Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 00:51:31 -0400
Subject: AUT: AFL/CIO, a new friend of immigrants??


Angela;

Thanks  very much for your reply.


The point we wanted to make  about  "legal" status attained  in US,
immigrant, migrant, or native born is that at age 18 , one (males only- for
now) technically
become eligible for a future  military draft  and are supposed to fill out 
information cards at 
the Post Offices to be sent to the US  Dept. of "Defense"(true there are
none being conscripted now
but the US bourgeoisie is making is plans for future larger theatre
military actions, (eg Colombia,
Mid-east, etc.) &  our ruling class is  quite adept at planning things 
well ahead of schedule!).

When a new draft ensues , its will  is  done by hook and crook  (Ah,the
wonders of "democracy")
in that (surprise!) most actually conscripted as enlisted GI's will be 95%+
from the working class , 
and  at least  50% of these will be from oppressed nationality worker
communites. We think  
it is no coincidence that with the US bosses and their kept  media  whining
about a turndown
 in enlistments and re-enlistments , that just now The AFL/CIO and 
sections of the
US congress-- so- belligerent  in their anti -immigrant frenzies/actions 
up to this year, should now like 
wolves now dressed up in sheeps clothing --are lined up now as alleged
saviours of  
undocumented workers "legality".

You are quite  near the mark on  hitting the  changed  world economy
forcing the AFL's hand and forcing
it to look to "organize" in trades  more now   where immigrant labor 
,(super) exploited is located, fabrics,
textiles, furniture making, plastic goods manufacture, electrical parts,
etc., still pretty  labor intensive sectors.
But the AFL still treats even its own present immigrant  members as  openly
second-class or worse.
.E.g. in 1995, the SEIU (Sweeney's old bailywick)local #399 in LA 
(Kaiser-- janitors and other maintenance),
largely immigrant  workers voted 21 of 25 posts to   reform activists to
union office --Even these
reformists however were too much for Sweeney and the AFL-- Sweeney and
Local Pres Zellers
put the Local 399 in trusteeship  and would not allow any of the mostly
immigrant workers
slate to hold office -- "because they were too inexperienced..,....lacked
communication skills" 
etc. (Many of these  #399 workers were  actually from central America and
had the real experience of the class
economic, political  , here these  even including  military combats of the
70s/80s)

It should be noted that in the Garment industry and elsewhere where the AFL
has a long history  of
the most obsequious forms of class collaboration  with management.,
conditions, 
pay  and benefits for workers in union  (sweat) shops and non union
sweatshops  here in the
 US are not that much  different in a lot of  cases.

Yes, if  immigrant workers can get the new  "amnesty" and get legal papers,
 many will opt 
for this rather tha n having to worry each day about avoiding the
Government La Migra round-up squadrons 
that sweep the factories in LA (and many other US cities) regularly.  But
we want to point out all that
glitters is not gold here.  That even many "amnesty"  programs are  chock
full of draconian
conditions for eligibility. The devil is in the details --and in
understanding the AFL acts like an
arm of the US state since  WW1 and its "mission" is not only economic,
(labor 'peace") but also political 
and ideological as well, to entice workers to be good producers for capital
 and loyal supporters to its
  political nation state . 
 
The AFL's/Buchanan right-populists  Fair Trade or   the  neo-liberals "Free
trade", its all capitalist trade and either  way  & the working class gets
Bush-whacked  or Gore-d!  Workers must do their own organizing --on their
own class terrain, industrially and politically , organizations based on
the class struggle & against 
waged slavery..

Fighting the nationalism of the worlds  bosses ,  the AFL unions (US) or
your TUC unions  (Australia) is an uphill task but it must be carried out,
if workers like those you described breaking out of  Australian
detention camps are to get support from other workers.

Neil
Communist-left 
http://www.ibrp.org 





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