Unions & Latinos

1. Unions & Latinos ”Latinos are playing a critical role in achieving victories in a metropolis [Los Angeles, CA] legendary for smashing unions and once commonly called, `the buckle of the scab belt’.” --Justice for Janitors --unionizing of home care workers --victorious strikes of transit workers --drywalleros of the building trades

2. Unions & Latinos ”One out of six new workers in the US is Latino. Over 1 million males and over half-a-million Latinas are in US unions today. In 1999, across the US there was a net gain of 270,000 union members, with close to half coming from California and a majority of these being women.”

3. Unions & Latinos ”There is a tendency to regard Latinos as primarily agricultural workers [United Farm Workers, (UFW)], but this community made a considerable contribution to the building of US railways and in the mining, garment, meatpacking, construction, and automobile industries.”

4. Unions & Latinos ”62% of both Hispanics and African Americans answered that they had `favorable’ opinions of unions, compared to only 45% of whites. Nonunion workers were asked, `Would you join a union at your place of work?’ and 56% of African Americans, 46% of Hispanics, and 35% of whites answered, `yes’.”

5. Unions & Latinos “…Latinos who are unionized received a remarkable 54.3% higher wage rate than Latinos who lack union representation.” To place this union premium in wider perspective, women workers gain an average of 38.6% with unions, and African Americans see a 45.2% bonus.”

6. Unions & Latinos “Washington, DC started the bracero program, which from 1942 to 1964 brought laborers to work on farms under strict regulations. Any laborer who sought to leave the farm for industrial employment would be subject to deportation.”

7. Unions & Latinos “The bracero program worked effectively in tandem with the crudely named Operation Wetback, which deported over three million Mexicans during the 1950s. It became a means of defeating unions by providing access to a pool of replacement workers who could not organize to defend their rights. It served to divide workers, including Latinos—documented and undocumented, bracerros and immigrants, and migrants and US citizens.”

8. Unions & Latinos “…number of braceros [increased] from 67,500 in 1950 to 445,000 in 1956, agribusiness sent the wages of agricultural laborers tumbling downward….Lee G. Williams, a US Dept. of Labor executive who administered the bracerro program from 1959 to 1964, later admitted it was `legalized slavery’, nothing but a way for big corporate farms to get a cheap labor supply…”

9. Unions & Latinos “Latinos are at the forefront of transforming unions in compelling ways: 1.) Social unionism--Latinos have historically made unions part of a social movement. 2.) Community organizing--devotion to community organizing and a refusal to limit union action to the immediate workplace. 3.) Internationalism and North/South solidarity--exploiting social networks in thier native villages.”

10. Unions & Latinos “Undoubtedly, Cesar Chavez (1927-1993) stands as the most renowned Latino labor leader in US history…highly publicized lettuce and grape strikes, ...1st union contract in July 1970…UFW sputtered in 1980s, …UFW spawned a generation of labor and community organizers, …UFW peak membership was 60 to 100,000 members, …20,000 in 1994, …since 1994, UFW has won 20-union elections and has 27,000 members.”

11. Unions & Latinos Farm Labor Organizing Committee [FLOC] led by Baldemar Velasquez, hdqt. in Toledo OH signed contracts with Campbell Soup and Heintz for pickles and tomatoes, forcing growers to abide by contracts [third-party contracts]…now has contracts with tobacco growers association in the Carolina’s--with bi-national offices.

12. Unions & Latinos “One of the central challenges for the US labor movement in the decades ahead will be the meatpacking industry, which has recruited thousands of workers from Mexico, Central America, Southeast Asia…” [Somalia]. --400 head of cattle slaughtered per hour at large plants, 200,000 chickens per hr. at lg. plants

13. Unions & Latinos “The [Justice for Janitors] have won backing and a mass from LA’s Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahoney, a theological conservative who takes pride in his Spanish fluency and days of marching with Cesar Chavez.” --Celtic-Mexican Alliance --National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice

14. Unions & Latinos “It is estimated that over 25% of the health care workers in NYC are Latinos. Local 1199 is the city’s most important health care union, and at 220,000 members nationally, it the largest local in Service Employees International Union [SEIU].” Led by Dennis Rivera. --membership has more than doubled. --manages a $5.5-billion pension plan and a $400-million community health plan.

15. Unions & Latinos “The activities Local 1199 could be regarded as part of the Latino transformation in the US labor movement—the synthesis of social unionism, community organizing, and internationalism.”

16. Review Questions 1.) Who and what was the UFW and their leader, Cesar Chavez? 2.) What are the three areas where Latinos are transforming the US labor movement? 3.) What’s unique about third-party contracts? 4.) Are Latino union members mostly in agriculture related industries? Why, why not? 5.) What role has the Catholic church played in Latinos joining unions? 6.) What industry is the new frontier for labor organizing of Latino workers?