DO WORKERS from Mexico bring with them their traditions of organizing?
MU: THEY BRING all their traditions. In Mexico, we had a terrible experience with the unions, with leaders like [oil workers’ union leader] Fidel Velazquez, who was a real gangster. They killed a lot of people who wanted to create independent unions. So when they come here, we try to make clear to them what the relationship should be between workers and the unions. Many people come here and say, “My union is making me do things.” We say, “Do you know your contract? No? Read the contract and then come back to me.” If you don’t know your rights when you have a contract, how can I help you? Then, there are the people who don’t have unions. Right now, we’re working around three nonunion companies. They only have about 100 workers, so they aren’t very attractive to the unions. If they had 500 workers, all the unions would say, “Let me try.” LS: WHEN LATINO workers walked off their job April 10, the employers were suddenly talking about the importance of immigrant labor, and many were fired.
