08/01/2007
National day laborer convention will visit Herndon
By: Gregg MacDonald

A rally and vigil in Herndon's Alabama Drive Park to defend the Herndon Official Workers Center is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 3, from 6-9 p.m., the AFL-CIO labor union announced Tuesday.
Over 200 day laborers and advocates are expected to attend. The rally is part of a Day Laborers National Convention that will take place in the metro D.C. area all this week. The Herndon visit will be the convention's only stop in Fairfax County.

The National Day Laborer Organizing Network is coordinating the event, which is to include over 200 day laborers and advocates from across the country.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeny will address the convention Friday morning in Silver Spring, Md.
Later that evening, the group will converge in Herndon to "denounce town plans to punish day laborers" according to a press release.

"We need to build bridges and not walls within our communities," said Organizing Network Director Pablo Alvarado. "We will not have better immigration laws until we have re-framed the debate. Day laborers are experts in the failure of status quo immigration policy, and their voices and perspectives should be heard and listened to rather than demeaned and vilified."

Keren Charlesdongo, of the Alexandria-based labor union Tenants and Workers United, said her organization will be participating in the Herndon vigil.
"We will stand in solidarity with our fellow workers," she said.

The National Day Labor Organizing Network was officially founded in 2001 and is composed of 33 community-based organizations that work with day laborers in different capacities.

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