Word: latino
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...fired from his sanitation contractor job for Smithfield, in nearby Tar Heel, N.C., in 2003 after protesting working conditions. Now, an organizer for the United Food Commercial Workers Union, he is part of a growing nationwide effort to organize what was once considered a no-win labor population: Latino immigrant workers...
...Latino immigrant workers at Smithfield, the world's largest hog-processing plant, are not union members. But a month ago nearly 1,000 of them walked off the job for two days, protesting hundreds of recent firings in a crackdown on undocumented workers. The company quickly capitulated and agreed to rehire the workers, and made other concessions, like meeting with the workers' representatives and agreeing that no one would be disciplined for the walkout...
...place where immigrant workers are showing new assertiveness: walking off jobs, going on strike and joining unions. In the past, unions used to regard immigrant workers as the enemy, saying they depressed wages, took jobs and agreed to work without benefits or contracts. Now, with the large influx of Latino immigrant workers, unions are taking a different tack - moving to organize this growing work force by learning to speak Spanish literally and figuratively...
...Angeles and Sacramento, hotel workers have recently won contracts by taking to the streets and going on strike. In Houston, Latino immigrant janitors went on strike in late October for a month, blocking downtown traffic until they won an agreement between the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and five major cleaning companies for higher wages, medical benefits, paid vacation and more hours. "We're building a much broader movement," says Stephen Lerner, director of the SEIU's Justice for Janitors campaign. "The union writes, talks and acts in the language and culture of the people we're organizing...
...same places in Mexico," Vargas says. "People have a lot of trust in us. All my family, my wife, my cousins, they work in the plant, and now that I work for the union, they trust me." He adds: "I think now they are understanding how to reach Latinos, because, look, I am Latino, I can say that the law says it doesn't matter if you are undocumented, you have the same rights as any other workers...