“Organizing Immigrant Workers”
Submitted by fazcarate on April 27, 2007 - 9:45pm.
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This session will be on: June 30, 2007 - 3:30pm It will be held at: International C room at the Westin Hotel View scheduleOrganization DescriptionThe American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a voluntary federation of 54 national and international labor unions. We represent more than 10 million workers across the United States. The mission of the AFL-CIO is to improve the lives of working families—to bring economic justice to the workplace and social justice to our nation. To accomplish this mission we will build and change the American labor movement.
We will build a broad movement of American workers by organizing workers into unions. We will recruit and train the next generation of organizers, mass the resources needed to organize and create the strategies to win organizing campaigns and union contracts. We will create a broad understanding of the need to organize among our members, our leadership and among unorganized workers. We will lead the labor movement in these efforts.
We will build a strong political voice for workers in our nation. We will fight for an agenda for working families at all levels of government. We will empower state federations. We will build a broad progressive coalition that speaks out for social and economic justice. We will create a political force within the labor movement that will empower workers and speak forcefully on the public issues that affect our lives.
We will change our unions to provide a new voice to workers in a changing economy. We will speak for working people in the global economy, in the industries in which we are employed, in the firms where we work, and on the job every day. We will transform the role of the union from an organization that focuses on a member's contract to one that gives workers a say in all the decisions that affect our working lives—from capital investments, to the quality of our products and services, to how we organize our work.
We will change our labor movement by creating a new voice for workers in our communities. We will make the voices of working families heard across our nation and in our neighborhoods. We will create vibrant community labor councils that reach out to workers at the local level. We will strengthen the ties of labor to our allies. We will speak out in effective and creative ways on behalf of all working Americans.
Proposal Demographicsidentify as women identify as people of color are immigrants (not born in U.S.) Session DescriptionThis workshop will focus on two current campaigns to organize predominantly immigrant and migrant workers in the construction industry of the U.S. southwest and on the farms of North Carolina. Workers and organizers from each of these campaigns will describe the unique challenges and the absolute necessity of organizing immigrant and migrant workers. Although residential construction is a booming and profitable industry, workers have not fared nearly as well as the industry that employs them. However, the Building Justice campaign is working to resolve this inequity. The campaign is working to raise industry standards for residential construction workers through the collective bargaining process. Through collective bargaining, workers in this industry will gain the necessary representation to help them win a just working environment with decent wages, safer conditions, better training, and a voice on the job. The Building Justice campaign is a partnership organizing campaign comprised of the International Union of Painters (IUPAT) and the Sheet Metal Workers International Association (SMWIA), with the support of the AFL-CIO. In 2004, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) and thousands of Mexican agricultural workers won union recognition by the North Carolina Growers Association after a 5-year boycott of Mt. Olive pickles. This historic victory provided “guest workers” a direct voice in their own working conditions. The union has put into place an effective process to work with more than 600 growers to address grievances and conditions at the work sites. First NameFred Last NameAzcarate Contact E-mailfazcarat@aflcio.org Proposing OrganizationAFL-CIO Organization Websitewww.aflcio.org Position or TitleDirector, Voice@Work Contact Telephone202-639-6229 Event DaySaturday, June 30th (Strategizing the Achieving of Another World) Contact Address815 16th Street, NW Contact CityWashington KeywordsWorkplaces Immigrant Rights Labor Audience Number100-250 people Contact StateDC Contact ZIP20006 Person Reviewingwalda |