The Labor Struggle is the Migrant Struggle!
Photo credit: https://www.ilwu.org/
All of your support of IMIrJ resulted in a power win for the migrant justice movement! On Thursday August 14th, the members of the International Executive Board of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) voted unanimously to support a Statement of Policy titled “Condemning Recent Attacks on Migrants.” In doing so the ILWU, a union of tens of thousands of workers—from Hawaiʻi to Canada to across the West Coast—comitted a powerful part of the labor movement to solidarity with the migrant justice movement.
The statement directly calls on members of the ILWU to mobilize in defense of migrants at this time of fascist attacks & demands the broader labor movement do the same. The statement opens the doors for workers across the ILWU to bargain for Sanctuary Policies in their contracts to mandate workplaces never cooperate with Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) in any capacity. This powerful commitment from organized labor to migrant justice is a testament to the unity needed right now to stop the rise of American fascism.
The language used to develop the ILWU’s pledge of solidarity comes directly from our work at IMIrJ. As an initial convener of the Deportation Defense Coalition (DDC) & as a workplace unionized within ILWU Local 5, IMIrJ contributes to the Organized Labor working group of the DDC. This working group collaborated in writing Sanctuary Resolution language that has now been passed by many unions across Oregon. It was through this process that IMIrJ pushed our union, ILWU Local 5, to unanimously pass the Sanctuary Resolution at their May general membership meeting.
This motivated Local 5 to rally the entire ILWU to pledge solidarity with migrants. This win is a powerful example of how our grassroots work at IMIrJ builds unity that creates actions for migrant justice across the world! It’s an example for all of us of the importance of unity to fight fascism. We thank everyone reading this for the support you continue showing us as we build a movement! If you want a copy of the Deportation Defense Coalition’s Sanctuary Resolution language to bring to your own union, please reach out to benjamin@imirj.org.