Millions Expected to Join Walkout.
Something unprecedented in the whole of American history is due to take place today.
For the first time ever, America's immigrant workers are to withhold their labour to make the point that the US cannot function without them.
"It will be tens of millions from coast to coast, from Los Angeles to New York," Javier Rodriguez, a spokesman for the March 25 Coalition, told CNN. "You can expect L.A. to be at a standstill almost totally. You will not have truckers. You will not have taxi drivers, garment workers, hotel workers, restaurant workers -- half of the teacher force will not be going to school."
The strike, called "A Day Without Immigrants" is the natural progression to the pro-immigrant rallies which stunned the US through the sheer size and scale of the demonstrations.
There have been warnings that the proposed strike may damage rather than aid their cause, with people like Sen. Trent Lott saying, "I do think that these big demonstrations are counterproductive, and they hurt with a guy like me, who is trying to look at this in a way that is responsible.""We're going to see something that's never occurred in the history of this United States -- a day in which immigrants withhold their labor, withhold their consuming power -- they don't go to school, they don't go shopping, they don't go selling," Lopez said.
About 7.2 million illegal immigrants hold jobs in the United States, making up 4.9 percent of the overall labor force, according to a recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center. Undocumented workers make up 24 percent of farmworkers and hold 14 percent of construction jobs, the study found.
Other estimates put the total number of illegal immigrants in the United States at more than 11 million.
The protests began in March in opposition to a congressional bill that would make felons of illegal immigrants and wall off more than a third of the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexican border. The bill passed the House of Representatives in December but has stalled in the Senate.
I have to say that I give them my full backing.
Even here in the UK, there is a horrible bias against immigrants, with most people unaware that without them this system would cease to function; as they are the invisible people collecting our litter, cleaning our hospitals and driving our cabs.
I've also never understood why most people find it so hard to admit that poor people seeking a better life by migrating are, in reality, only doing what any of us would do were we to find ourselves in similiar circumstances.
Click title for full story.
Tags:
No comments:
Post a Comment