Labor's Embrace of Immigration Issues Could Reverse Unions' Decline

Interview with Michael Zweig, State University of New York economics professor, conducted by Scott Harris

The mobilization of hundreds of thousands of immigrants and their allies in over 200 cities around the U.S. on May 1, marked another historic moment in the rising consciousness and activism of this once-marginalized segment of the nations' population. Large numbers of immigrants participated in marches, rallies, boycotts, skipping school or work in what was billed as "A Day Without Immigrants." While Latinos comprised the largest numbers of participants, thousands of immigrants from the Caribbean, Asia, Africa and Europe also joined in the day's activities.

The driving force behind the outpouring of activism in the immigrant community was the passage of legislation in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives that would criminalize the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. and those who assist them. Negotiations over less draconian immigration reform proposals that could lead to legalization are pending in the Senate.

The immigration protests coincided with May Day, the international workers holiday borne out of the struggle for an eight-hour workday, the 1886 Chicago Haymarket bombing, and the subsequent hanging of four activists. In recent years, unions in the U.S. have been drawing closer to the struggle for immigrant rights, not least because these millions of unorganized workers could help provide new members to a labor movement that has been on the decline over the last three decades. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Michael Zweig, professor of economics at the State University of New York, Stony Brook and director of the Center for Study of Working Class Life. Zweig examines the relationship between America's newly mobilized immigrant community and the labor movement.

Learn more about the immigrant rights movement by visiting the www.immigrantsolidarity.org website.

Related links:

*The Center for Study of Working Class Life's annual conference titled, "How Class Works," takes place this year from June 8-10. Visit the Center's website at naples.cc.stonybrook.edu/CAS/wcm.nsf/pages/conference4

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