Jornaleros hispanos dan vida al ‘Café Chicago’

Se trata de una cooperativa que importa café orgánico de Nicaragua.

Por Agencia EFE | 2011-11-01 | Source: La Raza

Café. Foto: Archivo archivo

Café. Foto: Archivo archivo

Chicago (EFE) – Un grupo de jornaleros latinos ha creado Café Chicago, mind una cooperativa que importa café orgánico de Nicaragua, lo procesa y vende de manera creativa y exitosa para mejorar sus condiciones laborales, económicas y sociales.

“Buscábamos una forma alternativa para hacer negocios y el modelo vino de América Latina”, dijo Eric Rodríguez en una entrevista con Efe.

Para ello, inmigrantes procedentes de Ecuador, Colombia y México, y algunos puertorriqueños como Rodríguez, unieron recursos y conocimientos para enfrentar el mercado laboral sacudido por la crisis económica y “demostrar que somos capaces de la auto-suficiencia”.

“En nuestros países de origen la experiencia cooperativa ocupa lugares destacados, y creemos que Café Chicago puede sostenernos a largo plazo”, dijo Rodríguez, quien ha trabajado desde 2002 en la organización de los jornaleros de esta ciudad con la Unión Latina.

Rodríguez, licenciado en administración de empresas sin fines de lucro, cree en el “comercio justo” que se puede realizar a través de una cooperativa para favorecer a los sectores “más vulnerables”.

Uno de los ejemplos a seguir es la Fundación Entre Mujeres (La FEM) de Nicaragua, una cooperativa que produce y exporta café y además se dedica a la educación, salud y promoción de los derechos femeninos.

La FEM está ubicada al este de la ciudad de Managua, en el departamento de Estelí, donde la mayor parte de la tierra se dedica al tabaco pero igualmente hay espacio para que 132 mujeres produzcan desde 1996 un café de excelente calidad.

Cada dos meses llegan a Chicago 1,500 libras de café en grano verde, que los cooperativistas de Café Chicago procesan en una tostadora prestada que aprendieron a usar, empaquetan y venden a $15 por libra, o $40 por tres libras.

Al promocionar el producto en su página en internet la cooperativa menciona el trabajo de Tony e Iván en el tostado del café, a Norberto que recorre comercios en busca de clientes o Marisol que procesa los pedidos.

Pero también están Manuel, Pablo, Patricio, Salvador, José, Armando, Héctor, Jorge, Elisa, José Louis, Michael y David, cuyos apellidos prefieren mantener en reserva para evitar posibles problemas con Inmigración.

“Café Chicago” se presenta como una cooperativa de café de trabajadores inmigrantes, unidos en un nuevo modelo de creación de trabajo, capacitación y acción social, cuyos beneficios se dedican a apoyar a la Unión Latina.

“Creemos en la justicia en cada paso en el proceso del café, y vamos en serio”, afirman.

La Unión Latina surgió en 2002 después de una huelga masiva de jornaleros que detuvo el funcionamiento de 75 agencias de trabajo denunciadas por abusos contra los trabajadores temporales.

Los jornaleros hicieron una huelga de hambre que obligó a la Asamblea Legislativa de Illinois a aprobar la Ley de Servicios Laborales Diarios, modificada tres años después para permitir que esos trabajadores se organizaran y abogaran por sus derechos en el lugar de trabajo.

El gran problema de cientos de hombres que todas las mañanas se reúnen en esquinas de la ciudad a la espera de un trabajo en construcción, pintura, jardinería, carpintería, mudanza o remoción de escombros era el robo de salarios, el acoso de la policía y la exposición a las inclemencias del tiempo durante el invierno.

En diciembre de 2004 la Unión Latina abrió su primer centro para jornaleros de la construcción en el Medio Oeste, en un local del barrio Albany Park, como alternativa al tradicional “contrato de esquina”.

Quienes buscan ayuda van al centro, discuten el precio y firman un contrato con el jornalero y la ayuda de intérpretes, de ser necesario.

Según la Unión Latina, las denuncias de robo de salarios se redujeron al 1% y el salario promedio aumentó 50%.

Barrio Defense: On the Rise in Alabama – NY Times.

Alabama’s ruling class has dug in against the storm it caused with the nation’s most oppressive immigration law. Some of the law’s provisions have been blocked in federal court; others won’t take effect until next year. But many Alabamans aren’t waiting for things to get worse or for the uncertain possibility of judicial relief or legislative retreat. They are moving to protect themselves, and summoning the tactics of a civil rights struggle now half a century old. – NY Times 11.13.2011

ICE Appeals in Se Communities Case; Continues Effort to Hide Program’s Legal Basis

Late yesterday, defendants in the case NDLON v ICE filed an appeal and emergency stay to block a court order requiring the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency to make public a legal memorandum detailing the agency’s rationale for converting Se Communities into a mandatory program.

 

Federal district court Judge Shira Scheindlin had ordered ICE to produce the memorandum by November 14.  Advocates will continue to argue for immediate release of this key memo.  It is the only document produced to date that, although heavily redacted, appears to comprehensively describe the legal authority claimed by ICE in support of its position mandating state and local participation in the program.

 

Said Jessica Karp of the National Day Laborers Organizing Network (NDLON), “While ICE has sprinted to implement S-Comm across the country, they’ve done the opposite to comply with court orders that would bring transparency to the program.  The fact that the agency is fighting so hard to prevent the public’s access to this key document forces the question of what ICE is hiding.”

 

Instead of complying, ICE is challenging Judge Scheindlin’s October 24 Order which stated, “Once an agency has adopted a legal analysis as its own…that analysis becomes the government’s ‘working law,’ and the public ‘can only be enlightened by knowing what the [agency] believes the law to be.’”

 

Said Center for Constitutional Rights attorney Sunita Patel, “ICE’s on-going strategy of delaying release of important Se Communities documents must be stopped.  Lack of transparency continues to prevent needed scrutiny of Se Communities. The public deserves access to the program’s full scope and underlying rationale.”

 

Said Sonia Lin of the Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic at the Cardozo School of Law, “States and localities around the country have opposed Se Communities and sought ways to limit the impact of the program on the safety and security of their communities.  The public needs the truth about this massive deportation program now.”   

  

The lawsuit was originally brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Immigration Justice Clinic of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law with the law firm of Mayer Brown LLP on behalf of the National Day Laborer Organization Network.

 

Visit CCR’s NDLON v. ICE case page or the joint website, UncovertheTruth.org, for the text of the FOIA request,  the lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York, and all other relevant documents.

 

 

The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change. Visit www.ccrjustice.org; follow @theCCR.

 

The mission of the National Day Laborer Organization Network is to improve the lives of day laborers in the U.S. by unifying and strengthening its member organizations to be more strategic and effective in their efforts to develop leadership, mobilize day laborers in order to protect and expand their civil, labor and human rights. Visit www.ndlon.org

 

The Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law was founded in 2008 to provide quality pro bono legal representation to indigent immigrants facing deportation. Under the supervision of experienced practitioners, law students in the Clinic represent individuals facing deportation and community-based organizations in public advocacy, media and litigation projects. Visit www.cardozo.yu.edu/immigrationjustice

 

##

New Documents Show Se Communities Fuels FBI’s Rapidly Expanding Surveillance System While Ignoring States’ Concer

November 10, 2011, New York  – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), and the Cardozo Immigration Justice Clinic released internal government documents concerning the controversial Se Communities program (S-Comm), newly obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit.  Advocates say the documents show that S-Comm, already beleaguered with calls for termination, caused serious internal debate within the FBI at the same time that it served as pretext for the agency to rapidly expand its Next Generation Identification (NGI) initiative, which seeks to collect and distribute massive amounts of biometric information on citizens and noncitizens alike.  

 

An annotated index to the documents is available here.

 

The new documents reveal that FBI Assistant Director Jerome Pender expressed doubts about S-Comm’s effect on the FBI’s relationship with states and localities, and described the FBI’s position in the S-Comm controversy as “being stuck in the middle of a nuclear war.”  Pender wrote:  “I don’t see how we can use [fingerprint] data in a way the owner explicitly bans.  This could cause the whole CJIS model [of information sharing between the FBI and states and localities] to implode.” (Email chain between Deputy Assistant Director of CJIS’s Operations Branch, Jerome Pender, CJIS Assistant Director, Daniel Roberts, Deputy Assistant Director, Stephen Morris, and other FBI officials, May 10, 2011, FBI-SC-FPL-00487-488).

 

However, the FBI continued to ignore state and local partners’ demands to limit the use of their data and instead continued to press for S-Comm to be mandatory and expanded data sharing to other domestic agencies and foreign governments.

 

Said Center for Constitutional Rights attorney Sunita Patel, “It is now crystal clear that the FBI is using Se Communities to experiment on biometric-based surveillance. In pushing for S-Comm and interoperability to be mandatory, the FBI has prioritized collecting personal biometric data on citizens and non-citizens alike for its massive database ahead of the interests of its state and local partners. This is bad policy and no way to operate a federal agency.”

 

According to the documents, the FBI “recognizes a need to collect as much biometric data as possible . . . and to make this information accessible to all levels of law enforcement, including International agencies.” Accordingly, it “continues to work aggressively to build biometric databases that are comprehensive and international in scope.” (Interoperability Initiatives Unit, FBI CJIS, December 2010, SC-FBI-FPL-1143-1159, at 1143.)

 

Said Jessica Karp of NDLON, “The rise of the FBI’s surveillance system places all of our civil rights at risk.  As Se Communities breaks apart the sacred bond of immigrant families, NGI undermines the basic rights we hold as sacred in a democracy. It’s clear that the FBI and ICE’s pursuit of massive personal biometric data collection as a goal in itself tramples on the rights of individuals and states. Se Communities needs to be ended before more are trapped in its dragnet.”

 

Said Sonia Lin of the Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic of the Cardozo School of Law, “In its support for mandatory S-Comm and push to expand NGI, the FBI has ignored serious concerns about community policing, the burden on local and state partners, privacy rights, and the increased risk of racial profiling.” 

 

Visit CCR’s NDLON v. ICE case page, or the joint website UncovertheTruth.org, for the text of the FOIA request, the lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York, other documents obtained through the litigation and all other relevant documents.

 

 

The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change. Visit www.ccrjustice.org; follow @theCCR.

 

The mission of the National Day Laborer Organization Network is to improve the lives of day laborers in the U.S. by unifying and strengthening its member organizations to be more strategic and effective in their efforts to develop leadership, mobilize day laborers in order to protect and expand their civil, labor and human rights. Visit www.ndlon.org

 

The Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law was founded in 2008 to provide quality pro bono legal representation to indigent immigrants facing deportation. Under the supervision of experienced practitioners, law students in the Clinic represent individuals facing deportation and community-based organizations in public advocacy, media and litigation projects. Visit www.cardozo.yu.edu/immigrationjustice

Chicago Day Laborers Form Coop to Sell Organic Coffee

Chicago Day Laborers Form Coop to Sell Organic Coffee

Source: Latin American Herald Tribune (LAHT.com)

Chicago Day Laborers Form Coop to Sell Organic Coffee CHICAGO – A group of Latino day laborers have founded Cafe Chicago, s a cooperative that imports organic coffee from Nicaragua, processes it and sells it creatively – and successfully – to improve their labor, economic and social prospects.

“We were looking for a different way to do business and the model came from Latin America,” Eric Rodriguez said in an interview with Efe.

Immigrants from Ecuador, Colombia and Mexico, along with several Puerto Ricans, pooled their money and know-how to survive in a labor market shaken by economic crisis.

“Cooperatives hold an important place in the countries we come from, and we believe that Cafe Chicago can support us over the long term,” said Rodriguez, the executive director of the Latino Union organization that advocates on behalf of day laborers in the Windy City.

Rodriguez, who has a degree in managing non-profits from Chicago’s North Park University, believes in “fair trade” through cooperatives that favor the “most vulnerable” sectors.

A prime example is Nicaragua’s Among Women Foundation, or FEM, a cooperative that produces and exports coffee and is also dedicated to education, health and promoting women’s rights.

FEM is located in Esteli province where most of the land is used for growing tobacco but also has room for 132 women to grow fine coffee there, as they have done since 1996.

Every month 1,500 pounds of green coffee beans are shipped to Chicago, where the workers at Cafe Chicago process them in a borrowed roaster they learned to use, package the coffee and sell it for $15 a pound, or $40 for 3 pounds.

The cooperative notes on its Web site the work of Tony and Ivan on the coffee roaster, Norberto who visits stores and markets looking for clients, and Marisol who handles the orders.

But also on the job are Manuel, Pablo, Patricio, Salvador, Jose, Armando, Hector, Jorge, Elisa, Jose Louis, Michael and David, who prefer not to give out their last names to avoid any possible immigration troubles.

Cafe Chicago’s profits go to support the Latino Union, which was organized in 2002 after a massive strike by day laborers that shut down the operations of 75 temp agencies where abuses had been reported.

The day laborers staged a hunger strike that prodded the Illinois legislature into passing a law regulating temporary work and giving those workers the right to organize and defend their rights in the workplace.

In December 2004 the Latino Union opened its first workers center, at Albany Park, as an alternative to the traditional “hiring on the corner.”

Employers looking for workers go to the center, discuss the price and sign a contract with the laborer.

According to the Latino Union, reports of stolen wages were slashed to 1 percent and the average wage increased 50 percent since the opening of the Albany Park Workers Center. EFE

Arizona Immigration Law Faces Lawsuit On Day-Laborer Statute

By JACQUES BILLEAUD   10/31/11 05:18 PM ET | Source: HuffingtonPost.com

clinic 2010 in Washington, DC. The two leaders were meeting for the first time since Brewer signed a controversial anti-immigration bill into law April 23. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)” src=”media/feedgator/images/2_e0d8f3ee7f2e6b4f1078acafe8398d70.jpg” alt=”Arizona Immigration Law Faces Lawsuit On Day-Laborer Statute” style=”border: 0px;” />

PHOENIX — Groups opposing Arizona’s immigration enforcement law have asked a federal judge to put a stop to a section of the statute that bans the blocking of traffic when people seek or offer day-labor services on streets.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and other opponents filed a preliminary injunction request on Friday seeking to block enforcement of the provision, saying it unconstitutionally restricts the free speech rights of people who want to express their need for work. The request was filed in an existing lawsuit by the groups.

The state can’t justify the statewide ban based on scattered instances of solicitations creating traffic problems in Phoenix, they said, adding that there are already laws on the books to deal with people who block traffic.

The ban was among a handful of provisions in the law that were allowed to take effect after a July 2010 decision by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton halted enforcement of other, more controversial elements of the law. The blocked portions include a requirement that police, while enforcing other laws, question people’s immigration status if officers suspect they are in the country illegally.

Gov. Jan Brewer has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Bolton’s ruling after she lost an appeal in a lower court.

Brewer’s lawyers have also opposed attempts to halt enforcement of the day-labor restrictions, which they argue are meant to confront safety concerns, as well as distractions to drivers, harassment to passers-by, trespassing and damage to property.

They told the court that day laborers congregate on roadsides in large groups, flagging down vehicles and often swarming those that stop. They also said day laborers in Phoenix, Chandler, Mesa and Fountain Hills leave behind water bottles, food wrappers and other trash.

Bolton previously denied an earlier request to block the day labor rules, but opponents were allowed to bring it up again after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on a similar issue in September.

The appeals court had suspended a law from Redondo Beach, Calif., that banned day laborers from standing on public sidewalks while soliciting work from motorists. The court ruled the law violated workers’ free speech rights and was so broad that it was illegal for children to shout “car wash” to passing drivers.

Carrboro upholds anti-lingering law, for now

By Susan Dickson Staff Writer, October 27, 2011 | Posted in: CarrboroCitizen.com

CARRBORO – Following a Tuesday morning press conference at which concerned citizens called for the repeal of Carrboro’s anti-lingering ordinance, a motion to rescind the ordinance by Carrboro Board of Aldermen member Sammy Slade failed, 4-3, at the board’s Tuesday night meeting.

The board approved an anti-lingering ordinance for the intersection of Davie and Jones Ferry roads in November 2007, after residents of the surrounding neighborhood complained of public consumption, public urination and garbage in the areas around the intersection. Day laborers, many of them Latino, often gather at the intersection in hopes that contractors will come by and offer them work. The ordinance prohibits waiting at the intersection from 11 a.m. until 5 a.m.

On Tuesday, a group of residents gathered at the corner at 11 a.m. to unveil a letter to the board signed by 115 Carrboro residents and advocates calling for the board to rescind the ordinance.

At Tuesday night’s board meeting, board members Lydia Lavelle, Dan Coleman and Slade voted to rescind the ordinance, while board members Jacquie Gist, Randee Haven-O’Donnell, Joal Hall Broun and Mayor Mark Chilton voted to uphold it, at least for the time being.

The vote came after Steve Dear, who signed the petition, asked the board at its meeting to repeal the ordinance, and said he planned to start eating lunch on the corner next week.

“I find this to be unfortunate that we have to get to a point where we have citizens pointing out the inconsistencies of our application of this law and challenging us,” Slade said.

Lavelle agreed.

“There’s not going to be any kind of constitutional argument someone’s going to make to me to change that vote,” she said.

The board is scheduled to revisit the issue on Nov. 22, and those who voted against the ordinance’s repeal said they wanted to wait to consider it then so that neighbors would be aware that they were doing so.

Broun said she felt those who live close to the corner should have been informed that the motion to repeal was going to be raised.

“It seems to me to be a lack of due process that’s happening right now,” she said, adding that behavior at that corner has been “an ongoing problem.”

In June, the board voted to take another look at the ordinance. Earlier that month, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice sent a letter to the town alleging that the ordinance is unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds and stating that it is “overbroad and vague” and has interfered with workers’ ability to obtain employment during the late-morning and early-afternoon hours.

“What you’re doing right now is actually a crime,” Chris Brook, staff attorney with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, told gatherers at the corner on Tuesday morning.

“It looks like we’re not going to have a problem being here this morning … so we also potentially have a selective enforcement issue,” he added.

Rafael Gallegos, associate director of the Chapel Hill and Carrboro Human Rights Center, told the crowd Tuesday that the current economic climate makes finding work that much harder for day laborers, whose families rely on them. The ordinance makes obtaining jobs especially difficult for day laborers in the winter months, during which many jobs are completed during the warmest part of the day, after 11 a.m.

Elimination of the ordinance “will send a message to those individuals that this community is interested in their well being,” Gallegos said.

Angel Martinez, a day laborer who lives in Abbey Court Apartments, said that finding work as a day laborer has become one of his only options as manufacturing and restaurant jobs have dried up, and that the ordinance makes finding day-labor jobs much more difficult.

Elizabeth Haddix, a staff attorney for the UNC Center for Civil Rights, said the ordinance is a violation of both the first and 14th amendments.

It has “an avert and intentional racial and discriminatory impact, which violates the 14th Amendment,” she said.

Haddix added that while some argue that the ordinance is needed to address issues of littering, public consumption and harassment, “state laws and the town code already address these offenses.”

“This ordinance prohibits a person’s very presence on this corner,” she added.

Chris Kreutzer, who lives across the street from the corner, said he had no problem with day laborers using the corner to find work, but that “this corner has a lot of problems unassociated with people looking for work.”

“People come here to drink. Prostitutes use this parking lot,” he said, adding that people use the bathroom in his yard.

While there are laws in place to prevent such behavior, “They have clearly failed miserably on this corner,” Kreutzer said.

He acknowledged that the ordinance is “imperfect,” but, he added, “Until we find a better solution, I am very much in favor of it.”