Immigrant workers fight backImmigrant workers fight back
By Barry Sheppard
On March 8, hundreds of workers at two plants in the San Francisco Bay Area, and their supporters, held rallies and pickets in a fight to win union recognition.
The demonstration began at the Rubber Stampede factory in Oakland then moved to the MediaCopy plant in San Leandro a few miles away. It was organised by the Warehouse Union Local 6, a local of the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union. The workers at these plants are largely Latino, and at Rubber Stampede they are mostly women.
The fight at Rubber Stampede began last April when workers narrowly lost a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election to join Local 6. Before the vote, the company hired 15 new management personnel and threatened and harassed many workers into not voting.
The union has since brought charges before the NLRB against the company for coercing workers. After investigating, the NLRB issued a complaint against the company.
Company owner Sam Katzen retaliated by changing the workers' already low hourly pay rate to a piecework rate, cutting their wages by US$2-3 per hour. According to Local 6, Katzen told workers that if they didn't like the piecework they could "go back to Mexico".
In response, 140 workers, led by Latinas, walked off the job on November 13. These workers had no union and no protection under a union contract. They contacted Local 6 for support.
Since the strike began, picketers outside the plant have been threatened (including one death threat) and harassed by management. Some women strikers have received obscene phone calls during the night and strikers' car windows have been smashed.
Rubber Stampede, which makes rubber stamps sold around the world, has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to retain the union-busting law firm Littler, Mendleson and Tichey.
The struggle at MediaCopy, which duplicates video tapes, erupted after management conspired with the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (referred to by Latinos as "La Migra") to raid the plant on January 7. In the months leading up to the raid, MediaCopy workers had been fighting against racist abuse, the US$5 per hour pay and 12-hour shifts.
La Migra's raid occurred during a company-called meeting of the workers and resulted in 120 arrests. At least 80 workers were immediately deported, most to Mexico. They were not allowed to see their families or receive the wages due to be paid the next day.
The remaining workers called Local 6 and a large majority signed union representation cards. The company has since launched an anti-union drive of lies, threats and intimidation. MediaCopy employees have renamed the company "MigraCopy".
MediaCopy's use of La Migra underscores the reasons behind the current anti-immigrant campaign being conducted in the US — and Australia. Its purpose is not to stop immigration, including "illegal" immigration. Rather, it is an attempt to demonise immigrants, especially those of colour, so that they can be intimidated into accepting inferior wages and conditions. It also enables those who resist this exploitation to be deported.
The workers' struggles at Rubber Stampede and MediaCopy, however, show that it is not always easy for the bosses' to get their way. That Local 6 has responded to these workers' appeal for support is a bright spot in the union movement in the US.