Thread: Protest US Chamber of Comerce in Washington DC?

The US Chamber of Commerce supports the McCain/Kennedy amnesty. Except they don't call it amnesty, they claim amnesty is only if green cards are immediately handed out without a fine, like the 1986 amnesty.

Read about it here:

http://www.uschamber.com/issues/index/i ... alwork.htm

Anyway, it doesn't matter what they call it, the effect will not only be the same as the 1986 amnesty, it will be 10 times worse. That is because there are many times more illegal aliens now than in 1986, plus this bill greatly increases poor, unskilled legal immigration.

Most Senators and President Bush seem to be taking their lead from the US Chamber, they are saying the same things the Chamber does and pushing what the Chamber wants. If we can get the Us Chamber to back off, we can stop guest worker amnesty.

So it has been suggested that also during the protest, a national boycott of US Chamber of Commerce members be announced.

My question is, any volunteers to organize and promote this protest? I cannot do it from California.

I will lend support - a plan of action is needed though

I will lend support as well. I think we need to pass the idea along to some of the groups that are experienced at putting together a large demonstration that involves cross country travel. The last thing we need is a National fizzle out demonstration because we didn't have the time, the know how or the experience to put it together well.

I suggest we bat the idea around with other groups first.

What about the local chambers of commerce. I'm not sure what the identification is with the US Chamber, but I'm assuming there is one.

We could organize and protest each chamber in each city.

Remember, every time you see the US Chamber on TV or any meetings they have, Grover Norquist is up front and center. This guy is forming immigration policy for so many groups that we once considered "conservative".

That reminds me. Has anyone noticed signs at protests from a group called
Alliance for Worker Freedom? That's an offshoot of Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform (used to launder money for Abramoff, Ralph Reed)

Sandra Fabry (sfabry@atr.org) is state government affairs manager for Americans for Tax Reform.


For more information ...

More information about the Alliance for Worker Freedom is available on the group's Web site at http://www.workerfreedom.org/.

I have already talked to my local and State Chambers, they basically have no position on immigration. These Chambers actually are seperate groups, my local and the state chamber are not part of the US Chamber. Businesses can decide to join one, two or all three of them, but membership in the local chamber does not make you a member of the US Chamber. They do talk to each other however.

So you can call your local and state chambers, like I have done, and ask them what the heck is the US Chamber thinking? Why do they support the McCain/Kennedy amnesty, it will raise government spending by $100 billion or more!

As for the protest, it would be good to do something before the Senate takes up immigration in late March. Even if it is only a small gathering to announce a US Chamber boycott.

Aren't the Minutemen doing a big DC protest in May? Maybe they would include the US Chamber as part of that as a second larger protest. But I know lots of people who don't want to wait until May, and do something before the Senate takes action. By May it might all be over.

I believe the Minuteman protest you are thinking of is the

http://areckoning.com

one in Crawford, TX at the Bush's ranch on May 6th.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO HAVE A BOYCOTT WITHOUT A DEMONSTRATION?

I'm not against the demonstration, but there just doesn't seem to be time to put together a demonstration if we want to ge the boycott in action before the Senate votes. UNLESS...Do you know any groups that OPERATE in DC anyway and are already on the scene? FAIR comes to mind, but they are a formanl lobbying group, I'm not sure if they would be able to do a demo at the ChOC.

Protests are not that hard. Basically what you need is one person to co-ordinate with the Police. Generally you don't even need a permit, but in the DC area you probably do.

Then someone needs to let all the groups know like Minutemen, 9-11 families, etc, as well as the press. Getting the press there is the most important part. It would also be good the get Tancredo there, and Numbers USA.

You are right about FAIR not wanting to organize a protest. Which is why illegal immigration has gotten so out of hand, nobody was outside protesting against it until the Minutemen and SOS and a few others came along just recently.

Here in California, SOS has had protests on three days notice. That is not ideal, 4 to 5 weeks is better, especially for a national type one like this.

http://www.uschamber.com/chambers/directory/default.htm

Let's talk about what the Boycott itself will entail. Here is the Directory for the US ChoC. Clicking on each state gives you the local CHoc's that have joined the US ChoC.

There is a whole alphabet full of choices of just the local Choc's.
Clicking on my most local Choc, I am searching for some kind of membership list.

http://www.cochamber.com/membership/partners.asp

These are the companies of just this one Choc. And they include the Power Company! Both major grocery stores in Denver.

I'm just not sure how we go about boycotting something that includes the power company.(there is only one) Maybe someone with more experience can help me out here???

Just the research to come up with a National list of companies is going to take some time, I'm afraid. It looks like a big job, which of course, I'm willing to help do, but I'm wondering if we aren't re-inventing the wheel here. Maybe someone already has the groundwork done?

I also tried to get the wehirealiens companies on a list, but was having trouble getting that to work. (copy and paste)

Lou Dobbs used to have a listing on his website of all companies outsourceing jobs, but that list is gone now and I guess you have to buy his book to get that info. Would we want to include these companies too or confine it to the Choc?

Looks like boycotting US Chamber members might be hard. From their web site:

Can I get a list of U.S. Chamber members?
It is the policy of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce not to distribute or make public information about our members to protect their privacy. To find out if a specific company is a member, you will have to contact the company directly. You can also view our privacy policy.

What's the difference between the U.S. Chamber and my state or local chamber?
Although all chambers can work with all levels of government, they tend to concentrate their efforts on specific levels: Local chambers of commerce tend to focus on local issues, state chambers on state issues, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce focuses on national issues at the federal government level.

I'm a member of my local chamber of commerce. Does that make me a member of the U.S. Chamber?
Not unless your local chamber has partnered with the U.S. Chamber through the Federation Partnership program. Because the U.S. Chamber is not a parent organization of other chambers, not all state, metro, or local chambers are members of the U.S. Chamber. Chambers of commerce are independently started and operated, and anyone can start a chamber at any time, any place.
As mentioned previously, there is one exception to the rule—the U.S. Chamber’s Federation Partnership program. If your local chamber has signed onto the program and you are a small business, you receive a complimentary U.S. Chamber membership.Â*

I edited out the big list of Colorado Companies that are members of the US Chamber. It was only for a sample to show what we are dealing with.

Due to lack of sufficient volunteers to work on the mailings, we can not possibly be ready to announce a Boycott of the US Chamber at a Washington demonstration before the Senate goes to a vote on the immigration issue. Therefore, I will no longer seek to organize one.

Perhaps we can look at getting things ready to support the Boycott action that William already has in place as he told us in his post on another thread.