Bosses use ICE to chill a union drive

Just two weeks before a union representation election in the midst of the holiday season, online grocery delivery giant Fresh Direct shocked its 2,000 employees. The company demanded that workers produce documents like Social Security cards to update records for an Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency/Homeland Security (ICE) inspection.

Most vulnerable were the 900 warehouse workers slated to vote. Overwhelmingly Latina and women of color, they work in 12- to 18-hour shifts with forced overtime, for a starting wage of $7.50. Standing in near freezing temperatures in the refrigerated warehouse, they price, pack and load boxes, some heavy with canned goods, onto delivery trucks. Many who had been on the payroll since the company was formed had signed union cards and looked forward to an election that would lead to decent wages, working conditions and a sense of security and dignity.

It looked like a winnable election for the union. Then in came the federal agents—ICE, armed and dangerous—ordering the workers to produce proof of their legality. It was reported that at least 100 workers quit, and supervisors suspended dozens of workers who couldn’t produce paperwork.

Sandy Pope, president of Local 805 Teamsters, one of the unions on the ballot, described the mayhem: “Some people just walked out the door. They were sobbing [as they carried] garbage bags of clothes from their lockers.” Fearful that they would be arrested and separated from their children and families, they didn’t wait to pick up their checks.

In spite of the brutal repression by ICE and though it was riddled with unfair labor practices orchestrated by Fresh Direct, the election the National Labor Relations Board set for December 22-23 stayed on schedule as if nothing had happened. The other union on the ballot competing with the Teamsters was the United Food and Commercial Workers. The NLRB should have postponed the election and called for hearings.

The NLRB’s “speak no evil” policy eloquently points out the erosion of protections workers had under the National Labor Relations Act, a law won by the blood and sacrifices of the workers during the struggles of the 1930s Depression.

Immediately following the sham election, there was no surprise when Fresh Direct management boasted that 80 percent of plant employees voted “no union.” They did not mention that only 530 of 900 eligible workers showed up. Three hundred and seventy members wisely decided not to show up as the ICE agents threatened to arrest them. And even under a flawed election, over 100 members voted for the union. As of Jan. 1, none of the locals on the ballot have issued public statements.

A week prior to the election, the New York City Central Labor Council held a press conference on the steps of City Hall targeting the ICE raids on Fresh Direct workers. It was co-chaired by CLC director Ed Ott and Labor Council on Latin American Advancement President Sonia Ivany. The turnout of about 100—mainly union officials, politicians and clergy—pointed out the widespread union busting and the corporations’ collusion with the state’s repressive agencies that target immigrant workers.

Ott’s opening remarks charged that the ICE raid on Fresh Direct was part of a national pattern and “no coincidence, comes now in the middle of an NLRB election.” He blamed the federal government and Fresh Direct complicity in interfering with the workers’ right to have a union. Other speakers reinforced this theme, spotlighting the conduct of Fresh Direct and ICE.

There was, however, no action proposal put forward calling for a fight back to stem the tidal wave of attacks on the labor movement and the broad-based attack on 12 million hard-working immigrants.

With the nation embroiled in imperialist wars and class warfare and national oppression on the rise, wouldn’t it be reasonable to begin discussing a campaign to shut down the country for one day—a one-day national work strike. The tactic is already being used abroad, especially in some European countries.

In their own insidious way, the banks and corporations in their own class interests are already shutting down on the poor and the workers. Look at the foreclosures and the destruction of desperately needed public housing in New Orleans.

Plant closings and layoffs shut out the workers from the means of production and subsistence. Poverty and hunger shut off the masses from economic and personal security. Decent education is denied youth of color and 47 million are shut out of elementary health care. Prisons are packed with workers of many nationalities shut out by bars of isolation and repression. The very future of the planet is threatened by corporate polluters.

Isn’t it time for working people to shut down work for one day in their own class interests?