Activists plan for December Tijuana workers conference

A large outpouring of workers and activists assembled at the Alvarado Street UNITE-HERE union hall in Los Angeles for a meeting and discussion to prepare for the fifth annual international labor conference on Dec. 5-7 in Tijuana, Mexico. The Sept. 9 meeting was sponsored by UNITE-HERE WSRJB, the U.S./Cuba Labor Exchange and the International Action Center. The Los Angeles-based Latino Movement USA also participated with a large contingent of workers.

Cristina Vasquez, John Parker and Ignacio Meneses speak on Tijuana conference. WW photo: Gloria Verdieu

Cristina Vasquez, regional director of UNITE-HERE, hosted the meeting. She welcomed the gathering and explained the importance of the conference in providing an opportunity for workers from different countries to learn from each other’s struggles.

Ignacio Meneses, of the U.S./Cuba Labor Exchange and the United Autoworkers Union, provided an in-depth analysis of the neoliberal system of exploitation that is being used by the imperialist powers to rob workers around the world of the wealth that their labor creates. The advocates of neoliberalism, he explained, argue that governments are inept and therefore everything needs to be privatized. These pro-exploitation promoters also demand that there be no regulation of the capitalist plunderers.

Meneses also outlined the general organization of the December conference, urging everyone to attend the Dec. 5 dinner where the heroic Cuban Five, all presently confined to U.S. federal prisons, and their families will be honored. Some of these family members will be present at the conference.

The conference discussions will be led by labor representatives from Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Colombia, Haiti, the Philippines, Mexico and the U.S.

On Dec. 6, among the topics will be relations between the U.S. and Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico and the rest of Latin America. Speakers will address the U.S. blockade of Cuba, the threats to the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela, Bolivia and the imposition of neoliberal policies on Mexico.

A panel will focus on ALBA, a trade consortium led by Cuba and Venezuela based on cooperation and solidarity, as a growing alternative to the imperialist Free Trade Act of the Americas, which has had a devastating impact on workers and the poor throughout Latin America. The panel will also discuss the continuing efforts of transnational corporations to penetrate Latin America, the development of collective solidarity among Latin American nations, the urgent problems facing these countries, and the role of the workers’ movements in solving these problems.

The focus on Dec. 7 will be on Latin American immigration to the U.S. and the growing threats to immigrant workers. Immigrant rights activists will present plans for pro-immigrant demonstrations throughout the U.S. on May 1, 2009.

Following Meneses, the next speaker was John Parker, a West Coast leader of the struggle against foreclosures. Parker explained how the U.S. housing crisis has global implications and announced two upcoming actions to press the California state government for a moratorium on foreclosures.

A lively discussion of how to build the Tijuana conference followed. Those making comments included Rosie Martinez, executive board member of SEIU 721; Alejandro Ahumada of the Utility Workers Local 132; Juan Jose Gutierrez of the Latino Movement U.S.A.; Rosemary Lee of the United Teachers of Los Angeles; and Juan Flores, a UNITE-HERE organizer. Cuba solidarity activist Walter Lippmann gave an up-to-the-minute report on the situation in Cuba following Hurricane Ike. An outreach committee was formed to spread word about the conference and encourage attendance from workers and pro-labor activists in Los Angeles and San Diego.

For a more detailed outline of the conference program, with information on conference and hotel registration, visit laborexchange.blogspot.com.