Thread: IL: Workers claim immigration rights rally led to firings

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... 4100.story

Workers claim immigration rights rally led to firings

By Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah
Tribune staff reporter

March 16, 2006, 7:39 PM CST

More than two dozen workers at a Bellwood factory were fired for taking part in last Friday's immigration rights rally that drew up to 100,000 supporters to the Loop.

José Oliva, director of the Interfaith Workers' Rights Center, believes many more immigrants around the city have also faced disciplinary action for attending the rally, including 10 workers he believes were fired from a company that makes automobile parts in Schiller Park.

"It sends a chilling message," Oliva said. "It's one of the scariest things someone can say to you: 'Agree with me, or I can take away your livelihood.'"

On Thursday, 28 workers, with help from the center, filed a retaliation claim with the National Labor Relations Board and a discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Universal Form Clamp Co. of Bellwood.

By Thursday evening, Universal Form Clamp had opened the door to rehire those workers and several others.

In a statement, company officials said they would welcome back 33 employees who were dismissed for being absent without leave that day.

The statement said some employees had attended the rally without any penalty. It said the dismissals stemmed from a misunderstanding between supervisors and employees, adding that the company recognized the importance to their workers of the issues at stake in the immigrant rally.

After the company made its offer to rehire the workers, Oliva said he was cautiously optimistic something could be worked out. But he said he would wait to retract the official complaints until the matter had been settled.

At a news conference Thursday afternoon, the fired Universal Form Clamp workers said their problems were the latest in a pattern of discrimination against Mexican workers at the manufacturing company, many of whom are illegal immigrants. They said they were initially given permission to take the day off, but managers later told them to not bother returning if they attended the rally.

"I've been there for four years," said Eder Diaz, 22, who worked as a machine operator at the company. "Myself, I was never late. It's not fair that just for one day, they fire us."

A group of about 50 workers decided March 6 to attend the pro-immigrant rally that Friday, according to a letter Oliva sent to the president of Universal Form Clamp, seeking to have the workers reinstated.

The workers approached their supervisor, who is also Mexican. On Thursday the company called a meeting in which that supervisor and another said the company was giving them permission to attend the rally, according to the workers. About 50 workers then signed a list saying they would attend the march.

As the day progressed, however, their supervisor began speaking to them individually, threatening job termination if they did not show up for work Friday. Scared, about half the group decided to go to work.

Company officials declined to comment beyond the statement released Thursday evening.

Martin Unzueta, an organizer for the Chicago Workers Collaborative, said he hopes to file a complaint with the EEOC next week on behalf of the 10 workers fired from the Schiller Park company. They had spoken with their manager one week before the rally, hoping to get permission, Unzueta said, but as the workers were leaving to go to the march, supervisors said no.

Company officials in that case could not be reached for confirmation.

nahmed@tribune.com

Time to report Universal Form Clamp to www.wehirealiens.com.

See how hiring them had come back to bite them?

THEY GOT SUED because they wouldn't let them attend a (MOD EDIT) rally. AND they caved!!!!!!!!


They kind of deserve this to happen.


What this tells us, is that there could be a GOLD mine out there for people(and the lawyers) to wring these businesses of cash.


Americans should sue these companies out of existence, when they can't get hired.

How can an American company compete with other companies hiring illegals? they probably can't, so you gotta shut them down.

Use lawyers to do it. Expanding government power doesn't mean they will actually combat the problem.



-pa

How can illegal aliens sue a company for firing them, when it was illegal to hire them in the first place? This is pure lunacy! When will our government start protecting us, the citizens of this country?


REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER!

I am speechless. Not a common condition for me.

I don't feel one bit sorry for the company. They hired the illegals who now have them over a barrel. They can't be fired for fear of exposing the company's sorry hiring practices.

But the cat's out of the bag now and ICE HAS NO EXCUSE FOR NOT GOING IN THERE AND CLEANING HOUSE.

Maybe a few calls to ICE are in order?

https://www.alipac.us/ftopict-18946-.html

All needed phone numbers are on this thread.

Thank you, Sylvia

How can illegal aliens sue a company for firing them, when it was illegal to hire them in the first place?

Hmmm...looks like this company can be sued from either side..by the workers they've hired and by the Americans they didn't hire. Interesting position.

I'm telling ya...we shoulda figured out how to use the courts to stop a lot of this nonsense before now.

RR