What San Francisco Gets That Milwaukee Doesn't

What San Francisco Gets That Milwaukee Doesn't

New America Media, Commentary, Marta Donayre, Sep 14, 2006

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=2b135118bb9df3e81c2205a425f61b29



EDITOR'S NOTE: At the bottom of the immigration debate is the issue of labor and labor rights, writes Marta Donayre, a co-founder of Love Sees No Borders and a member of the leadership council of the Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition.



In San Francisco last Sept. 4, unions and immigrants joined forces to march for another immigrant rights rally. In Milwaukee, however, union leaders refused to join forces with immigrant workers. In San Francisco immigrants are seen as workers; in Milwaukee, apparently they're not.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Harry Kreuser, business manager of the Plumbers and Gas Fitters Local 75, said that mixing the issues would dilute the march. By contrast, the San Francisco Chronicle quotes Brian Cruz, a member of Local 790 of the Service Employees International Union, as saying that both issues are the same.

It only shows that at the bottom of the immigration debate is the issue of labor, it's availability and price.

Working immigrants are educated and uneducated people who find that they have few options in their homeland. Some are women who face discrimination and reduced opportunities and wages because of their gender. Others are racial and ethnic minorities who face discrimination back home and the only way for them to make a living is by leaving. Others are lesbian, gay or transgender individuals who are denied employment based solely on who they are.

Regardless of the particulars, their motive is the same: finding work. Likewise, the fear that immigrants, especially the undocumented, take jobs from Americans is felt the most by the working classes.

But you wouldn't know what's at the bottom of the controversy from the mainstream media coverage. The media like to sensational issues, and crossing the border is exactly what the editor ordered. Think about it. You have desperation, the heroism of surviving the desert, relying on your smarts and outwitting the system and, of course, you have the "outlaw" element. These are the ingredients of most Hollywood blockbusters.

So the media put most of its attention on the border and those who cross it. As a result, the larger issues hardly receive any real discussion and analysis. For example, H.R. 4437 would create a new category of crime applicable only to immigrants, regardless of how they entered the country, or whether they are here legally or not.

Another largely ignored issue is worker rights for all.

The logic is pretty simple. If an employee can be underpaid and abused, this employee will be preferred to one who has to be paid a decent wage and respected. This country had a civil war because half of the country wanted to reserve its privilege to keep its unpaid labor. Today's employers follow a similar logic.

Cheap labor is what undocumented workers mean to employers -- cheap wages, no need to spend for protective equipment or safe conditions, many hours without breaks and intimidated workers who won't complain. It is a sweet deal for employers.

But the solution to this problem is not to look at the immigrant as the one causing the problem. The solution is to look at the root of the problem -- lack of protections for everyone -- and to implement protections for all workers, regardless of immigration status.

Imagine two carpenters. One charges $15 per hour because he can. The other charges $8 per hour because he can't get any better rates because of his status. The first one is entitled to two breaks and a lunch hour. The second is entitled to deportation if he complains. Which one do you think employers will hire?

Now, imagine that the second worker has the same protections as the first. Both workers would compete equally. Both would be hired based on fair assessments, not because one is easier to exploit than the other.

This is what immigrant rights advocates are trying to achieve by promoting worker rights.

Workers, especially those in the food industry, are exposed to many dangers.

The United Farm Workers union has complained against dairies for making workers walk in cow manure up to their waists. Many are afflicted with skin disorders that they bring home. It has also complained about employers who deny shade and water to farm workers, some of whom have died of heat stroke. And let's not forget the ones who were sprayed with pesticides as they worked in the fields.

Meat processing plants aren't far behind. It's brutal work for both American and immigrant workers. It's easy to see that the workers who make food for the American dinner table aren't nourished by the industries in which they work. Creepy, huh?

This is why immigrant rights advocates include workers' rights in their agenda. It levels the playing field for all workers. This is why immigrant rights are worker rights, and vice versa.

All work should be honored and all workers should have labor protections regardless of citizenship or immigration status. This is why in San Francisco immigrants and union members marched together as workers.