| The Latin American Workers' Project, Inc., March for America: Immigration Reform for New American Families Economic Justice for All American Families March, 2009 - Vol 1, Issue 1 |
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| | Founded in 1997, The Latin American Workers Project, inc. (LAWP) is a non-profit community based organization formed and led by low-income Latino workers. Our mission is to empower immigrant workers, through organizing and education, to become leaders in their communities and to achieve better living and working conditions. LAWP's current work is evident at nine different sites where day laborers gather to seek work in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx. In recent years, LAWP has led the movement to open Community Job Centers in the city; to push for systematic enforcement of health and Safety laws; to reduce workplace fatalities among low-income immigrant workers though organizing and popular educational methods, etc. LAWP's leadership was critical in the enactment of a city ordinance allowing over 6,000 street vendors to apply for licenses without having to submit documents regarding their immigration status. | |
| | Dear Brothers and sisters, | | On March 21st, the Latin American Workers' Project, Inc. will join hundreds of thousands of people on Washington, DC to send a powerful message to President Obama and to Congress: The time to fix our broken immigration system is now. | | Why LAWP Joins the March 21st mobilization? | | The continuing neglect of immigration reform not only ignores countless studies about the economic benefits, it also ignores the hardship endured by low-wage immigrant workers who are forced to work within an unregulated, contingent workforce as day laborers, street vendors, delivery workers, domestic workers, etc.). The current system allows employers to create a low-wage labor pool of immigrant workers that is easily exploitable. Unscrupulous employers pay undocumented workers substandard wages; force them to endure intolerable working conditions; block their right to organize, and threaten to turn them in to immigration officials if they complain. It is time to reform the system by enacting an effective immigration reform that promotes workers' rights and provides an inclusive path for undocumented immigrant workers to come forward and regularize their status. This is fundamental to our ability to improve health and safety standards, enforce fair salaries, and create a more systematic mechanism to prevent labor and civil rights abuses. For this purpose, the Latin American Workers' Project, Inc., has join this movement in order to meet the fierce urgency of repairing the broken immigration system. Immigration reform is needed to improve wages and working conditions for all workers. We look forward to continue working with local, regional and national partners to pass comprehensive immigration reform that will protect and guarantee fair living and working conditions for all. | | |
| | How can you support? | As we continue to mobilize people from three different day labor hiring sites (Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx), LAWP is requesting the support of our partners to: Provide in-kind or other donations Help is needed in the following areas: - Food - water, coffee, drinks, snacks for the marchers - And of course, if you'd like to donate funds in support of our organizing efforts, we'd welcome that too For your in-kind donation please call at 718-779-7969, e-mail: ligiaguallpa or visit our web page:www.elptla.org Your donation is tax-deductible under our 501(c) 3 non-profit status | | Recent related reports/ News | Immigration Reform in 2010? Here's What's on The Table Right Now: Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), the main sponsor and several co-sponsors announced introduction of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP): This is immigration reform legislation that includes a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and touches on issues of border security, foreign worker visas, employment eligibility verification and more. Related link: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h4321/show New Report Highlights Economic Benefits of Comprehensive Immigration Reform: Raising the Floor for American Workers: The Economic Benefits of Comprehensive Immigration Reform, indicates that legalizing the roughly 12 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. through comprehensive immigration reform, as well as making future flows more flexible, would grow the economy by $1.5 trillion over 10 years. Related link:http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/special-reports/raising-floor-american-workers Principles for an Immigration Policy to Strengthen and Expand the American Middle Class: This report reveals that the American middle class relies on the economic contributions of immigrants both authorized and undocumented, but also that the exploitation of undocumented immigrant workers threatens to drive labor standards down for current and aspiring middle-class workers. Related link: http://www.drummajorinstitute.org/immigration/
| | | Ligia Guallpa
The Latin American Workers Project Inc. | |
Keep the candle burning 2010 ! |
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