees are from Somalia, Vietnam, Togo, Eritrea, Korea, Bosnia, Mexico and elsewhere. Over 17 languages are spoken throughout the hotels. The local made enormous efforts to overcome language barriers and unite the workers to win.

With more hotels out and the passage of time, pressure mounted. By June's end, hotel guests were arriving for the massive Alcoholics Anonymous conference. 50,000 conventioneers were in town, with no one but a handful of managers to change the sheets in their hotel rooms. For one hundred miles around the Twin Cities, not a single open hotel room could be found. This was part of the pressure that brought the bosses around to a better agreement.

Militancy and Broad Support

Since May 1, when the contract expired, the union called mass demonstrations to turn up the heat. On May Day, more than 700 members and supporters of Local 17 rallied in front of the Hilton Hotel.

Guests at the Regal Hotel got an early morning wake-up call at 7:30 a.m., May 24. Members of Local 17 found out that the owners of the Regal would have an early morning meeting to discuss the contract negotiations. “We're here to let the owners of the hotel know that poverty wages have got to go,” said Martin Goff. Eighty people showed up, noisemakers in hand, to send a clear message to the bosses.

HERE General Vice President, Ron Richardson, told a June demonstration, “Local 17 is one of the strongest and smartest local unions in the country. Local 17 has become famous in the last few months, all around the country, for being the union that stood up for immigrant workers. This has helped change the views inside the AFL-CIO; now they have a more progressive stand toward immigrants.” The Reverend Jesse Jackson also spoke to the rally. Cheers from the more than 700 people cried out in support of the workers, upping the ante on the employers to settle.

Labor and community activists mobilized to support the hotel and restaurant workers. A strike support committee worked on raising funds, picket line duty and helping with things like translation, childcare and food drives.

“The Twin Cities were watching and supporting these workers. This is what solidarity is,” said Steff Yorek, a Strike Support Committee member. “These workers have shined a light on exploitation, and everywhere people are watching. The Labor movement has renewed hope with these workers leading the way.”

#MinneapolisMN #ImmigrantRights #News #HERELocal17 #immigrantWorkers