Labor Briefing

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Chicago cops, and a long memory. There is no lack of familiarity with the terror that police unleash on a regular basis. Recorded is a long, ugly history of police violence, including utilization of department facilities to torture prisoners. Also common are cop killings, like the cold-blooded murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in 2015. Videos recorded 16 shots from the revolver of Officer Jason Van Dyke, pumped into Mc­ Donald’s body for no reason. Van Dyke still walks the streets of Chicago a free man.

Raids like these take place amid a surge in such crackdowns since President Donald Trump took of­ fice. He vows to deport as many as three million so-called “undesirable” immigrants. This might not be a big change from the Obama presidency, which de­ ported close to 400,000 immigrants each year while apprehending an equal number of people crossing the border with Mexico, for a total exceeding five million.

Deportations in these numbers are not possible without a close working relationship between ICE and the local cops. Even when local police are not directly involved, they certainly don’t place any obstacles in the way of federal officers looking to harass immi­ grants and the working poor.

Sanctuary cities can only offer a small degree of pro­ tection to paperless immigrants. They certainly can’t prevent ICE agents from hunting down workers at businesses, or forcing their way into people’s homes. For these, all cops need is a warrant, which immigra­ tion judges issue liberally as needed.

While U.S. capitalists have some interest in minimiz­ ing the flow of immigrants into this country and expel­ ling others, they have more interest in terrorizing the immigrant population that remains here to maximize their profits.

The bosses hope that a fearful and desperate com­ munity of the working poor will submit to the lowest wages, longest hours, and the most horrendous work­ (continued from page 4: “Labor Briefing”) strikes and demonstrations:

“Teachers and their unions turned out for May Day this year in St. Paul, Minneapolis, Oakland, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Chicago, and Seattle. They held teach-ins at schools and pickets outside, and joined citywide demon­ strations in solidarity with immigrant commu­ nities.

“Philadelphia teachers wanted to show soli­ darity with the day’s themes—but also make a statement to the city about their own contract struggle. They’ve gone four years without a contract and five years without a raise. They’ve suffered school closings, freezes on steps and lanes in the pay scale, layoffs of school nurses and counselors, and the privatization of sub­ stitute teachers. The state-appointed school board even tried to cancel their contract, though it was rebuffed by the courts.

“So, to create pressure on the district, a group of teachers organized their own protest. ‘We are finally taking some action, after five years of not doing much,’ said Tom Quinn, a teacher at the city’s largest high school, where more than half of teachers took a ‘personal day’ on May Day.” n If you have a story suitable for this column please contact [email protected] SOCIALIST ACTION JUNE 2017...5