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With hundreds of supporters

Fired Pacific Steel workers march for dignity

Published Feb 23, 2012 8:44 PM
Photo: Gino Pepi

Hundreds of people marched on Feb. 17 alongside 200 fired Pacific Steel Casting Company workers through downtown Berkeley and to the steel plant. The workers, most of whom had 5 to 20 years seniority, had been fired after a “silent” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid. These raids check Social Security numbers of workers, as submitted on federal I-9 forms. Ironically, Berkeley is a sanctuary city for migrant people.

Last March, the Pacific Steel workers went on strike to fight against increased health care charges and an attack on their seniority rights. Many feel these ICE raids have targeted plants where workers have tried to stand up for their rights.

One of the fired workers declared, “We are only workers, not criminals!” These workers have not only lost their jobs, leaving their families without financial support, but they’ve lost health care as well. It appears they may also have lost any way to collect their pensions, to which they have contributed during all the years they worked for the company.

A daughter of one of the workers said, “Here we are today, still fighting to stay on the land that once belonged to us.”

The workers are filing a class-action lawsuit against Pacific Steel Casting for systematically denying all workers proper lunch breaks and an adequate cafeteria. They plan to continue their struggle, looking at the upcoming May Day demonstrations as the next step in their fight for their rights to a job and human dignity. There are no borders in the workers’ struggle!