Sisters and Brothers,
The horrible impact of the current pandemic is being felt across the country, with millions suffering furloughs and layoffs, and tens of thousands dying as a result of infection. Too many healthcare workers and others doing essential work are risking infection every day for lack of protective personal equipment and other important safety precautions. With so many working families enduring so much hardship, it’s challenging to even focus momentarily on one particular group, but with the major gaps in federal assistance for so many low wage workers, the USW is taking time this week to look at one part of the labor force being especially hard hit – immigrant workers, and in particular, undocumented immigrant workers.
Please take some time to watch and share this video interview by our Education and Membership Development Department’s Guillermo Perez with two of the labor movement’s leading advocates for the health and well-being of immigrant workers – Yanira Merino, national president of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), and Shannon Lederer, Director of Immigration Policy for the national AFL-CIO, as they discuss the impact of COVID-19 on immigrant workers in the U.S.
And join us on Facebook on Friday, May 1st – International Workers’ Day -- at 10 a.m. for a live question-and-answer session with President Merino and Alvina Yeh, Executive Director of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), as they report on the on-going fight for immigrant rights in midst of this pandemic.
