> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Yoshie Furuhashi" <furuhashi.1 at osu.edu>
> -100 SEIU buses mean about 5,000 SEIU members (supposing that all who
> -are on the SEIU buses are SEIU members). SEIU has over 600,000
> -members in California. So, that means that the union mobilized less
> -than 1% of its members in California to the LA rally. And that's the
> -union that is probably doing the most in mobilizing members for
> -immigrant rights.
>
> And thus illustrating my point that people on this list are
> incapable of
> saying anything positive about unions, even when the unions are doing
> positive things.
Well, that's because you manage to ignore the positive things I did say about unions, such as vast improvements in the unions' official positions on immigrant workers and TWU Local 100's strike last year. I might also mention their lobbying on behalf of immigrant workers, too.
That said, I don't believe that even you would argue that recent immigrant rights marches and rallies are mainly labor-led or labor- mobilized. Traditional trade unions (such as SEIU, Laborers, etc.) did help, but probably on the margins, in terms of street mobilizations, which seem to me mainly organized by ethnic organizations, service organizations (like churches, Workers Centers, other non-profits that serve immigrants, etc.), ethnic media (Latino DJs that the LA Times article posted by Dennis Claxton here [at <http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of- Mon-20060327/034644.html>] mentioned), and so on. Those, more so than traditional labor unions, may be said to be the labor movement in the USA, as Chuck Grimes suggested: "The LA demos are more than just a demographic difference. They are a real working class movement protecting their communities, their families, friends, and in solidarity with current and future immigrants. Basically the legislation threatens to criminalize them" (at <http://mailman.lbo- talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20060327/034511.html>).
Yoshie Furuhashi <http://montages.blogspot.com> <http://monthlyreview.org> <http://mrzine.org>