On the picket line

Court order halts ‘no-match’

After the AFL-CIO, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Immigration Law Center and three San Francisco labor groups sued the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Social Security Administration in federal court in San Francisco on Aug. 29, a judge issued a temporary restraining order Aug. 31 blocking the DHS’s new so-called “no-match” rule from going into effect Sept. 14. It also stopped the SSA from sending notices informing 140,000 bosses of the rule.

The rule, which would affect approximately 8 million workers, requires bosses to give workers 90 days to fix problems when their Social Security numbers don’t match the system’s database. If the problem isn’t resolved, bosses must fire workers or face criminal prosecution or fines of up to $14,000 per worker.

The AFL-CIO suit read: “The new rule would place millions of U.S. citizens and non-citizens with work authorization at risk of losing their jobs because of discrepancies in the Social Security Administration tax database.” A government study revealed there are 17.8 million errors in the SSA database—more than 70 percent affecting U.S.-born workers.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney was quoted in an Aug. 31 ACLU press release: “Employers have historically used SSA ‘no-match’ letters to fire workers when workers try to organize, when they report a wage claim or workplace hazard, or when they get injured. The new rule gives employers a stronger pretext for engaging in such unlawful conduct.” Stay tuned.

Immigrants bolster union movement

Much of the growth in the union movement in the last decade is thanks to immigrant workers. The number of immigrant union members grew by 30 percent from 1996 to 2006, while the number of U.S.-born members decreased by 9 percent. (blog.aflcio.org, Aug. 30)

Based on analysis of census data, the Migration Information Source reported that immigrants made up 15 percent of the U.S. workforce in 2006 and 12.3 percent (1.9 million) of union members. That means nearly one in 10 immigrants was a union member in 2006. Percentages of immigrants have increased in all sectors of the economy since 2003. For instance, the percentage of immigrant workers in construction jumped from 21.5 to 26.9 percent in three years. (www.migrationinformation.com)

AFL-CIO for universal health care

The AFL-CIO kicked off its Labor Day celebration by announcing a new drive to bring about universal health coverage by the end of 2009. (Louisville Courier-Journal, Aug. 30) The announcement came the day after the Census Bureau announced the number of uninsured people had risen to 47 million—nearly a sixth of the population.

The national labor organization outlined several essential features of a national health-care system: It should control “rising and irrational” health care costs, provide comprehensive high-quality care for all and preserve the right to choose your own doctor. Last week the American Medical Association, the largest organization of physicians, also launched a campaign to cover the uninsured.

UTLA endorses anti-war action

The Board of Directors of United Teachers Los Angeles passed a resolution Aug. 23 renewing its call for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and endorsing all fall anti-war activities, including the Sept. 22-29 tent cities at Los Angeles’ downtown Federal Building and the Sept. 29 marches in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. The resolution noted that the billions of dollars spent on the war would be better spent on meeting pressing human needs at home, especially disaster recovery for Katrina survivors.

In Memoriam: Bill Sorro

Labor and community activist and one of the most revered members of San Francisco’s Filipino community, Bill Sorro, died Aug. 27. Sorro was a founding member of the I-Hotel Tenants Union, which fought for years against evictions of mostly senior Filipino and Chinese tenants who finally lost their homes in 1977. Since then, a successful struggle was waged to save the historic Manilatown community and to secure the former hotel site for low-income housing.

An ironworker, Sorro was an active trade unionist and communist. His decades of tireless service as a tenant and community advocate were recognized in 2005 when he received a Local Hero Award from public television station KQED. A gallery exhibition, “A Serving of Love: The Passion of Bill Sorro,” is on display in the rebuilt International Hotel Manilatown Center through Oct. 6.