Attacks on immigrants hurt all workers

At the very same time that the Democratic Party was making great promises to the people of this country at its convention in Colorado, the largest immigration raid to date was taking place in Laurel, Miss.

On Aug. 25, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out another disgusting, racist raid as they pounced down on a Mississippi electrical equipment factory, Howard Industries.

Over 595 immigrants were arrested. Without delay, 475 workers were taken to a detention center in Jena, La., about 120 miles from Laurel.

Jena has been the site of a series of racist attacks against the Black community. In September 2006, three nooses were hung from a tree there after six Black students dared to sit under what was infamously known as “the white tree.”

The attacks ignited a massive movement for justice for the Jena 6, including one of the largest demonstrations against racism in decades.

Raids calculated to divide and conquer

Immigrant rights advocates feared that the workers in Laurel would face charges similar to those imposed on packinghouse workers after the despicable ICE raid in Postville, Iowa, in May of this year.

In Postville, workers were not charged with immigration violations but with identity theft—which is a felony, much more serious than any immigration violation.

However, as a result of the public outrage over the Postville raid, so far only a handful of the Laurel immigrants have been charged with identify theft. A handful too many.

And just like Postville, ICE prepared for the raid by booking large numbers of motel rooms. This led to activists alerting the movement to the raid before it occurred.

Howard Industries is currently the world’s largest manufacturer of distribution transformers. It is the largest employer in Laurel as well as in the state, employing about 4,000 workers statewide. Its net worth is $1 billion. This year OSHA levied about $193,000 in fines against Howard for 54 safety violations.

In 1997, under the constant drive of capitalism to expand, the company opened up Howard Technology Park in Ellisville, Miss.

The facility received heavy state subsidies, about $30 million, but as of 2007 no tenants had moved in. The 5,000 jobs promised by the computer division of the company in 1997 never materialized.

The Aug. 25 raid at Howard left a chill on the immigrant community, which is primarily Latin@. Immigrant and labor rights activists report that Latin@s are afraid to come out of their homes; stores and restaurants that cater to the Latin@ community are almost empty.

Some of the news surrounding the raid has been calculated to further divide U.S. and immigrant workers, especially the undocumented.

Television and newspaper accounts, both in English and Spanish, reported that the raid allegedly took place as a result of a tip to ICE from a union member. The union at the plant is the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Telemundo, a major Spanish-language national television station, reported that some of the workers at the factory applauded when ICE rounded up the immigrants. It also reported that ICE separated Black workers in one area, white workers in another, and Latin@s in still another.

Mass movement needed

The news of the Laurel, Miss., raid is not all negative, however. The rumor that ICE raided the plant because of a tip from the union could be just that: a rumor. It could be totally bogus. Some news accounts report that the alleged call was made two years ago.

The fact is that Howard Industries has been in the midst of a union drive. It’s been a very progressive union drive, where organizers struggle to bring the immigrant workers, documented and undocumented, into the union.

African-American workers did applaud, but they did so when some of the Latin@ families held a protest in front of the plant Aug. 30 demanding the checks of the workers held in Jena. Black workers came out to shake the Latin@ families’ hands.

Many of the Howard workers, Black and white, came out to show their solidarity with the Latin@ families.

David Bacon, a progressive journalist who has written volumes on the conditions of immigrant workers, wrote in Truthout.org on Aug. 31: “Tensions between the company and union increased after the collective bargaining agreement expired at the beginning of August. According to one immigrant worker ... the union was asking for a wage increase of $1.50 an hour and better vacation benefits. Company medical benefits are also an issue ... because family coverage costs over $100 a week.

“Mississippi is a right-to-work state,” Bacon continues, “and labor contracts cannot require that workers belong to the union. Instead, unions must continually try to sign workers as members. To increase its ability to negotiate a contract, Local 1317 began making great efforts to sign up immigrant members.

“That’s when the plant was raided,” he notes.

What will it take?

Thousands of labor officials attended the Democratic National Convention. What were their thoughts on the raids at Laurel or Postville?

Both raids were callously anti-union.

Was there an effort during the convention to at least pass a resolution condemning these anti-worker, racist raids? Was there an outcry for justice that maybe didn’t get covered in the news? Was this outcry stifled, like the protests outside the convention against war and for immigrant rights?

The labor movement faces enormous problems as a profound capitalist economic crisis unfolds. The answer to these problems is staring us all in the face: focus on building solidarity among all workers, so they can better resist the onslaught of the bosses. That’s been the lesson behind every period of great labor struggle and gains.

There are many labor militants trying to do just that. As unions go out to celebrate Labor Day, their leaders need to know that unless they extend the hand of solidarity to all immigrant workers—documented and undocumented—and provide not just verbal support but material assistance to the countless activists who are working tirelessly and heroically, most without pay, to defend immigrant rights, the ruling class of this country and the captains of industry like those at Howard Industries will continue to win the war against all workers.