Region 9A News

Immigrants’ rights are workers’ rights

Catherine Graugard
Social share icons

Over the next four years, it will be more important than ever to build a working class movement that wins justice for all workers. This means fighting for policies that protect good union jobs and defend immigrant workers from attacks. We know that it is the billionaire class and their political backers of all parties that are behind anti-worker trade policies and a broken immigration system.

UAW Region 9A is committed to taking action to ensure that all workers, regardless of immigration status, are protected at work and at home. We will hold employers and anti-worker politicians accountable by doing what we do best—organizing.

Trump administration’s anti-worker agenda

The incoming Trump administration has promised to pursue an aggressive agenda of mass deportations, and often suggests that this will help U.S. workers. But actually, Trump’s mass deportation agenda is bad for every worker in this country by undermining our ability to organize and fight the boss.

Immigrants are U.S. workers who are part of our communities, our workplaces, and our labor movement. So when the Trump administration talks about arresting millions of immigrants, rounding them up into camps and deporting them, they are talking about targeting workers, many of whom are union members. An attack on them is an attack on all of us.

We know from the first Trump administration that immigration enforcement and policy landscape is likely to shift quickly and often over the next four years. The first Trump administration implemented over 400 immigration-related actions, affecting essentially all immigrants living in the U.S. and creating insecurity especially for UAW’s international student workers.

Similarly, the 2024 Trump presidential campaign threatened to restrict immigration pathways, dismantle humanitarian protections, and pursue mass deportations, including workplace raids. Our locals and organizing campaigns should be prepared to fight back against attacks on immigrant workers in higher education via organizing, legal and political efforts.

Resources for our members and unions

Unions will be on the frontlines of the fight against the mass deportation agenda, and many unions and community organizations have created resources to get ready. In anticipation of ramped up immigration enforcement actions, including workplace and community raids, there are important steps that our union and membership can take, including distributing know your rights materials and conducting trainings, as well as engaging with employers and negotiating contract language.

Resources for our locals

Unions can and should use our status as collective bargaining representatives to protect our immigrant members’ rights. For example, a number of UAW higher education local unions have bargained contract provisions to mitigate the impact of federal immigration policy changes. For examples of immigration-specific contract provisions, contact your international representative.

The national AFL-CIO has released Frontline Solidarity: A Mass Deportation Fight-Back Toolkit for Union Activists and Organizers, which union members can request a copy of. The toolkit includes know your rights materials, strategies for employer engagement, sample contract provisions, and more. Labor Notes has also compiled model contract language defending immigrant workers.

Additional resources

Referrals to legal services:

Other useful resources:

Questions?

If you have additional questions or resources to share, please contact Vail Kohnert-Yount at vkohnertyount@uaw.net.

 

VKY:cg/opeiu494afl-cio