ERNESTO JOFRE 1937-2001
Brought class struggle from Chile to U.S.
By Milt
Neidenberg
New York
A unique and unusual labor leader has died--Ernesto Jofre,
the manager, secretary-treasurer, and inspiration behind Local
169 of UNITE, the garment and textile workers' union. His local
stood head and shoulders above the official labor movement in
this city and state. Jofre headed the 5,000-member Amalgamated
Northeast Joint Board of the union, and was recently appointed
an international vice-president.
Jofre's commitment to the labor movement and to low-paid and
immigrant workers was formed in his early years. A Chilean
socialist and member of the Copper Workers Union, he supported
Salvador Allende, who was elected president of Chile in 1970 on
a socialist ticket.
When Allende was assassinated in 1973 on the orders of the
fascist dictator Augusto Pinochet, with the aid and support of
the U.S. CIA, Jofre was arrested, jailed and tortured for three
years.
His dream of a prosperous and democratic Chile stayed with
him to the end of his life as he worked diligently to support
Ricardo Lagos, a socialist who won the presidency last year. He
believed Lagos would help fulfill his dream. But Bush and the
International Monetary Fund have other plans--to expand the
North American Free Trade Agreement into a new Free Trade Area
of the Americas in order to exploit Chile and the entire
hemisphere.
Jofre was exiled to the U.S. in 1976 and soon joined Local
169. Over the next quarter of a century he rose from organizer
to the leadership of the union.
What made him extraordinary was how quickly he applied what
he had learned as a political/labor leader in Chile to the
social and economic conditions in the U.S. He opposed the
policies of AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland, who worked closely
with the CIA to crush the progressive, revolutionary and
socialist movements in El Salvador. Jofre was the principal
organizer of the New York Committee on Human Rights and
Democracy, which exposed brutal attacks on the peasants and
workers and their unions.
Jofre organized so successfully that Kirkland was forced to
send his key labor lieutenant from the infamous American
Institute for Free Labor Development to New York to combat
Jofre's efforts to build a solidarity movement. The CIA
subsidized this AFL-CIO department to undermine progressive
movements in Latin America.
For many of us who met Jofre and supported him during those
trying days, it was the beginning of a long and comradely
relationship. He organized his members and networked with other
unions to bring union delegations to the May 3, 1981, historic
March on the Pentagon. Workers World and other organizers
brought 100,000 protesters to Washington. One of the major
issues was the U.S. intervention in the civil war in El
Salvador on the side of a fascist dictatorship and
counter-revolution.
In later years, Jofre supported many issues initiated by the
International Action Center. He provided his union hall for an
organizing meeting for this year's Jan. 20 Bush
counter-inauguration demonstration; for a Mumia planning
meeting; and meetings that organized successful delegations to
bring medicine and food to the Iraqi people, defying State
Department mandates. He contributed generously to the Key
Martin/Chris Hani Memorial Fund of Peoples Video Network to
fight the AIDS crisis and address other critical issues in
South Africa.
Local 169 was a mixed bag when it came to electoral
politics--a contradiction that remains to this day. To his
credit, Jofre supported and set up office space for candidates
who ran openly as lesbians and gays. On the other hand, he was
a founding member of the Working Families Party, which created
another line on the voting machine for Democratic
candidates.
The top Democratic leaders that Jofre endorsed--like Al
Gore, Sen. Charles Schumer and Sen. Hillary Clinton--are in the
same party that, under former President Bill Clinton, was
responsible for the Welfare Reform Act that scapegoats and
victimizes the most oppressed section of the poor and the
low-paid workers--the very people Jofre championed. The labor
movement has been attacked by both capitalist parties, the
Democrats as well as the Republicans.
Ernesto Jofre's legacy, however, lies in his dedication and
tireless devotion to the cause and the plight of low-paid,
immigrant workers.
His optimism, dedication and compassion in organizing these
workers encouraged the IAC and other progressive and community
representatives to provide organizers and other volunteers to
join with Local 169 in organizing oppressed food store
workers.
These workers put in long hours with no benefits, earning
less than the minimum wage. They have been terrorized and
threatened with deportation by the powerful Korean Green
Grocers Association, the employers that Local 169 took on.
Jofre's vision of the future for the labor movement was with
the most oppressed and low-paid workers: immigrants, people of
color, women, service workers. His life and contributions and
the lessons he brought from Chile demonstrate that the U.S.
labor movement is entering a new period. Leaders are rising up
from the multinational and oppressed work force to be the
engine of renewed class struggle.
Ernesto Jofre believed in this vision. He matched his words
with his deeds. A standing room crowd of supporters filled a
large union hall here on March 11 to pay homage to his deep
impact on the labor movement.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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