3:30-6 p.m. Saturday, June 3
UFW & labor help kick off battle for
new amnesty law as some 1,000 workers
attend a ‘town hall’ meeting in Salinas
A nationwide campaign by America’s labor movement to win amnesty for undocumented workers will be kicked off on the Central Coast Saturday as some 1,000 workers–mostly from the fields and packinghouses–attend a town hall meeting in Salinas 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 Salinas event is the latest where unions are being joined by community and church groups. Also participating will be
Monterey County Supervisor Simon Salinas, Salinas City Councilmember and Supervisor-elect Fernando Armenta, Watsonville City Councilmember Ana Ventura and Teamsters Local 890 President Frank Gallegos.
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 Coast push to legalize the status of undocumented workers.
When: 3:30-6 p.m., Saturday, June 3, 2000.
Where: Alisal High School auditorium, 777 Williams Rd., Salinas.
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