Labor kicks off big battle for a new
amnesty law as some 1,000 workers
attend ‘town hall’ meeting in Fresno
A nationwide campaign by America’s labor movement to win amnesty for undocumented workers will be kicked off in the Central Valley Tuesday as some 1,000 workers–mostly from the fields–attend a town hall meeting in Fresno with California’s top labor leaders. Among those attending will be state AFL-CIO Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski, United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez and Service Employees International Union Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina.
In a landmark move hailed across the country, the national AFL-CIO’s executive council, its governing board, unanimously approved a new policy Feb. 16 calling for a blanket amnesty program. That would legalize the immigration status of workers already in the U.S. Other key provisions of labor’s proposal urge elimination of so-called employer sanctions, which penalize companies for hiring the undocumented, and protecting the rights of immigrant workers to organize into unions. The UFW’s Rodriguez sits on the AFL-CIO executive council.
A similar amnesty program was part of the 1996 immigration reform law passed by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton.
To move its agenda forward, the AFL-CIO is sponsoring town hall meetings across the nation. The Fresno event is the latest where unions are being joined by community and church groups.
Who: Some 1,000 workers, state AFL-CIO head Art Pulaski, UFW President Arturo Rodriguez, SEIU Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina, other labor, community and church groups.
What: Town hall meeting to kick off labor’s Central Valley push to legalize the status of undocumented workers.
When: 5-8 p.m., Tuesday, June 6, 2000.
Where: Fresno County Fair Grounds Industry & Commerce Building, 1121 So. Chance, Gate 4, Fresno.
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