The Growing Force of Latino Labor

Thirty years ago Cesar Chavez and his United Farm Workers union (UFW) brought new life to an otherwise quiescent labor movement. Today, Latino trade unionists like this UFW organizer (right), have moved to the forefront of the U.S. labor movement as it tries to reverse 30 years of decline. As a delegation of organizers and union leaders from a reformed Teamsters local walked toward the closed gates of a tomato cannery in the small city of Firebaugh, California two summers ago, a small confrontation unfolded that highlights the poten- tial role of Latino workers in the revitalization of U.S. labor unions. The delegation had arrived to submit a petition for a union election at the plant which is oper- ated by a canning company called Tomatech. The com- pany’s managers, surrounded by private guards and five local police units, refused to receive the petition and kept a watchful and threatening eye on the 200 workers inside the factory gates. As the union delegation attempted to deliver the petition through the iron bars of the gate, it fell to the ground where it lay untouched at the edge of a sewer grating. While management enjoyed its small moment of triumph, Juan Antonio, a cannery worker who had recently migrated from Honduras, lifted the petition from the edge of the grat- ing and, fist in the air, walked straight into manage- ment’s office and officially delivered it. Latino labor attracted nationwide public attention during the 1960s and early 1970s when Chicano trade unionist Cesar Chavez and his United Farm Worker Organizing Committee (UFWOC) brought new life, imagination and bold tactics-like the historic grape boycott-to an otherwise quiescent labor movement. In a less publicized but no less determined way, the histo- ry of Latino labor is being forged by volunteer rank- and-file workers in the garment industry who have rebuilt unions in Texas, Florida and Chicago, and by the thousands of farmworkers, drywallers, janitors, hotel workers and other low-wage workers who have engaged in massive strikes, militant action and civil disobedience to bring public attention to their struggle to win dignity, higher wages and decent working con- ditions. Latino labor history is also being made by the VOL XXX. No 3 Nov/DFc 199619 Hector Figueroa is Assistant Research Director at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in Washington, D.C. VOL XXX, NO 3 Nov/DEC 1996 19REPORT ON LATINO LABOR hundreds of Latino labor organizers and trade unionists, emerging local and national Latino union leaders, as well as by myriad community activists who have devel- oped alternative structures within and alongside the mainstream labor organizations. As the U.S. labor movement tries to reverse 30 years of decline, Latino and Latina workers have moved to the forefront of its resurgence. Even within the main- stream of labor, Latinos are playing a more visible role. In 1989, a group of Hispanic labor leaders took to the AFL-CIO convention floor to protest the failure of the nation’s union leadership to elect a Latino to the feder- ation’s ruling Executive Council. Lane Kirkland, then President of the AFL-CIO, assured protesters that “the day would come” when a Latino would be elected to the federation’s council. Latino workers then represent- ed one out of ten union members. (The 1.4 million unionized Latinos now represent about one union mem- ber in 12.) Six years later, a “New Voice” reform slate, partly running on the need to organize more minority workers and increase their presence within the highest ranks of labor, won the first contested AFL-CIO election in 50 years. “New Voice” is now the official leadership of the U.S. labor movement. The key figures are AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, past president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the union responsible for the largely Latino “Justice for Janitors” campaign [see “Unions,” p. 22]; Secretary Treasurer Richard Trumka of the United Mine Workers (UMW) whose solidarity project with Colombian mine workers is often cited as an example of the new solidarity between U.S. and Latin American unions; and Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson of the American Federation of County, State and Municipal Employees (AFCSME) and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), who became the first woman to be elected to the AFL- CIO top leadership. This new leadership offers hope for the future of Latino labor organizing. Building a strong Latino labor movement remains a formidable challenge to Latino leaders and the entire trade-union movement. Even though the Latino work force has expanded by nearly two-thirds over the last ten years, union organizing campaigns aimed at Latinos and Latinas have failed to keep pace. Despite the fact that Latino workers are very responsive to unionizing drives, and their presence in organizing increases the chances of union success, not enough campaigns have been launched on the scale that is necessary to organize them. As a result, the percentage of Latino workers who are members of unions has fallen faster than union membership of the workforce overall, and the real wages of Latino workers have declined by almost twice as much as those of U.S. workers on the average. Strikers from a Teamsters local walk the picket line against Diamond Walnut in Stockton, California. atino workers do not constitute a homogenous workforce. Differences exist on the basis of national origin, gender, race, immigration status, language, economic sector, geographic region and inte- gration into the U.S. labor market. Along with increas- ing its presence within organized labor, one of the biggest challenges facing Latino labor is advancing a common agenda that builds from this considerable diversity. These differences translate themselves into different experiences and degrees of involvement with- in the labor movement, contrasting positions on key labor issues, and even a varying inclination towards active union participation. Latino labor advocacy orga- nizations like the LCLAA, Latino union caucuses in several AFL-CIO affiliates and central labor councils, and Latino and immigrant worker associations and cen- ters are among the organizations in which Latinos can overcome their differences and build a national labor agenda that can not only make “Latino labor” a mean- ingful expression, but also help bring a working-class direction to an increasingly pro-business Hispanic civil rights movement. 20 NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 20REPORT ON LATINO LABOR The size of the Latino labor force has grown about 4 times as fast as the non-Latino workforce since 1980– to over 10 million workers. Mexican Americans account for the largest group (6.3 million workers), fol- lowed by Central and South Americans (1.6 million), Puerto Ricans (900,000), and Cubans (500,000). Latino workers as a group remain among the poorest groups within the labor force and, after a brief period of improvements during the 1960s and early 1970s, one of the groups whose standard of living has declined the most. Median weekly earnings in 1993 for workers the Census Bureau calls “Hispanic” was $331, compared to the median of $457 for non-Hispanics. Hispanic work- All Latino workers ultimately share the fact that they are underpaid compa white workers, underrepresented in union movement, and discriminated ag ers tend to be concentrated in blue-collar and lower- skilled occupations more, on the average, than non- Hispanics. Higher rates of unemployment exist within the Hispanic population. There are striking differences among the various Latino subgroups. From 1987 through 1993, the num- ber of Central and South American workers in the United States grew 61%. The number of Mexican workers also grew rapidly, by 28%. These increases were attributable, of course, to large waves of legal and illegal immigration. The number of Cuban workers in the United States has been decreasing, while that of Puerto Ricans (excluding those on the island of Puerto Rico) is growing at a slower rate than in the past. Hispanics accounted for approximately 1 of every 3 legal immigrants during the 1980s. Central and South Americans are generally more likely than the others, including non-Hispanics, to join the labor force. Mexicans, Central and South Americans tend to be employed in the lower skilled occupations and to be paid low wages. Cubans are about as likely as non-Hispanics to participate in the labor force, and are represented by a fairly high pro- portion of managers and professionals and relatively high median earnings. Puerto Rican workers, among all Hispanics, have the highest rates of unemployment. They are also the least likely to participate in the labor force and the most likely to be jobless. Those who work full time, on the other hand, are similar to Cuban work- ers in that they hold a higher percentage of managerial jobs and have higher median earnings. These contrast- ing experiences of employment and earnings have pro- duced a variety of political perspectives and attitudes about unionism. Geographic differences among Latino workers also have an important effect on the way they are integrat- ed into the U.S. labor market, and on the priorities established by Latino labor activists and elected offi- cials. For example, many Mexicans and Central and South Americans live in areas with expanding labor markets, particularly for entry-level positions in the service sector, retail and “high-tech” man- ufacturing. As a result, the low-skilled workers among these groups generally face relatively favorable job opportunities, e and the prospects for organizing appear higher. red to These workers are also in areas where the subcontracting and informal work arrange- ments are prevalent, and where the precen- lainst. tage of union representation has been declining or is nonexistent. This is true not only of the Mexicans and Central and South Americans throughout the western states, but also of those living in the rapid growth areas of the Southeast. For example, the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area is home to the largest number of Central and South Americans in the United States, and it is an area of rapid job growth. The most rapidly growing job categories are janitors, cooks, and construction workers. These areas of relatively high growth have also witnessed some of the most suc- cessful recent organizing efforts among Latino work- ers, like Justice for Janitors, the organizing strikes of the drywallers in California, and the successful orga- nizing campaigns of ACTWU and UNITE to organize garment workers in the Southwest and Southeast [See “Unions,” p. 23]. In contrast, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and Mexicans in the older industrial regions of the Midwest and the Northeast-areas once characterized by relatively high union membership-face very different economic cir- cumstances. Declining union membership, plant clos- ings, layoffs, fiscal crises in city and state governments, high unemployment levels and the dislocation of the inner city economies are among the challenges faced by Latino trade unionists and political leaders in these areas. They need to create jobs, revitalize the inner city, organize youth, as well as defend wages and benefits in industry-wide and public-sector contracts. Still, in light of declining membership, organizing is also near the top of the agenda, particularly in midwestern cities like Chicago and Milwaukee. And some of this organizing VOL XXX. No 3 Nov/DEc 1996 21 VOL XXX, NO 3 Nov/DEC 1996 21REPORT ON LATINO LABOR work, like that of LIUNA in New York has occurred on a scale comparable to the most successful drives on the West Coast. A full exploration of the diversity of U.S. Latinos and the implications for the development of a Latino labor movement within the United States is itself a for- midable task which has yet to be completed. However, despite different economic experiences, all Latino workers ultimately share the fact that they are general- ly underpaid relative to white workers, underrepresent- ed in the union movement, and despite advances in affirmative action, continue to face discrimination in the Latino labor in workplace as well as grow- ing “anti-immigrant” senti- the United ments in the larger commu- nity. These commonalities States is a bind Latinos more than their nrnditt nf th0 differences may separate complex forces that have integrated Latin America into the orbit of U.S. capitalism. them. For example, during the recent 1996 convention of the LCLAA, the Latino advocacy group recognized by the AFL-CIO, resolutions were introduced on increased Latino participation in the labor movement, increased organizing, international sol- idarity, Latino youth, Mexico, Puerto Rico, immi- grant rights and many other issues which were not specifically labor-oriented. In addition, in its first con- tested election in many years, the convention voted for changes in the leadership and direction of the organi- zation in order to increase the geographic, gender and ethnic diversity of its governing body to better reflect the diversity of the Latino workforce itself. any Latinos among the emergent labor-union activists trace their roots to the political movements of the 1960s: Chicano and Puerto Rican civil rights movements, the trade union struggles in Latin America, and the struggle for immigrant work- er rights. Latino labor in the United States is, in short, a product of the complex forces that have integrated Latin America into the orbit of U.S. capitalism, and Latino workers into the U.S. labor force. The resur- gence of Latino labor in the United States thus marks an important turning point for labor, and could help shape the way U.S. unions relate to the Latino com- munity, minority groups, and Latin American trade unionists. The resurgence began in the second half of 1980s, and several international forces seem to have played a major role. A world recession and economic difficulties in Latin America, along with increased trade and for- eign direct investment by transnational corporations, had the effect of displacing millions of urban and rural Latin Americans and sending them to greater employ- ment opportunities in the United States. U.S. military intervention in Central America and the Caribbean also brought waves of immigrant workers into the United States. Displaced workers and peas- ants, as well as political refugees thus came to the United States in large numbers and found employment in the growing service and informal sectors as well as in manufac- turing. Organizing campaigns involving immigrant Latino workers are among the most promising efforts within U.S. labor today. Despite prejudice and fears of how undocument- ed workers may feel threatened by union drives, experience has shown that Latino immi- grants and other “minority” workers have been quite recep- tive to union organizing, and their presence in organizing drives tends to increase the AFL-CIO Executive Vice pre chance of the union winning Thompson, the first woma recognition from employers. The fact that Latino immigrants, like other immigrant workers, tend to be employed in low-wage service and manufacturing where paternalistic employers facing small profit margins predominate makes organizing dif- ficult -but not impossible. Latina women often turn out to be the strongest union supporters, and among the best organizers. But success requires commitment of resources, sound strategies and full backing by labor. The increased number of Latino workers in urban areas, especially in manufacturing, transportation, retail and services, has indeed captured labor’s attention. It has resulted in major organizing drives by the SEIU and ACTWU (now UNITE). In addition, Latino labor cau- cuses have managed to increase Latino representation at the local and national level in key unions, as well as increase awareness and sensibility of non-Latino labor leaders to Latino labor issues. Latino workers, whatever their origin, ethnicity, race or sex have much in common with, and often struggle side by side with U.S. workers of African, Asian or 5s n European descent. They also face similar challenges- increasing the ranks of labor through organizing, devel- oping new organizational forms that link economic demands with social justice and political empower- ment, and reaching out to counterparts within and out- side the U.S. borders. And while the U.S. labor move- ment is still a long way from meeting the specific needs of Latino workers, as Latinos increase their presence in the U.S. labor force, their activism captures the imagi- nation of mainstream labor. As Linda Chavez-Thompson has said: “When you look at any large organizing drive going on today, for the most part, you see Latinos.” The spread of independent immigrant-led, community- based labor organizations- frequently called “worker centers”-is another important source of growth within the Latino labor movement. These groups have tried to present an alternative to trade unions traditionally reluctant to defend the interests of women, immigrants and workers of color. A worker center called La Mujer Obrera in El Paso, Texas, organizes women of the Mexican immigrant com- dent Linda Chavez- munity working in the gar- to hold a top leadership ment industry. The Latino ion meant industry. The Latino Workers’ Center in New York City, on the other hand, mobilizes workers across dif- ferent industries on the basis of ethnic identification. Worker centers try to organize at three different levels: individual worksites, industries-particularly the gar- ment and restaurant sectors-and communities. They address issues such as minimum wage and overtime pay as well as immigration laws. Other worker centers form multiracial alliances among low-wage workers from a variety of ethnic and racial backgrounds. And as more and more unions are re-learning the importance of mobilizing the labor movement at the community level, the line between more militant union campaigns and those led by grassroots organizations has begun to dis- appear. Whether at the community or trade union level, building a Latino labor agenda is no longer of concern only to Latinos. It is in the self-interest of the U.S. labor movement as a whole, and an important step forward in the recreation of a strong progressive political force in the United States.