Workers Respond to “Silent Raids”

In FIGHTING THE FIRINGS, David Bacon writes about resistance to “silent raids” and federal workplace audits by unions and community allies.  “Silent raids,” by contrast, have relied on cooperation between employers and immigration officials. The Department of Homeland Security identifies workers it says have no legal immigration status. Employers then fire them. The last few months has seen a wave of protest:

“In Berkeley, California, workers facing firings at Pacific Steel Castings, the largest steel foundry west of the Mississippi, have sought community support in a fight to keep their jobs. City councils in Oakland and Berkeley have passed resolution asking Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to back off efforts to force the company to terminate them. Churches and immigrant rights activists have sent her letters with the same demand. In Los Angeles, 1400 janitors marched among the Bunker Hill skyscrapers, blocking downtown traffic at lunch hour. They protested a wave of similar firings by Able Building Maintenance, California’s largest privately-held building services contractor.”

KJ