Thread: Chicago: On Strike Without a Union

On Strike Without a Union

Cygnus employees prove they are a ‘pea that weighs a pound’

By Kari Lydersen

When a human resource manager told immigrant workers at the Cygnus soap and detergent factory on Chicago’s far south side on July 25 that they had to prove their legal status within 15 days or be fired, they took matters into their own hands. The next day, 118 workers walked out and formed a picket line, going on strike even though no union represented them.

What followed is a scenario that is likely to become increasingly common as the country forges ahead with a new immigration enforcement mandate without comprehensive immigration reform.

Cygnus employee Francisco Reyes says he was told that if he and other workers couldn’t prove that they were in the country legally by Aug. 10, they would be fired because in 2005 the Social Security Administration sent Cygnus a “no-matchâ€

[quote]We had no choice but to go on strike,â€