Immigrants ask: “When will deportations stop?’

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President Obama stated in a recent speech on immigra­ tion reform, “Real reform means stronger border security, and we can build on the progress my administration has already made, putting more boots on the southern border than at any time in our history and reducing illegal cross­ ings to their lowest levels in 40 years. Real reform means establishing a responsible pathway to earn citizenship, a path that includes passing a background check, paying taxes and a meaningful penalty, learning English, and go­ ing to the back of the line behind the folks trying to come here legally.”

This may sound on the surface like a promise for change, but as the legacy of Obama’s mass deportations of 400,000 immigrants a year continues to haunt com­ munities across the country, many immigrants are asking when the deportations will stop.

Young people across the country like Hareth Andrade of Dreamers with Virginia, whose father Mario is facing deportation, are speaking out against Obama’s policies. Hareth said at a recent AFL-CIO convention where she asked union leaders for support: “My dad is just one of the faces of the thousand facing deportation, just one of the many who has to see his children cry. My dad was home for my sister’s ninth birthday in August, but who’s to say that because of an ICE decision, he won’t be there next year?” Recent immigration reform proposals coming from Congress have included harsh measures like thou­ sands of dollars in fines, the requirement that immigrants prove their work history, pay back taxes, and learn Eng­ lish, and even a requirement that immigrants maintain a certain level of income, all before they can “earn” their legal status, a process that could take well over 10 years. In fact, in an analysis of the immigration reform proposal from the summer of 2013, the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law estimated that the “pathway to citizenship” being offered was so onerous that 4-5 mil­ lion undocumented immigrants would be excluded be­ ... 1934 strike (continued from page 12: “80 years ago: Teamsters strike in Minneapolis”) cal, had a small number of members (somewhere be­ tween 75-150) and were organized in one coal yard only. They had AFL jurisdiction in the industry, but the AFL was notorious for practicing “business unionism.” Their goal was to gain acceptance in government and boss circles by practicing class collaboration, and they operated through a high level of bureaucracy, with cushy salaried jobs for the union officials on top of the ladder.

Local 574, chartered in 1923, had failed in earlier attempts to organize successful union drives. The In­ ternational Brotherhood of Teamsters at this time was generally only open to truck drivers, usually driversalesmen in occupations like milkman, ice delivery, and so on, called “cash wagon” drivers by the workers. Members were subdivided into local trade unions that were separated based on jobs and governed by the Teamsters Joint Council. AFL union bureaucrats like Daniel J. Tobin, president of the International Broth­ erhood of Teamsters (IBT), were afraid of successful union drives because a large influx of new workers could easily get out of hand before they were able to control it from the top down.

Not surprisingly, Minneapolis Local 574 immedi­ ately ran into opposition from Tobin when they at­ tempted to start their union drive in 1933. However, a rank-and-file committee was formed with the crucial support of Local President Bill Brown to advocate for inclusion of other workers, and after the local agreed to allow it, they launched a general organizing drive.

After recruiting many new workers to the campaign, they came up with platform of demands to present to the bosses, which included: recognition of the union, an increase salaries and a decrease in hours worked per week, a right to overtime pay, and better work­ ing conditions. Although Section 7(a) of the National Industrial Recovery Act signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933 gave workers the “right to unionize,” the Minneapolis coal industry employers refused to negotiate with the workers.

But the workers in this situation were up against much more than simply the regular industry bosses. They also had to fight against the Citizens Alliance, a kind of bosses’ organization, a “union against unions.” Inspired by a 1917 Teamsters strike that was broken, the Citizens Alliance was dominated by a wide range of rich and powerful capitalists in Minneapolis (in­ cluding the Daytons) as well as about 800 small busi­ nesses. They counted on support from the police force cause they could not meet its conditions or pay its fines.

And all of this was contingent on the implementation of increased border militarization, including the use of drones on the U.S.-Mexico border, and the nationwide use of guest-worker visas and E-verify.

While politicians twiddle their thumbs and argue back and forth about how harsh the terms of the new immigra­ tion law will be, over a thousand people are being deport­ ed every day. Many detainees spend months languishing in for-profit detention prisons while they wait for their deportation, often cut off from contact with their families.

As recently reported by Aura Bogado in The Nation, de­ tainees who work in the kitchen or in maintenance at the and the city council, and they had even infiltrated many unions.

The Citizens Alliance existed to break strikes. David Parry, the president of the National Association of Manufacturers, called for a national open-shop drive in 1903. Parry said, “I believe we should endeavor to strike at the root of the matter, and that is to be found in the wide spread socialistic sentiment among cer­ tain classes of people.” He later admitted that this was “a war between the owners of American industry and the working class.”

After coal workers’ demands were rejected by the bosses, Cliff Hall, 574’s business agent, initially blocked the vote to strike. After union leaders orga­ nized a second meeting with more rank and file who were present, a strike was declared on Feb. 7, 1934. But many workers never forgot the betrayal of the union bureaucracy and were reticent towards the of­ ficial union leadership afterwards. The Communist David Maialetti / Philadelphia Daily News (Above) Demonstrators at March 12 Philadelphia city council meeting demand police curtail cooperation with federal immigration round-ups. The city now states it will only cooperate if a suspect had previously been convicted of a violent felony. Broward Transitional Center in Florida are paid $1 a day to keep the detention center running. Immigrants who are being deported because they don’t have a permit to work in the United States are being paid the wages of an inden­ tured servant to maintain the very prison that holds them captive. GEO Group, the private company that runs the (continued on page 8, in “Tangled Up in Dogma”)

The negotiations resulted in a new wage scale that gave small raises to most workers and time and a half after 48 hours of work. Despite its limitations, this was an important victory—it meant recognition for the union, which opened up Local 574 to even more workers, and gave it a stronger rank-and-file base than ever. And for the first time in 20 years, the work­ ers had won a strike, building their confidence.

But the victory wouldn’t last long. Because work in the coal yards was seasonal, the bosses figured the wage increases would only last a few months, and then they could purge the ranks of strikers and reds in the next wave of hiring in the fall. But the union wasn’t about to give up without a struggle. The stage was be­ ing set for the drama that was to unfold on the streets of Minneapolis in the months to come.

To be continued …