In a recent column on Pajamas Media by Ruben Navarrette Jr. titled "Cesar Chavez Would Not Have Supported Amnesty for Illegals" (April 8, 2010), the author takes issue with the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) for calling on Congress to honor Cesar Chavez and his legacy by approving comprehensive immigration reform.
Navarrette argues that "Chavez was a fierce opponent of illegal immigration, and so it's unlikely that he'd have looked favorably on a plan to legalize millions of illegal immigrants." He also says that "Chavez was primarily a labor leader," who opposed illegal immigration because of the competition it would cause with union farmworkers.
With all due respect, perhaps the United Farm Workers of America (UFW) is a better judge of Cesar Chavez's legacy than Ruben Navarrette, Jr. The "Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act" (CIR ASAP) includes the "Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits, and Security Act" (AgJOBS), which contains crucial provisions for farmworkers, the very people advocated for by Chavez's organization, the UFW. Current UFW leaders, many of whom worked closely with Chavez during the period that Navarrette describes in his column, have also been working tirelessly to achieve immigration reform. They recognize, as Chavez surely would, that it is in every worker's interest to make sure that nobody is a victim of exploitation, indentured servitude, wage theft, and many of the other ills that our broken immigration system currently allows.
In fact, UFW's current president and Chavez's son-in-law Arturo Rodriguez spoke at a recent rally for immigration reform in Washington, DC. He stated that "now more than ever, a comprehensive U.S. immigration reform is key in helping rebuild our country and giving back American working families the prosperity and equality they deserve." Rodriguez also stated in a press release issued on March 19, 2010 that "The farm worker movement Cesar began is the root of the Latino political movement," and "now we have a president, Barack Obama, whose own roots are like ours and whose presidential campaign was rooted in Cesar's grito, 'Si se puede!' or 'Yes we can!'"
NCLR, like Chavez and the UFW, is an advocate for comprehensive immigration reform, but does not support illegal immigration. NCLR urges lawmakers to pass comprehensive immigration reform for the sake of all of America's workers, for the very same reasons that Navarrette cites--maintaining fair wages, leveling the playing field of America's workforce, and upholding high workplace standards. Navarrette fails to grasp that unscrupulous employers are currently benefiting from our broken immigration system by exploiting vulnerable workers, paying unfair wages, and depressing compensation for all American workers, especially in the agriculture, meat-processing, and other industries often occupied by low-wage and undocumented workers. Immigration reform that levels the playing field for all workers--affording them fair wages, hours, and worksite protections--would automatically eliminate the trap door that bad-actor employers currently exploit to gain an advantage over their competitors and hold so many workers hostage to abuse and unbearable working conditions. It's hard to imagine that the civil rights leader who championed the labor cause would be against legislation that would be in the best interest of workers and restore the rule of law.
NCLR urges lawmakers to pass comprehensive immigration reform in honor of Chavez's legacy. Here is my quote that Navarrette failed to include in its entirety:
Cesar Chavez shined a national spotlight on the depressed wages and unbearable working conditions experienced by agricultural laborers in the 1960s. Still, today, too many farmworkers face similar conditions. An essential element of any solution to the myriad problems faced by farmworkers is immigration reform, including provisions in the 'AgJOBS Act of 2009' (H.R. 2412) that will reduce incentives for growers to hire undocumented workers by improving protections for all of our nation's farmworkers.
It's hard to imagine that Chavez would disagree.
thus, the only realistic solution that is pro-worker is for all workers, documented and undocumented, to unite and fight back against the bosses, banks, wall-street and all politicians from both parties.
to support stronger immigration law or control is to support attacks on immigrant workers and therefore give the bosses weapons to attack all workers.
immigrants will keep coming to the US no matter what - see my previous posts. once we face this reality and realize that this is part of the system that the bosses encourage. we can see how to fight against our real enemy - the capitalists and their two political parties.
SamR
A recent article stated 58% of lobbying for the last attempt at Comprehensive Immigration Reform was paid by Big Business. Big Business does not throw money away for no good reason. In 1924 Samuel Gompers, President of the AFL wrote: "Every effort to enact immigration legislation must expect to meet a number of hostile forces… One of these is composed of corporation employers who desire to employ physical strength (broad backs) at the lowest possible wage and who prefer a rapidly revolving labor supply at low wages to a regular supply of American wage earners at fair wages." Per the US Bureau of Labor Statistics 22 million Americans are looking for work today while the Pew Center indicates 7.5 million Illegal Immigrants are working in the USA. That makes big business happy. Their biggest threat to this situation is strong enforcement. They loose and the American Worker wins. Backing the disruption of enforcement by twisting Marxist Theory into an unrecognizable pattern sounds more like the move of a secret Big Business Representative than that of a Marxist.
So what is the point of all this? First, Illegal Immigrants come to the USA and undercut the wages of the American Citizen or Legal Resident and to take their jobs. Next, Illegal Immigrants work to get as many supporters in Union Leadership as possible. Then Illegal Immigrants and those who represent them demand Comprehensive Immigration Reform so everyone working illegally in the USA can get legal status that includes unionization.
Work rules fostered by the National Labor Relations Board (a government agency) would now guarantee jobs would continue to be held by those who originally came to the USA to work illegally. This process would also increase wages back to what they were when the Americans held the jobs. Now Union and Government rules say the former Illegal Immigrants have the jobs locked in and while at the same time locking out the Americans who used to do those jobs. Thus Citizen Union Members become like fatted calves offered up for the slaughter while the Unions, the Government, and Congress caters to those who came here illegally. Is that fair?
It is a crime that groups like La Raza and RIA are misleading the movement into thinking that CIR wold be a victory - they are playing a dangerous game. What is needed is a mass militant movement of workers: documented and undocumented united, to fight the bosses, the banks, wall-street, and their 2 parties: Democrats and Republicans. History shows that workers win victories with strikes, mass protests, and movements in the streets, not though lobbying, voting, and making nice with the politicians, who are actually our enemies.
The illegal aliens are illegal. And yes: La Raza DOES support the illegal aliens in the work place. All they need is a decent fake I.D., and La Raza finds them very acceptable. Clearly is not advocating Immigration Reform because there are NO illegal aliens in the work force La Raza supports.
And the future?
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2010/04/seiu_blasts_obama_immigration.html
Trouble!
People will keep coming, risking their lives or arrest - unstoppable, until the quality of life in those nations reaches a level where people can work there and survive - this means they will keep coming as long as the US continues its imperialist exploitation of many of the worlds' nations.
the bosses' want undocumented workers here, so they can exploit them as much as possible, and lower wages for all. But it important for them to have as tough immigration laws as possible, so their workers are afraid and vulnerable - then they can be exploited more, and paid less - and this lowers the wages for all workers. so the bosses, the banks, wall-street, Obama, and politicians from both parties lie to us and tell us that they want to stop immigration, when they know that immigration will never stop (see end of this letter for an explanation) - and that the tougher laws will just make it harder for workers to work, make them more exposed, and harder for them to organize and fight back. That is why immigration restrictions and tougher laws are exactly what the capitalists want - and many workers buy into that.
all workers must unite with the undocumented workers to fight for amnesty - if this is done, then the fear that the bosses and government use to exploit the undocumented will be gone, and all workers will be able to unite and fight back against the real enemies: the bosses, banks, wall-street, and all Republican and Democratic politicians, including Obama (they all work in the interest of the bosses and the banks).
The times in this countries history where the middle class has prospered are all times when legal immigration was low - and accordingly workers were paid better and treated better.
Don't you see the connection between big business, chambers of commerce, employers across the country all wanting some sort of amnesty for illegals as telling??
If they ever get an amnesty there will still be NO MEANINGFUL enforcement (or funding for enforcement) and illegals will poor over in even greater numbers. Why do you think all the politicians want the amnesty FIRST?
They will never agree to enforcement first because if they did the illegals would self-deport en mass and the public would see how easy it is to solve the problem and save billions every year!
Unions are supporting amnesty because they like many of the churches want to increase their cash flow. Union members pay dues regardless of if they are employed.
Unions while being perhaps one of the best things to happen to the American worker in the past, have lost their way. Today the leaders of unions have more in common with the people they sit across from at the negotiating table then their own membership. They look out for themselves first. the needs of the membership are down on the list.
La Raza supports legalization because numbers of members means political power and money.
I seriously doubt if any of the top people in La Raza or any of the other pro amnesty groups really give a damn about illegal aliens. Illegal aliens are just tools to be used and discarded so those at the top can climb even higher.
If these pro illegal alien groups were truly concerned about the plight of their ethnically related brothers and sisters, they would be helping them in their countries of origin.
This is a great example of the devastation Illegal Immigration has wrought on wages. The sad part is even if farm wages were to increase to the level of Laborers and Loggers, because the cost of farm labor is only 7% of the cost of food, food prices would rise only 4.5%.
In 1979, Cesar Chavez testified to Congress: "… when the farm workers strike and their strike is successful, the employers go to Mexico and have unlimited, unrestricted use of illegal alien strikebreakers to break the strike…” The UFW has been unsuccessful in getting the U.S. Government to properly enforce our immigration laws, so their strategy is now to get Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants that includes legalized Illegal Immigrants required to join Unions, sacrificing unemployed Citizens for more Union power.