SUPREME COURT REMOVES LABOR RIGHTS FOR UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS

Who said that "justice is blind"? It seems to me that
"justice" can actually see the color of the skin



> >La Jornada
> >Mexico City, Mexico
> >Thursday, March 28, 2002
> >
> >United States Supreme Court Removes Labor Rights
> for Undocumented
> >Workers
> >Workers now officially unprotected against abuses
> of employers
> >Conditions will be "like slavery" say unions
> >
> >JIM CASON AND DAVID BROOKS, WASHINGTON
> CORRESPONDENTS
> >[Unofficial, bad translation by Morgan Guyton]
> >Washington, March 27:
> >
> >The United States Supreme Court decided today that
> undocumented workers
> >do not have the right to free association in unions
> nor protection
> >against employers that violate their labor rights. 
> The judgment sets
> >the precedent that if a business fires a worker for
> either union
> >activities or at management's personal discretion
> for any reason, the
> >worker does not enjoy the legal protection
> established by law because of
> >his illegal immigrant condition.  With this, all
> the undocumented
> >workers in farm fields, factories, restaurants, and
> hotels in the
> >country from this point do not have the right to
> demand lost wages or
> >any other restitution from employers that violate
> the law by firing or
> >punishing them for exercising their basic rights.
> >
> >The Court made a divided decision, 5 to 4,
> resolving the case of
> >undocumented worker Jose Castro, fired along with
> three other employees
> >from the Hoffmand Plastic Compound in Paramount,
> California, in 1989,
> >for supporting efforts to unionize the plant.  The
> National Labor
> >Relations Board, the federal agency in charge of
> resolving violations of
> >labor law and that supposedly guarantees
> protections to workers against
> >employer repercussions for union activities or
> protesting employment
> >conditions, found the rights of Castro had been
> violated and ordered
> >that he be paid his back wages.  The lower courts
> upheld the NLRB ruling
> >but the Supreme Court today reversed those
> decisions.
> >
> >The AFL-CIO declared its disillusionment over the
> Supreme Court ruling.
> >"By permitting employers to victimize illegally
> undocumented workers
> >without any economic consequence, the Court
> judgment undermines the
> >living standards and work conditions of
> >all Americans, citizens or not."
> >
> >The decision "devastated" Arturo Rodriguez,
> president of the United
> >Farmworkers of America (the union founded by Cesar
> Chavez), who said
> >that this decision is "devastating" for
> undocumented workers, that are
> >now left "without rights, without legal protection,
> without egalitarian
> >treatment under the law."
> >
> >In a telephone interview with La Jornada, Rodriguez
> pointed out that
> >employers will now seek to employ more undocumented
> workers knowing that
> >they do not have legal protection of their labor
> rights.  "This
> >eliminates for workers the right to confront their
> bosses...  This puts
> >them almost in conditions of slavery, not having
> the resources to defend
> >themselves.  This decision represents a threat no
> less grave than
> >proposition 187 for the immigrant community." he
> said.
> >
> >Eliseo Medina, executive vice-president of the
> Service Employees
> >International Union (SEIU), declared it  "a bad day
> for justice in the
> >United States when the Supreme Court has thrown out
> basic protections of
> >immigrants in their place of work."  He emphasized
> that unions will
> >continue to defend every immigrant worker, legal or
> undocumented, in
> >spite of this judgment.
> >
> >With that and in spite of the fact that the Supreme
> Court has maintained
> >in the past that undocumented workers do enjoy the
> protection of federal
> >labor laws, today's decision took away the
> protection to organize and
> >defend their labor rights.


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