Earlier this week, UNITE HERE 11 made headlines when more than 2,000 stadium workers won the right to strike if ICE showed up during the World Cup.
"These workers are heroes. They stood up to FIFA. They stood up to ICE. They won a historic contract, and they are ready for whatever comes during the World Cup,” said Kurt Petersen, Co-President, UNITE HERE Local 11. “If federal immigration agencies threaten workers’ safety, our members have the right to walk off the job. That is now in their contract.”
UNITE HERE members at other stadiums hosting World Cup games around the country also threatened to strike if ICE showed up. It’s part of a growing trend when unions around the country are using their power to demand that ICE stay out of their workplaces.
“I have worked at Seattle stadiums for over two years,” said Ramon Quiroz-Saltos, a cook at Lumen Field, “As we prepare to feed the World Cup community, we are concerned about what ICE will do to immigrant workers. We know we are safer together in the Union, so we are standing up, organizing to know our rights, and protecting ourselves.”
Payday Report has compiled an interactive map showing that unions in dozens of locations have won contract provisions keeping ICE out of their workplaces.
In April, the owners of Stauf’s Coffee Roasters and Cup O Joe in Columbus, Ohio, announced that they would not turn away ICE agents if they showed up at their workplaces. In response, workers announced their intent to form a union.
“It’s scary,” employee Matthew Greene told Matter News. “But at the same time, if there’s a way to give ourselves a little more agency and give ourselves more of a voice, I think Stauf’s is a really good place to do this. And if it works, maybe it’s something other people can follow, and maybe it opens up the potential for more workers to have a voice in what they do.”
In April, when Kaiser Permanente tried to fire an employee with a DACA visa that the Trump Administration failed to renew, the union fought back and won her reinstatement.
“I am so grateful to have the support of my union,” said the DACA nurse who has asked to remain anonymous. “My union has been so supportive during this extremely stressful experience. I’m going to fight for other DACA workers so they won’t have to go through such an ordeal.”
Earlier this year, unionized journalists from Minnesota asked that unions take action to divest from Thomson Reuters demanded that the company end its contract to provide data to ICE, worth over $28 million. Last month, the British Columbia General Union of Employees, which owns shares in Thomson Reuters, announced that it would divest.
“As a Canadian labour union and long-term investor, our goal is to grow long-term sustainable value for our members,” said BCGEU President Paul Finch. “One of the most effective ways to pursue that goal is to exercise our rights as shareholders, using shareholder engagement to influence corporate direction.”
These are only a few of the growing number of “ICE Out” actions being taken by unions across the country.
Check our interactive map to see more stories of unions fighting back to win ICE Out provisions. Please, if you have any updates - send them to melk@paydayreport.com
Donate to Help Us Track ICE Out
From Payday Report via This RSS Feed.