Enlace Fall Harvest Garden Party
Save the Date!
Friday, October 8th @ 6:30pm
at Haydee & Art’s home
4522 W Ave 42
Los Angeles 90065
Food, Music, & Raffle!
Celebrate & Support Enlace’s International Work!
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Support Unjustly Laid Off Janitors in Los Angeles
Janitors Fight for Their Jobs And Against Wall Street Greed At JP Morgan’s Century Plaza in L.A. Workers have been conducting hunger strikes and protests. Take action now by signing an online petition. Read an article in the LA Times about this struggle.
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Corrupt “Charro” Union defeated
The National Union of General Tire Workers in Mexico (SNTGTM) recently defeated a corrupt “charro” union by total of 640 votes against 1 in the latest union election on August 6, 2010.
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Enlace Institute
The Enlace Institute’s purpose is to advance the field of strategic organizational development. The Institute assists organizations of low-wage workers to develop disciplined, mutually accountable teams who continually improve the work of the organizations for their constituencies.
Click here to download the Enlace Institute Brochure.
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Seafood Workers in Santa Rosalia, Baja California Sur, Mexico
Summary of 2009
The Seafood Workers Justice Campaign has been a collaboration between SINTTIM (the independent maquiladoras workers union in Baja California Sur), CISSLABORAL (a research, education, and legal support center for workers in La Paz), and Enlace.
The year began with a successful California Tour for the Seafood Workers Justice Campaign that saw Rosa Cesena Ramirez, Secretary General of SINTTIM, speak in community centers, union halls, and universities. Rosa also appeared on numerous radio shows effectively reaching out to hundreds of Californians about the Seafood Workers Justice Campaign. Among the highlights of the tour was the launch of a boycott of Hanjin and Taemin products sold in markets in Koreatown Los Angeles, which began victoriously after reaching an agreement with a two grocery stores on the launch day of January 30.
Using Enlace’s Integrated Organizing Approach (IOA) to shape our strategy, we made incredible research advances in the corporate profiles of each transnational involved in the squid industry. After hard work we found that Hanjin Trading USA, headquartered in Los Angeles County, does not just sell and distribute squid products, but it is also a major distributor for several big Korean food brands. In addition Taemin International Trading, owned by the wife of Hanjin’s owner, is also a main distributor and owns an in-house food brand which consists of a wide assortment of food and snack products.
We sent out letters to market owners asking for solidarity with the seafood workers by ceasing business with Hanjin and Taemin. After several delegations and picket actions, California Market, HK Market, Galleria Market, City Market, and the Hannam Chain all agreed not to sell Hanjin and Taemin Products. Assi Market agreed not to sell Hanjin seafood products but has not committed to stop selling all of their products. The campaign effectively recruited every major Korean grocery store chain in Los Angeles to support the seafood workers. In response to the boycott, the owner of Hanjin, Kwang Pyo Lee, contacted workers for the first time and asked for a sit down meeting with SINTTIM-CISSLABORAL-Enlace to discuss worker demands. So far, however, he has not agreed to the demands.
Internationally, the Seafood Workers Justice Campaign grew, and it showed at the various internationally synchronized actions which featured the participation of organizations in several cities in the US and Mexico as well as in Korea. Thank you to the following organizations for participating in our actions: KoreaTown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA), Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California (IDEPSCA), Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE), Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE), National Laywers Guild, United Electrical Workers (UE), Frente Auténtico del Trabajo (FAT), CLEAN Car Wash Campaign, AFL-CIO, Servicio, Desarrollo y Paz (SEDEPAC), Proyecto de Derechos Economicos, Sociales y Culturales (ProDESC), Comité Fronterizo de Obreros, Centro de Apoyo al Trabajador (CAT), Association for Intervention and Innovation in the Social Sciences (AIISSAC), SEIU 721, SEIU 1877, SEIU 49, Korean Democratic Labor Party, Frente Indígena Oaxaqueño Binacional (FIOB), Chinese Progressive Association, Cure CVS Now, Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), Pomona College, La Raza Centro Legal, Rural Organizing Project, Jobs with Justice Central Oregon, Jobs with Justice Portland, Recursos para Derechos Humanos, and Individual allies.
With the help of CISSLABORAL, the seafood workers filed a complaint with the International Labor Organization against the transnational companies that operate squid processing plants (Hanjin Mexico, Hanjin Korea, Hanjin Trading USA, Longing, and Brumar de San Bruno) and the countries of their origin (Mexico, South Korea, USA, and China). The fight continues with the Mexican Labor Board to hold a hearing regarding the charges against Hanjin for illegally firing seafood workers.
Another key component of Enlace’s IOA is the development of the worker base and their organization. To follow up with past Enlace strategic planning and organizing trainings, Enlace staff travelled to La Paz and Santa Rosalia in the spring. We taught various Enlace frameworks to worker leaders, which enhanced basic organizing skills and increased their organizing capabilities as well. Later Rosa even had the opportunity to come to Los Angeles and participate in a bi-national labor conference organized by the UCLA Labor Center’s Institute for Transnational Social Change. There she shared strategic perspectives on the ways that the campaign has grown thanks to the transnational approach of Enlace and its trainings to develop the Seafood Workers Justice Campaign both organizationally and individually with each worker leader.
Unfortunately in the year we also experienced tragic events. Hurricane Jimena swept through Santa Rosalia and destroyed the houses of many workers, including Rosa’s home. The State’s response has not been significant at all, and workers found themselves having to also organize to receive general relief from this natural disaster on top of fighting for labor justice. And soon after that, the campaign received a blow in the passing of Cecilia Verdugo, one of the workers illegally fired for organizing in Hanjin and an active leader of SINTTIM ever since.
Currently Enlace is working with Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de Compañía Hulera Tornel and key ally Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de General Tire in a campaign to defend labor standards for thousands of workers in the rubber industry. Both unions represent workers at tire plants in Mexico and are currently organizing to reinstate workers illegally fired while fighting off corrupt company (charro) unions that threaten their rights and lower their wages. However Enlace will continue to be in solidarity and provide support for the seafood workers in Santa Rosalia, and SINTTIM will continue participating in Enlace’s Peer Trainers Program.