Immigration Raids and Union Organizing

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A Case Study of the Smithfield Plant

In January 2007, the Smithfield Plant in Tar Heel, N.C. was raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This raid drastically changed the demographics of the plant, shifting from a mostly illegal Hispanic workforce to a legal African American workforce. The plant’s workers were able to unionize in the aftermath, something the previous workforce had failed to do twice prior to the raid.

Jerry Kammer, Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, has examined the circumstances surrounding the raid and the plant’s unionization. In “Immigration Raids at Smithfield: How an ICE Enforcement Action Boosted Union Organizing and the Employment of American Workers,” Kammer gives an overview of events before the unionization and insights into the varied reasons workers were able to solidify backing for the union. The report is online at http://cis.org/SmithfieldImmigrationRaid-Unionization.

The sequence of events includes:

  • The Smithfield Plant, represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), failed to unionize in both 1994 and 1997. An administrative law judge found that the company committed “egregious and pervasive violations of labor law” during the 1997 effort when it used the employees’ illegal status to threaten them.
  • After the initial attempts at unionizing, Smithfield and the UFCW engaged in a bitter dispute. The union launched a public relations campaign and picketed Smithfield customers. Smithfield, in return, filed a federal racketeering lawsuit against the union.
  • The ICE raid, which took place in January 2007, both purged the plant of illegal workers and forced the management to set procedures to check immigration status of future hires.
  • The raid opened the door for an American and legal immigrant workforce. After the raid, the Hispanic workforce dropped by approximately 1,000 workers and was replaced by mostly African American workers. Less than two years later, in December 2008, the new workforce voted for unionization.

The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent research institute that examines the impact of immigration on the United States.
Source: Center for Immigration Studies

Dia Internacional del Amigo

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Dia Internacional del Amigo

Dia Internacional del Amigo

Día Internacional del Amigo (Spanish, Friend’s Day) is a celebration of friendship, held annually on July 20, mainly in Argentina and Uruguay, but also in some other countries.

How was Dia Internacional del Amigo born?

The idea for Friend’s Day or Dia Internacional del Amigo goes back to Argentine teacher, musician, and dentist Enrique Febbraro, who lobbied to turn the anniversary of the first moon landing into an international day of friendship, along his Rotary Club de Once, in Buenos Aires.

He argued that on this particular day, the whole world had been friends of the three astronauts.

The first official recognition of the day came with decree No. 235/79 by the government of the province of Buenos Aires, which authorized the celebration and gave it official nature.

How is the Dia Internacional del Amigo celebrated in Argentina?

In Argentina, Dia Internacional del Amigo or Friend’s Day is often a good excuse for a common friendly gathering, though people also employ the day to get in contact with old and seldom-met friends and greet them. Since it is not a public holiday in Argentina, the gatherings tend to happen during the evening.

Though Dia Internacional del Amigo has always been respected, in recent years it has turned into a very popular mass phenomenon. In 2005, too many well-wishing friends led to a temporary breakdown of the mobile phone network in the cities of Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Córdoba and Rosario, comparable to the one experienced in 2004 on Christmas and New Year’s Day. In the case of Rosario, La Capital newspaper reported that seats in most restaurants, bars and other establishments were already booked out completely a week before the celebration. In Rosario, there is a movement to change the celebration of the Dia Internacional del Amigo to the 19th of July, day that comic writer Roberto Fontanarrosa from that city died.

Source: Wikipedia

The Younger, Hipper Hispanic

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The younger, hipper Hispanic target is most likely native-born in the US and differs greatly in their consumer behavior from older/immigrant Hispanics – they speak English fluently and tend to be familiar with main-stream American culture and have similar buying habits to whites, AA and other non-Hispanics.

The Younger, Hipper Hispanic

The Younger, Hipper Hispanic

Young blacks and Hispanic college graduates are reviving cities.  They live in funky row houses and apartments in old neighborhoods that have been spruced up.  They’re part of the ‘Bohemian Mix,’ a cluster that has a substantial percentage of blacks and Hispanics.  It’s the most affluent of the racially and ethnically diverse groups.  Bohemians socialize across racial lines, jog, shop at Banana Republic, read Vanity Fair, watch Friends and drive Audis.

Of note regarding youth in general: “Youth Digerati” (as opposed to the old nickname “Youth Literati”), an ethnically mixed group, is the most affluent urban cluster.  Young Digerati tend to live in fashionable neighborhoods and are now more affluent than “Money & Brains” – older professional couples who have few children and own homes in upscale city neighborhoods.
Source: TIA

Technorati claim

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State’s Hispanic electorate on the rise

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Georgia's Hispanic electorate on the rise

Georgia’s Hispanic electorate on the rise

During the last six years the number of Hispanic registered voters in Georgia has risen by more than 1,300 percent and Hispanics now comprise 3 percent of the state’s voters, a recent study found.

“Where we started with about 10,000 Latino registered voters back in January 2003, now we have 146,000 approximately,” said Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials and author of a report on Hispanic voter participation.

“I think voter turnout is a true indicator that there has been great success in encouraging the Latino community to vote,” he said. “In the majority of the jurisdictions across the state, Latino voter participation outpaced national rates in the general election.”

In Whitfield County, the number of registered Hispanic voters rose 331 percent between 2003 and 2009, the study showed. Whitfield now ranks sixth among Georgia’s 159 counties in the number of Hispanic registered voters in Georgia, with 3,015. The highest concentration of self-identified Hispanic registered voters is in Gwinnett County, with 15,593, according to the report.

But the growth of the Hispanic electorate will be gradual, said Dr. David Boyle, dean of the School of Social work at Dalton State College. He is a co-author of “Voices of the Nueva Frontera,” a book about Hispanic immigration to the Dalton area.

“Many of the community-based groups are working very hard with citizenship education, to encourage people to follow through and get their citizenship so they can vote, but it’s very slow,” he said. “There’s not going to be any huge leap or change, I don’t think any type of balance in terms of the electoral mix.”

America Gruner, founder of the Coalition of Latino Leaders in Dalton, said the study’s findings are a result of a long process.

“In 2006 CLILA found that, despite the hostile rhetoric (anti-immigration sentiment in some campaigns), many Latinos in the area were apathetic or felt discouraged because in their countries of origin the political decisions are not made democratically or corruption reigns,” she said.

The coalition started a voter education campaign alongside its registration efforts, she said.

Whitfield County Registrar Kay Staten said she has noticed more Hispanics registering to vote, but nothing too dramatic.

“We have a pretty large Hispanic community in Dalton, and the children who are growing up are getting closer to voting age, so it will probably rise some as they get older,” she said.

About 40 percent of the population in Dalton is Hispanic, according to Census 2000 figures.

Mr. Gonzalez said that despite their overall small numbers, Hispanic voters can make a difference in close elections. He said it’s important for candidates to start courting that vote.

“I think that particularly for the governor’s race in Georgia, it looks like it’s going to be a competitive race, both in the primary as well in the general election,” he said.

“It would make prudent sense for candidates to look at the Latino electorate as a viable force to be considered and courted, not as a campaign tactic to be used to bash immigrants,” he said.

BY THE NUMBERS

Self-identified Hispanic registered voters in Whitfield County:

* 699 — January, 2003

* 1,317 — December, 2004

* 1,907 — November, 2007

* 2,603 — October, 2008

* 3,015 — June, 2009

*331 percent — growth rate from January, 2003 to June, 2009

Source: Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials

CITIZENSHIP RECOGNITION

In a ceremony during the Fourth of July celebration in Dalton, Ga., 31 new citizens were recognized by Mayor David Pennington, Whitfield County Commission Chairman Mike Babb and other community leaders.
Source: Perla Trevizo