Dear Brothers and Sisters:
It is an honor and pleasure to welcome you on behalf of the Central Florida LCLAA Chapter Executive Board to our Chapter web page. The Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, LCLAA is the home of the Latino Labor Movement. LCLAA is a national Latino organization representing the interests of over 2 million Latino trade unionists throughout the country and the Common Wealth of Puerto Rico. LCLAA was founded in 1973 and is America’s premier national organization for Latino workers and their families. LCLAA advocates for the rights of all workers seeking justice in the workplace and their communities. LCLAA is a constituency group representing Latino workers in both the AFL-CIO and Change to Win Federation.
Here in Central Florida we are facing a lot of challenges and we need to be committed to assist,educate and advocate our communities. I can really say that I have seen ourmovement heading in a positive direction and I will pledge to continue touphold my responsibilities to working families in Central Florida and togetherexecute decisions in a fair and honest manner. The unity has shown the publicthe strength we have as Latino movement and empowered our members to continue working for justice. Our members have learned and gained valuable experiencesthrough our organization. We will continue to train, agitate, and educate our members to increase participation.
We have teamed up with Jobs with Justice, WorkingAmerica, Florida AFL-CIO, Central Florida Labor Council and many otherorganizations, who helped spread the message in the Sunshine State. As we continueto come under attack from corporate special interest, we must stand togetherand fight back more than ever before.
I look forward to working with organized labor and Latino working class families throughout Central Florida. I will dowhatever it takes to best serve labor as a member and President of the CentralFlorida LCLAA Chapter.
Please visit following web-site’s
www.fl.aflcio.org/centralflorida/
http://www.livestream.com/occupy_orlando
In
Solidarity
Victor Sanchez
President
Central Florida LCLAA Chapter
LCLAA and Unemployment Workers
Print Email to a Friend Alabama, Latinos, immigration, civilrights
The group met with community leaders, immigrant families, business owners and workers on a fact-finding trip to shed light on the law’s negative consequences.
Alabama’s Republican Gov. Robert Bentley signed HB 56 into law in June. It’s considered the nation’s toughest anti-immigrant law to date and opponents call it the most oppressive one.
The law has wide-reaching implications for Alabama’s Latino workers and their families, said members of
the delegation, which was sponsored by the AFL-CIO.
“We cannot be quiet on this gross violation of an entire population’s civil rights,” said William Lucy, president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, in a statement. “Just as we saw years ago in the days of Jim Crow, hardworking people, families, and even children are being unjustly targeted and criminalized in their own communities,” said Lucy. “The fight for civil rights did not end with the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. It continues whenever and wherever someone is denied their equal rights.”
Rev. Angie Wright of the Greater Birmingham Ministries added, “This law affects every community in Alabama,not just immigrant communities. It damages our public schools. It diverts law enforcement’s attention from real crime in every community.”
Wright continued, “Public resources needed for schools, health care and transportation are being drained to defend and implement a morally and fiscally unconscionable law. Our state is unearthing the pain and shame of our past, once again refusing to honor the humanity of the people who simply want to live with dignity, hope for their children and the necessities of life. It hurts every single person who lives in Alabama, whether they realize it yet or not.”
The law allows police to question people about their immigration status and arrest them if they are suspected of being in the country illegally. Critics say the law was written to deny undocumented immigrants the ability to work or travel, to own or rent a home and to enter into contracts of any kind. Fear and panic is widespread in Alabama, causing an exodus of Latinos abandoning their homes, jobs and crops in the fields. Utilities are preparing to shut off water, power and heat to customers who cannot show them the right papers.
The law also requires schools to collect information about the residency status of students and share the information with state authorities. Thousands of Latino kids have reportedly dropped out of school, fearing deportation.
Victor Palafox is a student organizer in Alabama who has been advocating for the passage of the DREAM Act and immigration reform. ”Our schools, our churches, our neighborhoods have not been the same since HB 56 passed,” he said. “Many people are afraid and have even left the life they built here. But
seeing that there are people from all over the country, from other races and other life experiences who will stand together with us against this unjust law
makes me feel like we have a chance to restore our community and make it stronger.”
Several national evangelical leaders also recently visited Alabama as part of an “emergency delegation.” They too are denouncing the law, calling it a moral and humanitarian crisis.
African American leaders including U. W. Clemon, a former state senator and Alabama’s first black federal judge, say the new law exemplifies a new civil rights crisis. Clemon, now in his late 60s, marched in demonstrations alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He has seen what he describes as great advances over the years in the fight for civil rights. Today, however, he is so concerned over Alabama’s immigration law that he is calling efforts to resist it the new civil rights movement.
“We are at a point in American history where powerful forces are determined to turn back the clock on the tremendous progress we made in civil rights over the last 100 years,” Clemon said on the American Civil Liberties Union blog. “And they’ve come very far in doing so.” Clemon adds the Latino population is less than five percent in Alabama, yet state lawmakers are hell-bent on removing as much of that 4 percent as possible. They’re trying to scare them
out of the state, he notes.
“The design, the purpose of it was to drive out people who don’t look like us,” said Clemon. “In this instance it turned out to be Hispanics. Many of them, unfortunately, are American citizens, just as American as you and I.” Activists note a statewide community-driven campaign and coalition has been formed to repeal HB 56.
Florida LCLAA Chapter
Email address- cf.lclaa.@gmail.com
POBox 4451 Winter Park Florida 32793
November 29, 2011
The Subcommittee on
Immigration Policy and Enforcement
House of
Representatives
B-353 Rayburn House
Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman
Gallegly, Ranking Member Lofgren, and Members of the Subcommittee:
The Labor Council For Latin American Advancement is a National
Non-Profit Latino organization representing the interest of over 2.0 million
Latino trade unionists throughout the
country and the Common Wealth of Puerto Rico.
LCLAA was founded in 1973 and is
American’s premier national organization for Latino workers and their families.
LCLAA advocates for the rights of all workers seeking justice in the workplace
and their communities.
LCLAA is not just for union members, but for all people who envision a
better quality of life, a just workplace, and who demand respect and dignity
for all working people..
We oppose the Secure Communities Program because it is ineffective, it
threatens the safety of our communities,
it runs counter to American principles of fairness and justice and it has been
deceitfully imposed on our country’s local communities. The Department of
Homeland Security(DHS) has misrepresented the Secure Communities program to the
American public, law enforcement agencies, state and local governments, and
Members of Congress. The Secure Communities Program creates an incentive for
participating state and local law enforcement agents to engage in racial
profiling and pre-textual arrests.
To safeguard our communities and the protection of our rights we
recommend that:
- Congress
pass the End Racial Profiling Act which would ban profiling based on race,
religion, ethnicity and national origin at the federal, state and local levels. - Congress
eliminate funding for the Secure Communities Initiative and other programs that
use state and local law enforcement agencies to conduct immigration
enforcement, until and unless meaningful and effective protections are put into
place to prevent racial profiling or other civil and human rights violations
Thanks you for your time and consideration
Sincerely,
Victor Sanchez
Central Florida LCLAA
Chapter President
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