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Voces de la Frontera joins Labor Day March
September 5, 2009"Members of Voces de la Frontera have participated annually in Milwaukee's Labor Day march since 2000 and this year's march marks an important period in the US labor movement. Under the Obama Administration, labor unions and the immigrant rights movement have a historic opportunity to rebuild the American labor movement--by passage of the Employee Free Choice Act and a pro-worker immigration bill. Both of these measures provide working people, especially in low-wage industries, the ability to organize freely and to demand better wages and working conditions, "said Primitivo Torres, President of Voces de la Frontera.
According to Juan Luis Gutierrez, a construction worker, "I want Obama to keep his promise to pass immigration reform in 2009--not in 2010. I volunteered for his campaign to help him get elected. Many volunteered for his campaign. Yet, he is just following, even expanding, programs set up under Bush that continue to separate working class families and criminalize workers. This is not the solution. We need to stop these deportations and pass a just immigration reform."
According to Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Voces de la Frontera's Executive Director, "Undocumented workers are not to blame for the hardship so many families are facing because of the economy. Everyone knows that the banking industry is responsible for the recent economic crisis. Undocumented workers, on the other hand, are making a positive contribution to the economy. They pay taxes and contribute $7 billion annually to social security alone; yet they are denied their full labor and civil rights under the current system of laws. Immigration reform benefits all workers by increasing tax revenue for employers that operate off the books and taking away a powerful tool that employers use to undemine wages and working conditions."
Juana, a US citizen and mother of 2 US citizen children, whose husband was recenty deported, says, "my husband was deported and my children are now without a father. His only sin was to work hard to provide for his family."
Community and Voces members will assemble at Zeidler Park, 4th and Michigan at 10:30AM on Monday, September 7th.
According to Juan Luis Gutierrez, a construction worker, "I want Obama to keep his promise to pass immigration reform in 2009--not in 2010. I volunteered for his campaign to help him get elected. Many volunteered for his campaign. Yet, he is just following, even expanding, programs set up under Bush that continue to separate working class families and criminalize workers. This is not the solution. We need to stop these deportations and pass a just immigration reform."
According to Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Voces de la Frontera's Executive Director, "Undocumented workers are not to blame for the hardship so many families are facing because of the economy. Everyone knows that the banking industry is responsible for the recent economic crisis. Undocumented workers, on the other hand, are making a positive contribution to the economy. They pay taxes and contribute $7 billion annually to social security alone; yet they are denied their full labor and civil rights under the current system of laws. Immigration reform benefits all workers by increasing tax revenue for employers that operate off the books and taking away a powerful tool that employers use to undemine wages and working conditions."
Juana, a US citizen and mother of 2 US citizen children, whose husband was recenty deported, says, "my husband was deported and my children are now without a father. His only sin was to work hard to provide for his family."
Community and Voces members will assemble at Zeidler Park, 4th and Michigan at 10:30AM on Monday, September 7th.
Myths & Facts
Myth: The U.S. is being overrun with immigrants.
Fact: The number of undocumented migrants coming to the U.S. each year is approximately 300,000 according government figures - equivalent to an increases of one tenth of one percent in the populaton.
Get more of the facts >>
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