Joe Gomez, Chuck Stanley, Gerardo Contreras, Bubba Aikman
Richard Clay, Dianne White, Johnnie Durham
Local 848's Civil Rights Committee met at 4 PM on April 19, just after the
Executive Board. Vought Chairman Chuck Stanley invited everybody to come to
the union meeting on April 23 and stay afterward for free fajitas. The
committee has been investigating the costs of raffling off a new television
that Eddie Conway obtained. They decided, instead, to auction it at the union
meeting.
The group heard an extensive report on the situation that arose from congressional proposals concerning immigrants. They want to make it a felony to be undocumented, which has upset many religious leaders who say they would be put in jail for feeding the hungry and providing shelter for the homeless, as such normal church activities would be "aiding and abetting" a felon. The other congressional proposal, called "guest worker" by President Bush but called "indentured servitude" by union leaders, would create a separate class of workers who had no rights. The effect of either proposal would be to drive American wages down even further.
Gerardo Contreras said that immigration increased tremendously after NAFTA
passed, and that CAFTA had made it even more likely that people would feel forced
to emigrate to industrialized countries. Those who oppose the proposals in Congress
have called for a May 1 consumer boycott and other activities. More information
at www.labordallas.org.
Chairman Chuck Stanley asked the group to report any problems with the bulletin
boards in the plants. He said it has been very difficult to get all of them
working properly and posted with the most recent material, but that our leadership
is working hard on the problem.