Nathan Newman wrote:
> the stellar and admirable political work and views of US unions and
> their role in the last week's protests here in the US.
-Could you please elaborate on their role in the last week's protests? Thanks.
http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/129992/1/4536 "In Los Angeles, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1877, a janitor's union, provided security for the protests and coordinated around one hundred buses that dropped off protesters from around the country. "
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0327peoplemarch.html In Phoenix- "The Service Employees International Union, AFL-CIO, put in calls to members. And Spanish and English media reached people in their cars, work sites and living rooms..."It was something that really wanted to happen," said Scott Washburn, SEIU's Arizona director. "(Latinos are) really upset about the notion of being felons. It's deeply insulting, and it really got a lot of people into action," he said. "
And by the way (from last Friday) http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2868&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
"Faced with immigration legislation that could criminalize undocumented workers and those who help them - including union organizers - and deny workers permanent residence in the U.S., the nation's two labor federations and their allies have launched mass protests and lobbying for positive immigration reform. Demonstrations began March 10 with a 400,000-person march in Chicago's Loop. And the AFL-CIO, Change to Win, La Raza Unida, LULAC, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and others will build up to a mass march in D.C. during a "National Day of Action" on April 10, leaders told a D.C. press conference on March 22.
"The protests are designed to show not only mass support for immigration reform that would "bring these workers out of the shadows," as AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson put it, but also to remind politicians that immigrants and their allies vote and plan to hold lawmakers accountable this fall for their actions.