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Demand That US Government Allow Entry Of Mexican Union Farmworkers To Speak To US Workers

by Binational Conference To Cancel NAFTA
Because of pressure from union busting Driscolls company Mexican farmworkers who are members of a union and have been invited to speak to US workers have been refused by the US consulate visas for their visit. This suppression of their free speech and right to directly communicate with US workers must be opposed. Call the US Consulate in Mexico
sm_binational_conference_letterhead_logo.jpg
Demand That The US Government Allow Entry Of Mexican Union Farmworkers To Speak To US Working People-Driscolls Suppressing Free Speech
* * * * *
Giant Driscolls Corporation Working with the U.S. Authorities to Stop Mexican Farmworkers from Speaking in the U.S.

Call on the U.S. State Department and on the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana, Mexico, to allow Mexican farmworker leaders to attend the Binational Conference on NAFTA in Carson, Calif.!

Under pressure from the multinational Driscoll's Corporation, the U.S. government has refused the right of Mexican farmworker organizers to come to the United States for a Binational Conference on NAFTA and Labor Rights in Carson, California on December 2-3, 2017.

Three leaders of the Alianza de Organizaciones and of the newly formed Sindicato Nacional de Jornaleros Agrícolas (SINDJA) in San Quintin, Baja California, were denied visas to come to the conference. They are: Fidel Sánchez Gabriel, Octavio Angel López, and Juan Hernández. All had letters of invitation from the university department sponsoring the conference and from many of the unions and central AFL-CIO labor councils co-sponsoring the event.

Driscoll's -- which is based in California -- has been facing an international boycott of their products because of their refusal to recognize and sign a collective-bargaining agreement with SINDJA, the independent union supported overwhelmingly by the close to 80,000 farmworkers in the San Quintin valley.

These workers and their families -- a large percentage of whom are indigenous people expelled from their lands in Oaxaca on account of NAFTA's destruction of Mexico's agricultural sector -- toil under near-slave-like conditions, with wages of $7 a day and a lack of healthcare and sanitation for themselves and their families.

The Binational Conference to which the San Quintin workers were invited as keynote presenters has been sponsored by the California Faculty Association chapter at California State University at Dominguez Hills and by the following organizations: Hermandad Mexicana-La Original; Sacramento Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA, AFL-CIO); California State LCLAA; Farm Labor Organizing Committee, (FLOC, AFL-CIO); Sacramento Labor Council (AFL-CIO); San Francisco Labor Council (AFL-CIO); Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas (SME); Frente Auténtico del Trabajo (FAT); Sindicato Nacional de Telefonistas de la República Mexicana; Comité Promotor Mexicano de la Conferencia Binacional (sede Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas); Department of Modern Languages, CSU Dominguez Hills; UAW Local 551; Labor Fightback Network; OPT Tijuana; The Organizer; Worker Action Solidarity Network; among others.

Please get your union and organization to support the call for immediate action by the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana to provide the visas for these workers to attend the conference. There will be press conferences in Mexico and the United States to demand that they have the right to communicate with, and present their situation directly to, U.S. workers and activists.

Please call the U.S. Consulate General in Tijuana at 011-521-664-977-2000, extension 5, to register your protest and your demand.


BINATIONAL CONFERENCE PROGRAM

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1

• RECEPTION FOR INTERNATIONAL GUEST SPEAKERS / Meet and Greet (7 pm to 9 pm)
[Doubletree Hotel, 2 Civic Plaza Dr. Carson, CA]

* * * * *

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2

[Saturday plenary sessions and workshops all at California State University-Dominguez Hills, Loker Student Union, 3rd Floor, 1000 E. Victoria St., Carson, CA]

• REGISTRATION & SIGN-UP FOR WORKSHOPS (9 am to 9:30 am)

* * * * *

• MORNING PLENARY SESSION

(9:30 am to 11 am)

* Chairpersons opening session:

- Nativo Lopez, Senior Adviser, Hermandad Mexicana-La Original

- Ivonne Heinze Balcazar, Director, Department of Modern Languages, CSU-Dominguez Hills; Women’s Caucus Rep, Dominguez Hills chapter of the California Faculty Association, Carson, CA

* Welcoming remarks

- Claudia Mendoza, Executive Board, Dominguez Hills chapter of the California Faculty Association, Carson, CA

* Keynote Speakers

* Rusty Hicks, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO (On the fight against NAFTA and for labor rights)

* Baldemar Velasquez, President, Farm Labor Organizing Committee, FLOC, AFL-CIO, Toledo, OH (On the fight against union-busting of FLOC in North Carolina and the JR Reynolds “Vuse” Boycott)

* Ivonne Heinze Balcazar, Director, Department of Modern Languages, CSU-Dominguez Hills; Exec. Bd., CFA CSUDH, Carson, CA (On language & culture in the era of NAFTA)

* William I. Robinson, Professor of Sociology and Global and International Studies, University of California-Santa Barbara (On why we must fight to cancel NAFTA)

* Carmen Mata, Representative, Alianza de Organizaciones and SINDJA farmworkers’ union, San Quintin, Baja California, Mexico (On the struggle of the San Quintin farmworkers)

* Victor Enrique Favela Rocha, International Representative, National Telephone Workers Union of the Mexican Republic and UNT, Mexico (On the fight against NAFTA and Privatizations in Mexico)

* Luis Angel Reyes Savalza, Immigration attorney; Director, Community Empowerment (On the fight against deportations and the Wall of Shame, and for Papers for All and a Clean DREAM act)

* Maria Rivera, Asamblea Popular de Tijuana, Mexico (On behalf of the Mexican Binational Conference Mexico Organizing Committee)

* Scott Houldieson, Vice President, UAW 551, Chicago; Convener, Workers Solidarity Action Network (On the struggle against NAFTA and for trade union rights in the US)

PLUS
- Greetings from San Quintin, Baja California, Mexico, farmworker leaders via skype, and

- Greetings from Binational Conference Organizing Committee, Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, via skype

* * * * *

• FIRST SESSION OF WORKSHOPS

(11:15 am to 12:45 pm)

Three concurrent workshops

1) The Fight to Cancel NAFTA, CAFTA and all bilateral “free trade” agreements — and cross-border organizing: Next steps

* Luis Carlos Haro, OPT Tijuana, Coordinator, Bina

* William I. Robinson, Professor of Sociology, University of California at Santa Barbara

• Alan Benjamin, Representation, San Francisco Labor Council (AFL-CIO)

* Yesenia Portillo, LA CISPES

* Juan José Bocanegra, El Comité, Seattle, WA

* * * * *

2) The Fight Against the Privatization of Public Education in the U.S. and Mexico

* Rosemary Lee, Tri-National Coalition Against Privatization of Education, United Teachers of Los Angeles

* Leonor Marisela Ortega Domínguez - Professor, UABC, Mexicali, Mexico

* Michael Dominguez, UTLA Substitute Teacher

* Junnie Verceles, Chair, UTLA Unjustly Housed Teachers’ Committee

* Fernando Buitimea, Students in Defense of Public Education, Tijuana, Mexico

* * * * *
3) The Fight Against the Wall of Shame and Deportations, for a Clean Dream Act, and in defense of Temporary Protective Status for Central American and Caribbean refugees

* Melina Juarez, PhD candidate Political Science; Raza Graduate Student Association, University of New Mexico

* Angela Sanbrano, CARECEN; Central American refugee and anti-CAFTA organizer

* Xochilt Sanchez, LA CISPES

* Sergio Trujillo, DACA recipient, Hermandad Mexicana

* Carlos Arango, CASA Aztlan, Chicago

* * * * *

• LUNCH (12:45 pm to 2 pm)

* * * * *



• SECOND SESSION OF WORKSHOPS

(2 pm to 3:30 pm)



Three concurrent workshops



4) The Struggle for Women’s Rights in the Era of NAFTA

* Maria Rosa Ibarra, UFCW, Los Angeles

* María Rivera, Asamblea Popular de Tijuana, Mexico

* Millie Phillips, Retired IBEW 1245; Steering Committee, Labor Fightback Network, Berkeley, CA

* Rosario Ramirez, SEIU United Service Workers West, Sacramento, CA

* Carmen Mata, Alianza de Organizaciones, San Quintin, Baja California, Mexico



* * * * *



5) The Struggle for Labor Rights and Unionization on Both Sides of the Border (fight against the labor “counter-reform” and union-busting in Mexico; and the fight to stop “right to work” laws, Janus and ICE in the U.S. )

* Carlos Taboada, Retired UTR Teacher

* Cipriano Vilchis, former worker at American Apparel

* Chloe Osmer, Organizing Director, LA County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO

* Fátima García, Secretary, Sacramento LCLAA; member, SEIU USWW

* Alex Sánchez, Teamsters union, Los Angeles



* * * * *



6) The Fight for Quality Public Healthcare on both sides of the border (halting and reversing the privatization of IMSS and ISSSTE in Mexico; defense of Medicaid and fight for single payer in the U.S.)

* Karen Bernal, Community activist, Sacramento, Calif.

* Desiree Rojas, Pres., Sacramento LCLAA, AFL-CIO

* Jerry Levinsky, member, SEIU 509; Steering Committee, Labor Fightback Network, Amherst, MA

* Leonardo Olivares Marin, OPT Tijuana



* * * * *

• THIRD SESSION OF WORKSHOPS

(3:45 pm to 5:15 pm)



Three concurrent workshops



7) The Nuts and Bolts of Organizing Boycotts, Nationally and Internationally: The Driscoll’s Boycott and the “Vuse” JR Reynolds Boycott

* Baldemar Velasquez, President, FLOC, AFL-CIO

* Al Rojas, Vice President, LCLAA Sacramento chapter

* María Cervantes, Rep., Fresno Boycott Committee

* Francisco Chavez Romero, Unión del Barrio, San Diego, Calif

* Juan Martinez, Farmworker, San Quintin, México

* * * * *
8) The Youth Struggle in the Era of NAFTA & “Free Trade”

* Erick Campana - Student, UABC - Mexicali, Mexico

* David Odiseo - Student, UABC - Mexicali, Mexico

* Emiliano Raya Aguilar - MIR, México

* Student activists from CSU Fullerton

* * * * *
9) NAFTA, the Environment, & Workers’ Health and Safety

* Roman Ortiz - Movimiento en Defensa del Parque Benito Juárez - Tijuana

* Susana Prieto Terrazas, Attorney, organizer, Maquiladora Workers, Ciudad Juarez, México

* Diana Arangure, Mexicali Resiste!

* Steve Zeltzer, CWA Pacific Media Workers Guild, Chair, Human Rights Committee



SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2 (Ctd.)



• EVENING PLENARY SESSION

(5:30 pm to 7 pm)



[Second set of keynote speakers, interspersed with Reports from the 9 Workshops, focused on action proposals emanating from workshops. Each workshop will select a note-taker who will present the conclusions of the workshop; Discussion and Implementation of Workshop Decisions will be Sunday, Dec. 3]



* Second Plenary Session chairpersons

* Desiree Rojas, Pres., Sacramento LCLAA, AFL-CIO

* Alan Benjamin, Representative, San Francisco Labor Council, AFL-CIO



* Keynote Speakers:

* Stan Santos, Exec. Bd and representative, Fresno Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO

* Olga Miranda, President, SEIU Local 87, San Francisco

* Dean Murakami, President, Los Rios College Federation of Teachers AFT 2279; Vice President, Sacramento Central Labor Council

* Al Rojas, 2nd Vice Pres., Sacramento Labor Council

* Susana Prieto Terrazas, Attorney, organizer, maquiladora workers, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

* Steve Zeltzer, United Public Workers for Action; Workers Solidarity Action Network, San Francisco

* Jim Lafferty, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild-Los Angeles



SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3



* Action Plan Plenary Session (9:30 am to 1 pm)



[Union Hall of United Steelworkers of America, 1200 E. 220th Street - 
Carson, Calif.]



— Implementation of Action Campaigns from 9 Workshops: Next steps — and excerpts from written messages to conference from:

- Canada

- Haiti

- Peru

- Ecuador

- Chile

- Brazil

* Closing Comments by Conference Co-Chairpersons
Financial support is still needed urgently to bring the delegation of the San Quintin farmworkers (Baja California, Mexico) and the delegation of women maquiladora (sweatshop) workers from Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, to the conference. Please send your checks, payable to LCLAA Sacramento, to PO Box 245913, Sacramento, CA 95824. (Federal tax ID: 2151778.)

The Call for the Binational Conference and other related documents can be accessed at:

http://www.binationalcampaign.org
§Driscolls Uses Child Labor In The Fields
by Binational Conference To Cancel NAFTA
sm_driscolls_boycott_child_labor_strawberries.jpg
Driscolls enforces slave labor conditions for the farmworkers in San Quintin and refuses to allow the Mexican government which they control to recognize the farmworkers union.
§80,000 Mexican Farmworkers and Their Families struck In 2015 for Union Rights
by Binational Conference To Cancel NAFTA
sm_mexico_san_quintin_rally_sdut-mexico-farm-workers-strike-2015mar28.jpg
80,000 Mexican farmworkers and their families went on strike in 2015 and the Mexican government brought in national police and the army to crush the strike. This repression continues backed up by the US government and US corporations who want slave labor to increase their profits.
sm_workers_united_at_binational_conference.jpg
An important Binational conference of workers and activists from Mexican and the US took place in Los Angeles on December 2 & 3 at Domingo Hills State College and USW 675 in Carson, California

12/2-3/17 Binational Conference To Cancel NAFTA, Stop The Wall and Build Direct Links Between US and Mexican Workers
Informativo Pacifica

Desde una conferencia binacional contra el TLCAN de dos dias, donde se reunieron trabajadores de los diferentes sectores de la mayoria de los Estados de E. U. asi como tambien se conto con presencia mexicana de trabajadores, activistas, expertos en temas legales y laborales; los Jornaleros de San Quintin exponen la problematica que viven los campesinos que son explotados por las transnacionales que se niegan a dar un trato humano a sus trabajadores y la complicidad de estas c...
See More
From a two-Day Bi-National Conference against nafta, where workers were gathered from the different sectors of most of the states of the United States as well as the Mexican presence of workers, activists, experts on legal and labour issues; day labourers San Quintin Exposes the problem of peasants who are exploited by tncs who refuse to treat their workers and complicity with the Mexican State.
Among the many agreements that were made in support of the day-to-day workers at the bi-National Meeting, it was the creation of a bi-National Network to report in large supermarkets the boycott of #Driscoll and a global unemployment for the first of may.
The US government also prevented the union leaders from San Quintin from getting visas to speak to the conference so they were skyped in.

#BOYCOTTDRISCOLL
#DRISCOLL
#JORNALEROSDESANQUINTIN
#PRIMERODEMAYO
#MAYDAY

Giant Driscolls Corporation Working with the U.S. Authorities to Stop Mexican Farmworkers from Speaking in the U.S.

Call on the U.S. State Department and on the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana, Mexico, to allow Mexican farmworker leaders to attend the Binational Conference on NAFTA in Carson, Calif.!

Under pressure from the multinational Driscoll's Corporation, the U.S. government has refused the right of Mexican farmworker organizers to come to the United States for a Binational Conference on NAFTA and Labor Rights in Carson, California on December 2-3, 2017.

Three leaders of the Alianza de Organizaciones and of the newly formed Sindicato Nacional de Jornaleros Agrícolas (SINDJA) in San Quintin, Baja California, were denied visas to come to the conference. They are: Fidel Sánchez Gabriel, Octavio Angel López, and Juan Hernández. All had letters of invitation from the university department sponsoring the conference and from many of the unions and central AFL-CIO labor councils co-sponsoring the event.

Driscoll's -- which is based in California -- has been facing an international boycott of their products because of their refusal to recognize and sign a collective-bargaining agreement with SINDJA, the independent union supported overwhelmingly by the close to 80,000 farmworkers in the San Quintin valley.

These workers and their families -- a large percentage of whom are indigenous people expelled from their lands in Oaxaca on account of NAFTA's destruction of Mexico's agricultural sector -- toil under near-slave-like conditions, with wages of $7 a day and a lack of healthcare and sanitation for themselves and their families.

The Binational Conference to which the San Quintin workers were invited as keynote presenters has been sponsored by the California Faculty Association chapter at California State University at Dominguez Hills and by the following organizations: Hermandad Mexicana-La Original; Sacramento Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA, AFL-CIO); California State LCLAA; Farm Labor Organizing Committee, (FLOC, AFL-CIO); Sacramento Labor Council (AFL-CIO); San Francisco Labor Council (AFL-CIO); Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas (SME); Frente Auténtico del Trabajo (FAT); Sindicato Nacional de Telefonistas de la República Mexicana; Comité Promotor Mexicano de la Conferencia Binacional (sede Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas); Department of Modern Languages, CSU Dominguez Hills; UAW Local 551; Labor Fightback Network; OPT Tijuana; The Organizer; Worker Action Solidarity Network; among others.

Please get your union and organization to support the call for immediate action by the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana to provide the visas for these workers to attend the conference. There will be press conferences in Mexico and the United States to demand that they have the right to communicate with, and present their situation directly to, U.S. workers and activists.

Please call the U.S. Consulate General in Tijuana at 011-521-664-977-2000, extension 5, to register your protest and your demand.

Let the Voices of the San Quintin Workers Be Heard; The U.S. Government Must Grant Them Visas Now!

Many thanks, in advance for your support,

The Organizing Committee of the
Binational Conference on NAFTA
Carson, California
§San Quintin Farmworker Union Carmen Mata Spoke
by Informativo Pacifica
sm_carmen_mata_fin.jpg
San Quintin union farmworker Carmen Mata of the Sindicato Independiente Nacional Democrático Jornaleros Agrícolas, "Alianza Nacional Estatal Municipal por la Justicia Social" reported on the deadly health and safety conditions from pesticides and the lack of healthcare that is leading to the deaths of farmworkers and their children in San Quintin.
§Some of the Women Workers Rallied At the conference
by Informativo Pacifica
sm_mujeres_luchadoras_fin.jpg
Women workers who attended the conference talked about sexual harassment and the slave labor conditions in the maquiladoras and the Driscolls produced berries in Mexico
§Informativo KPFK Covered the Meeting Live
by Informativo Pacifica
sm_informativo_kpfk_covered_it_live.jpg
Informativo KPFA covered the historic conference live.
§Boycott Driscolls Slave Labor Conditions
by Informativo Pacifica
sm_driscolls_boycott_child_labor_strawberries.jpg
Driscolls has refused to recognize the 80,000 workers in San Quintin and allows slave labor conditions and massive use of pesticides on the fields that poisons the workers and their families. These same pesticides are illegal in the US. Driscolls with the support of the US government also prevented union leaders from coming to the conference in the US.
§Al Rojas One of the Organizers Of The Binational Conference
by Informativo Pacifica
sm_al_rojas_fin.jpg
Al Rojas of the Sacramento Labor Council For Latin American Advancement and also a founder of the United Farmworkers of America spoke at the conference and also discussed the need to support the Driscolls workers and fight the "guest worker" program that is still being used today to continue indentured labor and lower wages of US workers.
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