Лорел, Mississippi – On August 25, immigration agents swooped down on Howard Industries, a Mississippi electrical equipment factory, taking 481 workers to a privately-run detention center in Jena, Louisiana. A hundred and six women were also arrested at the plant, and released wearing electronic monitoring devices on their ankles if they had children, or without them if they were pregnant. Eight workers were taken to Federal court in Hattiesburg, where they were charged with aggravated identity theft.

 

Afterwards Barbara Gonzalez, spokesperson for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), stated the raid took place because of a tip by a "union member" two years before. Other media accounts focused on an incident in which plant workers allegedly cheered as their coworkers were led away by ICE agents. The articles claim the plant was torn by tension between immigrant and non-immigrant workers, and that unions in Mississippi are hostile to immigrants.

 

Many Mississippi activists and workers, however, charge the raid had a political agenda – undermining a growing political coalition that threatens the state’s conservative Republican establishment. They also say the raid, which took place during union contract negotiations, will help the company resist demands for better wages and conditions.

 

Jim Evans, a national AFL-CIO staff member in Mississippi and a leading member of the state legislature’s Black Caucus, said he believed "this raid is an effort to drive immigrants out of Mississippi. It is also an attempt to drive a wedge between immigrants, African Americans, white people and unions – all those who want political change here." Patricia Ice, attorney for the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance (MIRA), agreed that "this is political. They want a mass exodus of immigrants out of the state, the kind we’ve seen in Arizona and Oklahoma. The political establishment here is threatened by Mississippi‘s changing demographics, and what the electorate might look like in 20 years."

 

In the last two decades, the percentage of African Americans in the state’s population has increased to over 35%, and immigrants, who were statistically insignificant until recently, are expected to reach 10% in the next decade. Mississippi union membership has been among the nation’s lowest, but since the early 1980s, workers have joined unions in catfish and poultry plants, casinos and shipyards, along with those at Howard Industries.

 

Evans, other members of the Black Caucus, many of the state’s labor organizations, and immigrant communities all see shifting demographics as the basis for changing the state’s politics. Over the last seven years their growing coalition has proposed legislation to set up a Department of Labor (Mississippi is the only state without one), guarantee access to education for children of all races and nationalities, and provide drivers’ licenses to immigrants. MIRA organized support in the state capitol for those proposals, and Evans, who sponsored many of them, chairs MIRA’s board.

 

Earlier this year, however, the legislature passed, and Governor Haley Barbour signed, a law making it a state felony for an undocumented worker to hold a job, punishable by 1-5 years in prison and $1,000-10,000 in fines. Employers are given immunity for employing workers without papers, so long as they vet new hires through an ICE database called E-Verify. It is still not known whether the people arrested at Howard Industries will be charged under the new state law. Evans says the law and the raid serve the same objectives. "They both just make it easier to exploit workers. The people who profit from Mississippi‘s low wage system want to keep it the way it is," he alleged.

 

In the week before the raid, MIRA organizers received reports of a growing number of ICE agents in southern Mississippi. They began leafleting immigrant communities, warning them about a possible raid and explaining their rights should people be questioned about their immigration status. When agents finally showed up at the Howard Industries plant, many workers say they tried to invoke those rights, and warn others that a raid was in progress. One woman, later detained and then released to care for her child, began to call workers who had not yet come to the factory on her cell phone, warning them to stay away. "She first called her brother, and then began calling anyone else she could think of," explained her mother, who works in a local chicken plant. Both feared being identified publicly. "An agent grabbed her arm, and asked her what she was doing, so she went into the bathroom, and kept calling people until they took her phone away."

 

Howard Industries, like most Mississippi employers, has a long record of opposing unions. Workers there chose representation by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers on June 8, 2000, by a vote of 162-108. Employment at the plant, which manufactures electrical ballasts and transformers, grew considerably after the election, and the company now employs over 4000 workers at several locations in Mississippi. In 2002 it received a $31.5 million subsidy for expansion from the state government, and at one point state legislators were all given HI laptop computers. "The company is very well-connected politically," says Evans, who noted that its owners donated to the campaigns of former Democratic governor Ronnie Musgrove, and then to Mississippi‘s current Republican governor Haley Barbour.

 

As it grew, the company hired many immigrant Mexican and Central American workers, diversifying a workforce that was originally primarily African American and white. The company has declined to comment, and released a press statement that said, "Howard Industries runs every check allowed to ascertain the immigration status of all applicants for jobs. It is company policy that it hires only U.S. citizens and legal immigrants."

 

During the organizing drive, the union filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging intimidation and violations of workers’ rights. After the union and company agreed on a contract, more charges followed. NLRB Region 15 issued a complaint against the company for violating the union’s bargaining rights. Roger Doolittle, attorney for IBEW Local 1317, says other charges allege that the company threatened a union steward for trying to represent workers in the plant. In June, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced it intended to fine the company $123,000 for 36 violations of health and safety regulations at the Pendorf plant, where the raid took place, and another $41,000 in fines for a second Laurel location.

 

Пас аз ба охир расидани мўњлати шартномаи коллективї дар авоили моњи август таниш миёни ширкат ва иттињодия афзоиш ёфт. Ба гуфтаи як коргари муҳоҷир, ки ба далели он ки дар смена кор мекард ва нахост номаш ифшо шавад, боздошт нашудааст, иттифоқ талаб кардааст, ки маош 1.50 доллар дар як соат зиёд карда шавад ва имтиёзҳои таътилӣ беҳтар шавад. Имтиёзҳои тиббии ширкат инчунин дар байни коргарон мушкил аст, гуфт ӯ, зеро фарогирии оила дар як ҳафта беш аз 100 доллар арзиш дорад ва ин барои аксари кормандон дастрас нест.

 

Миссисипи давлати хукук ба мехнат аст ва шартномахои мехнатй тааллук доштани коргаронро ба иттиходия талаб карда наметавонанд. Ба ҷои ин, иттифоқҳо бояд пайваста кӯшиш кунанд, ки коргаронро ҳамчун аъзо имзо кунанд. Дар солҳои гузашта, тибқи дигар манбаъҳои иттифоқ, IBEW Local 1317 ҳамчун иттифоқе обрӯ дошт, ки ба аъзоёни муҳоҷири худ дастгирии зиёд пешниҳод намекард.

 

Ба гуфтаи коргари смена, ки ба иттиҳодия тааллуқ надошт, дар корхонаи Пендорф ҳамагӣ чандсад аъзо мавҷуд буданд ва дар музокирот ширкат ин кам будани узвиятро сабаби имзо накардани созишномаи нав истифода бурд.

 

Барои баланд бардоштани қобилияти худ дар гуфтушунид оид ба шартнома, Local 1317 барои ба қайд гирифтани аъзоёни муҳоҷир кӯшишҳои бештар оғоз кард. Ташкилкунандагони испанӣзабон оварда шуданд ва онҳо ба забони испанӣ варақаҳо доданд, ки манфиатҳои узвиятро шарҳ медиҳанд. Онҳо ба коргарон дар хона дидан мекарданд, то онҳо тавонанд дар бораи иттифоқи касаба сӯҳбат кунанд ва нозирони ширкатро нашунаванд ё надида бошанд. Ба гуфтаи коргари смена, бисёриҳо ҳамроҳ шуданд, бахусус муҳоҷироне, ки ба наздикӣ ба кор гирифта шуда буданд. Рӯзномаи миллии IBEW, Electrical Worker, хабар дод, ки ба гуфтаи менеҷери тиҷорати африқоӣ-амрикоии маҳаллӣ Кларенс Ларкин, дар моҳи апрели соли гузашта беш аз 200 нафар имзо гузоштаанд. «Ин як процесси мудим аст, ки иттидодия зинда ва нашъунамо ёбад, — гуфт вай ба газета.

 

That’s when the plant was raided. Local 1317 will now have to try to negotiate a contract after the loss of many of its members, who were among those detained. Those members, who joined the union in hopes of better wages and treatment, instead have been imprisoned for days in Jena, Louisiana, a two-hour drive from Laurel. ICE spokesperson Barbara Gonzalez would not provide an estimate of how long they might be jailed, but said "the investigation of their cases is ongoing."

 

The day after ICE agents stormed the factory, MIRA began organizing meetings to provide legal advice, food and economic help. According to MIRA director Bill Chandler, Howard Industry representatives told detainees’ families, and women released to care for children, that the company wouldn’t give them their paychecks. On August 28 MIRA organizer Vicky Cintra led a group of workers to the Pendorf plant to demand their pay. Managers called Laurel police and sheriffs, who threatened to arrest her. After workers began chanting, "Let her go!" and news reporters appeared on the scene, the company finally agreed to distribute checks to about 70 people.

 

Корманди смена аз рейд ончунон тарсид, ки бо гузашти қариб як ҳафта ба кор барнагашт ва мутмаин набуд, ки агар кор кунад, коре хоҳад дошт. "Ҳама то ҳол дар ҳақиқат метарсанд" гуфт ӯ. Дулитл розӣ шуд ва гуфт, ки тарс на танҳо ба коргароне, ки гирифта шудаанд, бештар таъсир хоҳад кард. "Коргарон ҳар вақте, ки чунин ҳодиса рӯй медиҳад, метарсанд" гуфт ӯ. "Ин танҳо табиати инсонист."

 

Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, explained that "raids drive down wages because they intimidate workers, even citizens and legal residents. The employer brings in another batch of employees and continues business as usual, while people who protest get targeted and workers get deported. Raids really demonstrate the employer’s power." The Hattiesburg American reported Friday that Howard Industries sent a letter to customers two days after the raid, assuring them that production would be back to normal by the end of the week, and noting that the company has not been charged.

 

Сухангӯи Барбара Гонсалес иддао кард, ки ICE пас аз гирифтани занг аз "узви иттифоқ" пеш аз гузаронидани рейд ду сол интизор шуд, зеро "мо барои тафтишот вақти лозимаро гирифтем." Вай аз гуфтани он, ки ин тафтишот чӣ гуна сурат гирифтааст ва ё он чизе, ки ICE-ро водор кардааст, бовар кард, ки маслиҳати онҳо аз аъзои иттифоқ гирифта шудааст. Тасвири корхонае, ки дар он аъзои иттифоқҳо нисбат ба муҳоҷирон душманӣ доштанд, пас аз рейд тавассути гузоришҳои расонаҳои хабарӣ дар бораи ҳодисае, ки дар он коргарон ҳангоми бурдани ҳамкоронашон "карсак" заданд, тақвият ёфт. Аммо рӯзи 29 август, вақте ки Синтра ва занони дастпонадор рӯзи дувум дар назди корхона нишаста, маоши бештар талаб карданд, коргарони африқои амрикоӣ ҳангоми аз кор баромадан ба назди онҳо омада, занонро ба оғӯш гирифтанд ва гуфтанд, ки онҳоро дастгирӣ мекунанд.

 

"Бовар кардан душвор аст, ки як занги дусолаи телефонӣ ба ICE ба ин рейд овардааст, аммо новобаста аз он ки занг ягон бор сурат гирифтааст ё на, ин эҳтимолият маҳсули фазои заҳролуд аст, ки сиёсатмадорони ҳарду ҳизб дар Миссисипи таҳрик додаанд" Директори MIRA Чандлер. "Дар интихоботи гузашта Барбур ва ҷумҳурихоҳон бар зидди муҳоҷирон барои интихоб шудан таблиғ карданд, аммо ҳамаи номзадҳои демократӣ ба ҷуз Прокурори генералӣ Ҷим Ҳуд низ таблиғ карданд. Рейд иқлимро боз ҳам бадтар мекунад."

 

During the 2007 election campaign the Ku Klux Klan organized a 500-person rally in Tupelo, and when MIRA organizer Erik Fleming urged Barbour to veto the bill making work a felony for the undocumented, he was attacked by state anti-immigrant organizations.

 

Some state labor leaders have contributed to anti-immigrant hostility. After the Howard Industries workers, many of them union members, were arrested, state AFL-CIO President Robert Shaffer told the Associated Press that he doubted that immigrants could join unions if they were not in the country legally. U.S. labor law, however, holds that all workers have union rights, regardless of immigration status. It also says unions have a duty to represent all members fairly and equally

 

"This raid will just make us more determined," Evans declared. "We won’t go back to the kind of racism Mississippi has known throughout its past."

 

 

Дэвид Бэкон хабарнигори Калифорния аст, ки ҳуҷҷатҳои меҳнат, муҳоҷират ва ҷаҳонишавӣ аст. Китоби ӯ "Ҷамоатҳои бидуни сарҳад" тоза аз ҷониби Cornell University/ilr Press нашр шудааст.

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