Organizing Workers and Immigration Reform: A Strategy Session

Tuesday, September 10 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
Location: Room 403-A

This participatory session will bring together labor leadership and dynamic national immigrant rights groups to strategize around organizing immigrant workers. Together we will discuss what the world could look like with commonsense immigration reform and what steps labor can start to take now and until reform comes. This session will convey the extraordinary potential that immigration reform poses for growing the labor movement and building greater progressive  worker power. Guest speakers will share current  labor and community efforts  under way to plan for legalization of the approximately 5 million to 7 million people who may become eligible under legislative reform. We will highlight national coordination efforts  to provide competent and much-needed services that will organize and empower workers through strategic grassroots collaborations. Finally, we will strategize concrete  steps labor can take to further  mobilize  and advocate for policy reforms that move legislation forward and uplift  the immigrant population, such as ending deportation and expanding deferred  action. At the same time, at least 4 million to 5 million people are likely to be excluded from the benefits of legislative reform, and labor must support ongoing  efforts  to help organize and empower this group by deepening  our partnerships with immigrant worker organizations. By collaborating with networks of grassroots community groups and national service providers, the labor movement could help change the current  political landscape and greatly expand worker power.

Moderator(s)

Ana Avendaño, Assistant to the President for Immigration and Community Action, AFL-CIO

Participants

Speakers:

Tefere Gebre, Executive Director, Orange Country Labor Federation
Chris Newman, Legal Director, NDLON
Andrew Friedman, Executive Director, The Center for Popular Democracy
Aquilina Soriano, Filipino Workers Center, National Domestic Workers Alliance
Cristina Tzintzun, Executive Director, Workers Defense Project (Tentative)
Christian Torres, UNITE HERE Local 11 (Tentative)