INT’L LABOUR DAY: Migrants Flex Muscle With National Boycott

by Haider Rizvi

NEW YORK, Apr 28 (IPS) - In more than 100 years, people in the United States have not seen what they are likely to witness this May Day, with massive rallies and protests against the treatment of undocumented workers expected to take place all over the country.

"No work, no school, no buying, no selling," vow posters in cities and towns across the U.S., as campaigners for immigrant rights plan to hold a nationwide strike on Monday, May 1.

Every year on May 1, workers all over the world are officially allowed to take a day off. Many take part in trade union rallies to express their solidarity with the industrial workers killed by Chicago police in 1886 while demanding shorter working hours.

But not in the United States, where the tragic incident took place a more than a century ago, and "Labour Day" is now celebrated on the first Monday in September. With no official holiday, the day usually comes to an end with business as usual. Only a handful of marches are held by left-wing groups.

However, all that may change this Monday with the "Great American Boycott 2006, a Day Without an Immigrant", which calls for a nationwide general strike on May 1 to demand citizenship and full workers’ rights for undocumented immigrants.

The protest is being coordinated by more than 500 grassroots organisations and immigrants from around the country in response to recent legislative moves in the U.S. Congress that would make it much harder for undocumented workers to stay and work in the United States.

Conservative lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic parties want to pass a new law that further criminalises those who hire undocumented workers. They also want to expand a border fence between the United States and Mexico.

Currently, there are about 12 million undocumented workers in the United States performing all kinds of blue-collar jobs for long hours and low wages, most of whom come from neighbouring Mexico and other Latin American countries.

For his part, Pres. George W. Bush has repeatedly proposed a guest worker programme for immigrants and a path to citizenship, but rights groups demand full amnesty and citizenship for all immigrants whether they are employed lawfully or not.

The strike organisers are also demanding an end to the controversial North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), encompassing the United States, Canada and Mexico, and all other neo-liberal trade agreements, which they believe have created economic conditions that force people to come to the United States in search of work.

While the most vocal resistance to the immigration policy has come from Mexican workers, immigrants hailing from other parts of the world are increasingly joining the new movement for their rights.

Many Muslim organisations, for example, called for participation in the massive protests that erupted last month, and are urging Muslim immigrants to join the May 1 rallies.

"Islam’s message is one of social justice, economic fairness, and fair treatment in the workplace," says a statement from the Muslim Public Affairs Council in California.

Numerous church, business and trade union leaders across the United States have also endorsed the call for May Day rallies and marches. Tyson Foods Inc., the world’s largest meat producer, announced that it will temporarily shut down nine of its beef and pork plants on May Day because so many of the company’s workers plan to attend immigration rallies.

The second-biggest beef processor in the U.S., Cargill, is also giving workers the day off in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Texas and Colorado.

"It is to show the lawmakers we have economic power," the Long Island-based Business Owners Coalition said in a statement last week, while declaring its support for the strike. "It’s to show that employers are in solidarity with their employees."

While some Democratic politicians have actively come forward to endorse the groups’ demands, many are keeping their distance from the immigrant movement. Only the Green Party has strongly spoken out against repressive legislation that targets immigrants.

"All persons should have the rights and opportunity to benefit equally from the resources afforded us," it says in a resolution. "We must confront barriers such as racism, class, sexism, ageism and disability which add to denying fair treatment and equal justice."

In California this week, the state senate fully endorsed the strike by adopting a resolution that said it would educate the United States about the contribution made by immigrants. Local Republicans, however, opposed the resolution, arguing that it would sanction "lawbreaking" and encourage children to skip school.

Encouraged by the massive turnout at immigrant rallies held in the past few weeks, the strike organisers say they expect millions of people across the country to take part in the rallies and marches on May Day.

"This is going to be really big. We are going to have millions of people," said Juan Jose Gutierrez, director of the Latino Movement, USA. "We believe it’s possible for Congress to get the message that the time to act is now."

Jorge Rodriguez, a trade union leader in California who helped organise earlier rallies, was equally upbeat.

"There will be two to three million people hitting the streets in Los Angeles alone," he says. "We are going to close down Chicago, New York, Tucson, Phoenix, Fresno."

More than 100,000 people took to the streets in New York recently to protest immigration policies, while the crowds in Los Angeles in late March were estimated at around 500,000, surprising many with the strength and organisation of the movement. (END/2006)

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