Thread: Latino Workers Step Up Fight For Rights

Latino workers step up fight for rights
By Rupa Shenoy | Daily Herald Staff
Published: 8/27/2007 3:30 PMSend To:



Five months after they were abruptly fired from their jobs, dozens of Latinos who said they hadn't received severance pay returned to their former West Chicago workplace today to protest.

"It's been very difficult from one day to the next," Aurora resident Celsa Brito Guadarrama, who worked at WinCup Inc. for eight years, said in Spanish. "We all have families to sustain."

More than a 100 workers say they were fired in March without notice or cause from the manufacturer, which produces cups for restaurants.

The firings galvanized the local Latino community, which has been in some form for more than 100 years, to educate themselves on their rights for the first time, said Tim Bell, executive director of the Chicago Workers Collaborative, a group helping to organize the workers.

Workers this morning held a press conference to demand that WinCup give each former employee two weeks of pay for every year of service.

"If WinCup doesn't pay, we'll go to their clients," former employee Jose Correa of West Chicago said in Spanish.

About 50 workers drove to the factory, at 1425 Hawthorne Lane, parked across the street, and walked slowly across the lawn to WinCup's door. It was locked. For the next 10 minutes, the group clapped their hands and chanted, "Let us in."

Bell called to those inside, telling them that the workers were there peacefully.

Jaime Dubon, pastor at West Chicago's St. Andrew Lutheran Church, said a prayer and shoved a petition under the door as a television crew and reporters looked on.

Employees on the other side of the glass door stared out and talked quickly on their cell phones. Others at windows peered at the crowd.

WinCup representatives declined to comment.

Latino workers are becoming more willing to take bold steps such as the march, in part, because the rights they are fighting for seem to be slipping away, Bell said.

Immigration reform legislation failed to pass; the government soon will start sending thousands of no-match letters to employers, identifying employees with incorrect social security numbers; and penalties are increasing for those who employ illegal immigrants.

"They have no choice but to take stronger actions," Bell said. "They have less to lose."

Workers from Central Ink Corp., also in West Chicago, joined the crowd today in support.

Among them was Jose E. Llamas, who told former WinCup employees, "If we don't help you, who's going to help us?"

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=26275&src=109

You think Wincup learned its lesson on hiring cheap illegal labor? I'd venture a guess that the Americans,who probably also had families to support, these illegals replaced left a lot more peacefully when the "cheap labor" took over.




Head 'em up,move 'em out Rawhide!

If they are working illegally I do not feel that they are entitled to any serverance pay. If they are working illegally, then they must have illegal documents and that is a felon. They should all be arrested and deported.
Why were they fired?

Give me a break...

Five months after they were abruptly fired from their jobs, dozens of Latinos who said they hadn't received severance pay returned to their former West Chicago workplace today to protest.

"It's been very difficult from one day to the next," Aurora resident Celsa Brito Guadarrama, who worked at WinCup Inc. for eight years, said in Spanish. "We all have families to sustain."

More than a 100 workers say they were fired in March without notice or cause from the manufacturer, which produces cups for restaurants

OK, now how is this any different from the experience of most Americans?
It's not (notwithstanding the outright nation-of-origin discrimination being perpetrated against US workers on account of their citizenship and guarantee of rights and labor standards...).

I got news for you Celsa - most US states have 'right to work' laws which enable employers to fire any worker for any reason, well, even... no reason. You see, you're not being picked on at all. But, you are feeling sorry for yourself and I have little or no sympathy for you

Latino workers are becoming more willing to take bold steps such as the march, in part, because the rights they are fighting for seem to be slipping away,


What rights?............If you get fired...you don't necessarilly get severance pay....They are losing and they are getting more desperate...

Too bad the police didn't just round them all up....

What part of Illegal don't you understand??????????????????????

SEVERENCE PAY. OH THAT'S FUNNY. EMPLOYMENT IS "AT WILL".

THE REASON FOR THE DOWNFALL OF THE UNIONS AND THE EROSION OF EMPLOYMENT PROTECTIONS WAS SCAB LABOR FROM LATIN AMERICA. EMPLOYERS NO LONGER HAD TO NEGOTIATE WITH THEIR EMPLOYEES.....THEY COULD JUST USE PEOPLE WHO DID NOT KNOW THE LABOR LAWS AND WHO EXPECTED LESS.

SO IT IS IRONIC THAT LATINO WORKERS WOULD TRY TO GET BENEFITS THAT THE AMERICAN WORKER USE TO HAVE, THAT THE LATINO SCAB WORKERS HELPED TO ERODE.

Originally Posted by tinybobidaho

Latino workers step up fight for rights

About 50 workers drove to the factory, at 1425 Hawthorne Lane, parked across the street, and walked slowly across the lawn to WinCup's door. It was locked. For the next 10 minutes, the group clapped their hands and chanted, "Let us in."

Bell called to those inside, telling them that the workers were there peacefully.

Hmmm Clapping your hands and chanting doesn't seem very "peaceful" to me.

I would love to know exactly WHY they were fired, and if, in fact, they are illegal.

I think WinCup should give ICE their names and addresses.......otherwise they are just going to go on welfare and not leave !

THE ARTICLE SAYS THEY WERE FIRED FIVE MONTHS AGO. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BET THEY HAVE BEEN COLLECTING UNEMPLOYMENT FOR THOSE FIVE MONTHS? AND NOW THAT WILL BE RUNNING OUT AND THEY DONT HAVE JOBS YET.

Latino workers fired for no cause and without notice. Huh.

This has been happening to AMERICAN WORKERS for YEARS! Especially since NAFTA. One day you get up, get ready, go to your job and there's a note on the door telling you you're out of a job as of NOW. So what's the big deal with 'Latino workers' getting the boot? Unless of course they are ILLEGAL Latino workers who feel entitled to all those nice-ities that Americans can only dream about. Like severance pay.

Yeah. I think the author of this article left out a few key words, one of which begins with an 'I' and ends with an 'L'. Otherwise, WHY include the statement about "Immigration Reform"?

Immigration reform legislation failed to pass; the government soon will start sending thousands of no-match letters to employers, identifying employees with incorrect social security numbers; and penalties are increasing for those who employ illegal immigrants.