On the picket line

Stop Social Security ‘no-match’

A federal judge in San Francisco has extended a temporary ban that has stopped a draconian law targeting immigrant workers from going into effect.

The ban, set to last until Oct. 11, began on Aug. 31, when another federal judge issued the temporary injunction sought by the AFL-CIO, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Immigration Law Center and several San Francisco labor organizations.

The groups sued the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Social Security Administration to stop the Homeland Security’s new “no-match” rule.

The rule, which would affect 8.7 million workers, requires bosses to give workers 90 days to fix problems if their Social Security numbers don’t match the system’s database. If the “no-match” problem isn’t resolved, bosses must then fire workers or face criminal prosecution or fines of up to $14,000 per worker.

However, a recent government study revealed 17.8 million errors in the Social Security Administration’s database, with more than 70 percent affecting U.S.-born workers.

The Oct. 2 New York Times reported a startling move: Several management organizations, headed by the super-reactionary U.S. Chamber of Commerce, support the ban.

“In court documents,” wrote the Times, “the business groups argued that the impact of the rule in terms of hiring and training office workers to comply with the new procedures and deadlines, and firing employees whose discrepancies were not resolved in time, would be ‘substantial, immediate and irreparable.’”

Meanwhile, the struggle continues in the streets. In Aurora, Ill., about 20 Latin@ workers who make valves at Ballco Manufacturing walked off the job Sept. 20 after 10 employees were fired for not providing “proper” employee documentation. Under the current act employers must verify worker eligibility within three days from the start of employment.

Some picketing workers have held their jobs for six or more years.

The unorganized workers received help from the Chicago Workers Collaborative, a workers’ rights group organized by the Electrical Workers union (UE).

Restaurant delivery workers want justice

Twenty-two Chinese immigrant deliverers at two New York City Saigon Grill restaurants were fired in March after they complained about being paid only $120 for a 75-hour work week. That’s $1.60 an hour—a blatant violation of both federal and state minimum wage laws.

After filing a lawsuit in New York state court that accused the restaurants of minimum wage and overtime violations, the workers set up weekly picket lines organized by the group Justice Will Be Served.

On Oct. 4 their case was also submitted to a National Labor Relations Board law judge. The judge will rule on whether the restaurants illegally retaliated against the workers because they organized to assert their rights. If the ruling is favorable to the workers, the restaurants will have to reinstate them, pay them back wages and agree to not engage in further retaliation or intimidation.

Justice Will Be Served is a coalition of advocacy groups for immigrant workers, which includes the 318 Restaurant Workers Union, the Chinese Staff and Workers’ Association and the National Mobilization Against Sweatshops. This case is also supported by the New York City Central Labor Council.

Mass. workers win union rights

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed a state law on Sept. 27 that enables workers to form unions by signing authorization cards. The law is similar to the majority sign-up provisions of the federal Employee Free Choice Act, which, unfortunately, the Democratic-majority Congress did not pass this year.

Last year Gov. Mitt Romney, now a front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, had vetoed the same bill.

This victory is the latest for state workers around the country. Over the summer, public workers in New Hampshire and Oregon won majority authorization and state workers in Delaware won collective bargaining rights.